- Truman, Margaret
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▪ 2009Mary Margaret Truman DanielAmerican writerborn Feb. 17, 1924, Independence, Mo.died Jan. 29, 2008, Chicago, Ill.was the illustrious only daughter of U.S. Pres. Harry S. Truman and first lady Bess Truman and carved a literary niche for herself as her parents' biographer (Harry S. Truman [1973] and Bess W. Truman [1986]) and as the author of a number of best-selling mysteries. Her first book was the autobiographical Souvenir: Margaret Truman's Own Story (1956), and her inaugural offering in her Capital Crimes series was Murder in the White House (1980). Subsequent titles were set in such locations as the Supreme Court, the Smithsonian Institution, the CIA, the National Gallery of Art, the Pentagon, and the opera. While in her 20s, Truman pursued a singing career—she made her professional debut in 1947 with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and had her initial Carnegie Hall concert in 1949. In one famously recounted incident, however, President Truman sent a letter to a critic who had unfavourably reviewed her singing and promised that if he ever met him, the critic would “need a new nose and plenty of beefsteak.” After a brief singing career, Truman turned to radio, where she hosted her own nationally syndicated interview show. She also appeared onstage and on television. In 1956, after she married newspaperman E. Clifton Daniel, Jr., Truman retreated from the show-business spotlight. Her other nonfiction works include White House Pets (1969) and First Ladies (1995).
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Universalium. 2010.
