Who2 Editorial Blog

Notes and Commentary from the Editors

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Obituary First Lines: Margaret Truman

Margaret Truman Daniel died on Tuesday after a brief illness. Here's how some major papers sum up her life:

"Margaret Truman Daniel, 83, President Harry Truman's only child, a mystery novelist whose early efforts as a singer famously led her father to threaten an unkind critic with a punch to the nose..." -The Chicago Tribune

"Margaret Truman Daniel, the only child of former president and famously proud father Harry Truman who became an author of popular murder mysteries..." -Reuters

"Margaret Truman Daniel, the president’s daughter whose achievements as a concert singer, radio and television host, and author of best-selling biographies and mysteries won her renown in her own right..." -The New York Times

The Truman Library has a nice biography of Margaret. The Kansas City Star has a nifty slideshow.

Here's the text of Harry Truman's famous letter to Washington Post critic Paul Hume after Hume panned Margaret's singing in 1950. ("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." Yow!)

That incident became so famous that it led Hume's own obituary in 2001.

Posted by Mr. Holznagel at 5:53 PM