Advertisement

A Very Bad Day For President Harry S. Truman

01:48
Download Audio
Resume
Madge Gates Wallace, President Truman's mother-in-law, and Natalie Ott Wallace, his sister-in-law, in the breakfast room at the White House with the president in 1946. (Harry S. Truman Library)
Madge Gates Wallace, President Truman's mother-in-law, and Natalie Ott Wallace, his sister-in-law, in the breakfast room at the White House with the president in 1946. (Harry S. Truman Library)

On this day in 1945, Harry Truman moved into the White House with his wife and his mother-in-law Margaret (Madge) Gates Wallace. Any joy he might have felt at the occasion might have been tempered by the presence of his mother-in-law, who hated him.

As Michael Farquhar, author of "Bad Days in History: A Gleefully Grim Chronicle of Misfortune, Mayhem, and Misery for Every Day of the Year" tells Here & Now's Robin Young, "she never thought this guy was good enough for her daughter and she never let him forget it."

We're checking in with Farquhar every day this week about bad days in history. See more stories in our series here.

Guest

This segment aired on May 7, 2015.

Advertisement

More from Here & Now

Listen Live
Close