CHICAGO - Margaret Truman Daniel, President Harry Truman's only child, a mystery writer whose early efforts as a singer famously led her father to threaten an unkind critic with a punch to the nose, died on Tuesday in Chicago after a brief illness, according to a spokesman for the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum. She was 83.
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. The only thing I ever missed about the White House was having a car and driver."
Daniel was born on Feb. 17, 1924, in Independence, Mo. She graduated from George Washington University and pursued a singing career while her father was in office. She performed at Carnegie Hall in 1949.
In 1950, a Washington critic panned one of her performances, prompting the president to write a letter on White House stationery that read in part: "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."
Margaret Truman married Clifton Daniel, the former managing editor of the New York Times, in 1956. He died in 2000.
The author of 23 novels, Truman also wrote nine books of nonfiction that include a biography of her mother, Bess W. Truman. After her father's death in 1972, she worked as an advocate for presidential libraries.
She is survived by three sons, Clifton Truman Daniel, Harrison Gates Daniel and Thomas Washington Daniel; and five grandchildren. Another son, William Wallace Daniel, was killed in September 2000 by a cab in New York City.
A public memorial is planned at the Truman Library and Museum in Independence, Mo.
