Margaret Truman

Early life

Mary Margaret Truman was born at 219 North Delaware Street in Independence, Missouri, on February 17, 1924 and was named for her aunt Mary Jane Truman and maternal grandmother Margaret Gates Wallace, but she was called Margaret from early childhood. She took voice and piano lessons as a child (at the encouragement of her father, who famously played piano) and attended public school in Independence until her father's 1934 election to the United States Senate, after which her education was split between public schools in Independence and Gunston Hall School, a private school for girls in Washington, D.C.

In 1942, Truman matriculated at George Washington University, where she was a member of Pi Beta Phi, and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and international relations in 1946. In June 1944, she christened the battleship at Brooklyn Navy Yard, and spoke again in 1986 at the ship's recommissioning. She studied singing with Estelle Liebling, the voice teacher of Beverly Sills, in New York City.

On April 12, 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt died and his vice president Harry Truman assumed the presidency when Margaret was 21.

Career

Singing

At the beginning of her career, critical reviews of Truman's singing were positive, polite or diplomatic in tone, with some later reviewers speculating that negative opinions were withheld from deference to her father as a current president. This practice was broken in 1950 when Washington Post music critic Paul Hume wrote that Truman was "extremely attractive on the stage... [but] cannot sing very well. She is flat a good deal of the time. And still cannot sing with anything approaching professional finish." The review angered President Truman (who was dealing that same day with the sudden death of his childhood friend and White House press secretary Charlie Ross), who wrote to Hume, "Some day I hope to meet you. When that happens you'll need a new nose, a lot of beefsteak for black eyes, and perhaps a supporter below!" Hume wanted to publish the letter, but Washington Post publisher Philip Graham vetoed the idea. However, Hume showed the letter to a number of his colleagues, including Milton Berliner, music critic of the rival Washington Times Herald, which published a story. The Washington Post was then forced to acknowledge the letter, which drew international headlines, becoming a minor scandal for the Truman administration. Subsequent reviewers felt freer to be honest in their reviews of her performances, with mixed criticism for her singing thereafter.

Acting, radio, and journalism

Truman's professional acting debut occurred on April 26, 1951 when she costarred with James Stewart in the "Jackpot" episode of Screen Directors Playhouse on NBC radio. On March 17, 1952, Truman was a guest soloist on The Railroad Hour in a presentation of the operetta Sari.

Truman also performed on the NBC Radio program The Big Show where she met writer Goodman Ace, who offered her advice and pointers. Ace became a lifelong friend, advising Truman even after The Big Show. Truman became part of the team of NBC Radio's Weekday show that premiered in 1955, shortly after its Monitor program made its debut. Paired with Mike Wallace, she presented news and interviews aimed at a female listening audience.

She appeared several times as a panelist (and twice as a mystery guest) on the game show What's My Line? and guest-starred multiple times on NBC's The Martha Raye Show.

In 1957, Truman sang and played piano on The Gisele MacKenzie Show.

Writing

Truman's full-length biography of her father, published shortly before his 1972 death, was critically acclaimed. She also wrote a personal biography of her mother and histories of the White House and its inhabitants (including first ladies and pets). Truman published regularly into her eighties.

Novels

From 1980 to 2011, 25 books in the Capital Crimes series of murder mysteries, most set in and around Washington, D.C., were published under Margaret Truman's name.

Professional ghostwriter Donald Bain (1935–2017) acknowledged in the March 14, 2014, issue of Publishers Weekly that he had written "27 novels in the Margaret Truman Capital Crimes series (mostly bylined by Truman, my close collaboratormy name is on only the most recent entries, released after her death)."

In 2000, another ghostwriter, William Harrington, had claimed in a self-written obituary before his apparent suicide that Margaret Truman and others were his clients.

Institutions

She served on the board of directors for the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum and the Board of Governors of the Roosevelt Institute, and served as a Trustee for her alma mater.

Personal life

On April 21, 1956, Truman married Clifton Daniel, a reporter for The New York Times and later its managing editor, at Trinity Episcopal Church in Independence; he died in 2000. They had four sons:

• Clifton Truman Daniel (born June 5, 1957), Director of Public Relations for Harry S Truman College.
• William Wallace Daniel (May 19, 1959 – September 4, 2000), a psychiatric social worker and researcher at Columbia University. He died after being struck by a taxicab in New York City.
• Harrison Gates Daniel (born 1963)
• Thomas Washington Daniel (born 1966)

Popular culture

Italian dress designer Micol Fontana, who designed Truman’s wedding gown, was invited to be a surprise guest on the TV show What's My Line? in New York City, just six days before the Truman/Daniel wedding on April 21, 1956, in Independence, Missouri.

Later years and death

In later life, Truman lived in her Park Avenue home. She died on January 29, 2008, in Chicago (to which she was relocating to be closer to her son Clifton). She was said to have been suffering from "a simple infection" and had been breathing with the assistance of a respirator. Her ashes and those of her husband -- are interred in Independence in her parents' burial plot on the grounds of the Truman Library.

Written works

Non-fiction

Fiction

The Capital Crimes series:

As of 2021, six further novels in the series had been published under Truman's name as "with Donald Bain" or "with John Land."

References

References

1. McCullough, David. (1992). "Truman".
2. (January 30, 2008). "Margaret Truman, 83, Singer and Author". [[The New York Sun]].
3. "Margaret Truman".
4. "Margaret Truman Daniel bio". Truman Presidential Library.
5. "Notable Pi Phis". pibetaphi.org.
6. Dean Fowler, Alandra. (1994). "Estelle Liebling: An exploration of her pedagogical principles as an extension and elaboration of the Marchesi method, including a survey of her music and editing for coloratura soprano and other voices". [[University of Arizona]].
7. ''Time'', February 26, 1951.
8. ''Truman'', by [[David McCullough]], 1992, Simon and Schuster
9. (December 6, 1950). "Truman's Letter to Paul Hume". Truman Library, Independence Mo..
10. (April 26, 1951). "Margaret Truman To Star Tonight On Radio Drama". Las Cruces Sun-News.
11. (March 16, 1952). "Better Radio Programs for the Week". The Decatur Daily Review.
12. Thomas, Bob. (November 2, 1951). "Tallulah Bankhead Praises Margaret Truman's Talents". Reading Eagle.
13. House, Allan. (November 11, 1955). "Margaret Truman Gets a Kick Out of Radio-TV". The Fayetteville Observer.
14. (June 10, 1955). "'Monitor' to debut on KDKA Sunday". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
15. (November 28, 1955). "Radio:Woman's Home Companion".
16. "The Giselle MacKenzie Show". TV.com.
17. (March 14, 2014). "A Novel of My Own". [[Publishers Weekly]].
18. (November 16, 2000). "William G. Harrington, 68; Wrote Mysteries and Thrillers". [[The New York Times]].
19. (January 29, 2008). "Margaret Truman Daniel Dies at 83". [[The New York Times]].
20. (September 15, 2011). "Truman celebrates heritage, history with grandson of US president". Kirksville Daily Express.
21. Daniel, Clifton Truman. (2009). "Adventures with Grandpa Truman".
22. (September 6, 2000). "Hit by Cab, a Grandson of Harry Truman dies". The New York Times.
23. Goldstein, Steve. (January 31, 2008). "First Daughter". Obit-mag.
24. Meyer, Gene, [http://www.kansascity.com/news/politics/story/502766.html "The ashes of Margaret Truman Daniel are put to rest in her roots"], ''Kansas City Star'', February 23, 2008. Retrieved March 13, 2008.
25. (August 12, 2015). "Margaret Truman Books in Order".