Only child of Harry S Truman dies at 83

MARGARET TRUMAN, the only child of President Harry S Truman and wife Bess, who became a concert singer, actress, radio and TV personality and mystery writer, died yesterday.

She was 83.

Ms Truman, known as Margaret Truman Daniel in private life died in Chicago following a brief illness, according to Susan Medler, a spokeswoman for the Harry S Truman Library and Museum in Independence, Missouri.

Her father’s succession to the presidency in 1945 thrust her into the national spotlight while a college junior.

“I feel that I’ve lived several different lives and that was one of them,” she said in 1980. “Some of it was fun, but most of it was not. It was a great view of history being made.”

Her singing career attracted the barbs of music critics. But she found a fulfilling professional and personal life in New York where she met her husband, Clifton Daniel, who became managing editor of The New York Times.

The idea of doing a mystery story called Murder in the White House came “out of nowhere,” she said.

That 1980 title was followed by mysteries set in the Supreme Court, the Smithsonian, Embassy Row, the FBI, Georgetown, the CIA, Kennedy Center, the National Cathedral and the Pentagon. The last book Murder on K Street was released last year. She had four sons, one died in an accident in 2000.

“I’ve had three or four different careers,” she told an interviewer in 1989. “I consider being a wife and mother a career. I have great respect for women — both those who go out and do their thing and those who stay at home. I think those who stay at home have a lot more courage than those who go out and get a job.”