You may invite the entire 35th Division to your wedding if you

The words of Bess Truman carry both tenderness and strength: “You may invite the entire 35th Division to your wedding if you want to. I guess it’s going to be yours as well as mine. We might as well have the church full while we are at it.” Beneath the lighthearted tone lies a profound truth: marriage is not the possession of one alone but the shared covenant of two, where decisions, joys, and burdens are carried together.

The mention of the 35th Division, the unit in which Harry S. Truman served during the First World War, reveals the roots of this union—formed in duty, tested by war, and strengthened by the bonds of loyalty. For Bess, even the thought of filling the church with comrades is not a complaint but an embrace, a recognition that her husband’s world would become hers as well. In this, her words reveal the essence of companionship: the acceptance not only of the beloved, but of all that surrounds him.

History remembers that Harry and Bess Truman shared one of the most enduring marriages in American public life. Long before Harry would rise to the presidency, they had already weathered separations, hardships, and the strain of military service. That Bess could speak with such warmth and humor about sharing her wedding day with an entire army shows the strength of her devotion and the humility of her love. Her words stand as testimony that partnership requires not the narrowing of one’s world, but the widening of it.

Her remark also holds a universal lesson: the church is never truly filled with only two souls on the day of a wedding. It is filled with families, friends, histories, and unseen threads of community. When two people marry, they bring with them not only themselves but the lives and loyalties that shaped them. To embrace this truth, as Bess did, is to walk into marriage with open arms rather than closed fists, with generosity rather than jealousy.

Therefore, let this wisdom endure: true marriage is not about guarding what is “mine” but about building what is “ours.” To say “we might as well have the church full” is to welcome the fullness of life into the covenant, knowing that love grows stronger when it is shared. Bess Truman’s words, spoken in affection, become a lasting counsel—that joy multiplies when hearts are open, and that love’s strength lies not in exclusivity, but in unity and embrace.