CHICAGO — Margaret Truman Daniel, former President Harry Truman’s only child who emerged late in life as a writer of popular mystery novels, died Tuesday at an assisted-living facility in Chicago. She was 83.
From 1980 to 1996, Daniel wrote 13 murder mysteries based in Washington. She debuted in the genre with “Murder in the White House,” which became a best-seller and earned $200,000 for the paperback rights alone. Critics offered mixed reviews.
Daniel also wrote biographies of her parents, a reminiscence of her own years in the White House as the only child of the president and a collection of personal profiles of a dozen American women called “Women of Courage.”
She also had a short-lived career as a professional concert singer. She toured the country with a live concert program of arias and light classics, and she began appearing regularly on radio and television. In 1949, she signed a recording contract with RCA-Victor Records.
For seven years, she had her own radio show, “Authors in the News.” But in 1956, following her marriage to journalist Clifton Daniel, who became managing editor of the New York Times, she reduced her stage appearances to occasional summer-stock performances.
Mary Margaret Truman was born Feb. 17, 1924, in Independence, Mo., and moved to Washington when her father was elected to the Senate in 1934.
For the next seven years, the family spent the first half of each year in Washington and the second half in Missouri. She was a student at George Washington University when her father was sworn in as vice president in January 1945. Less than three months later, President Franklin Roosevelt died, and Harry Truman became president. For the next seven years, the White House was her primary residence.
At the White House, she fetched aspirin for visiting British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and exchanged pleasantries with military leaders.
She christened the battleship Missouri, aboard which the Japanese signed the documents of surrender, ending the World War II on Sept. 2, 1945. But neither she nor her mother were privy to critical wartime decisions, such as the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
Daniel’s husband died in 2000. A son, William, died that same year after being hit by a car. Survivors include three sons, Clifton Jr. of Chicago, Harrison of New York, and Thomas of Starksboro, Vt.
