Eleanor Roosevelt sent this letter about the Girl Scouts to First Lady Bess Truman just 13 days after the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the swearing in of Harry S. Truman as president. Mrs. Roosevelt wrote: “My sons and I have been working hard trying to straigten out various details, but it still is difficult to belive that my husband is not off on trip.”
Eleanor Roosevelt served as honorary president of Girl Scouts of the USA from 1933-1945 when she was first lady (it is customary for the first lady to serve as honorary president). She wrote to Mrs. Truman to ask her to do the same, and informed her that she had been asked to serve as honorary vice president.
