And There Goes Margaret

I guess it's only fair, having done a few paragraphs recently on Caroline Kennedy to mention another presidential daughter. Margaret Truman has passed away. Margaret's fame came before my time, but like many, I always enjoyed the stories of Harry and his daughter. One of my favorite always being Harry's response to a critic from the Post after Margaret's singing performance.

On Dec. 5, 1950, she did a program by Schumann, Schubert and Mozart at Constitution Hall in Washington.

Washington Post music critic Paul Hume wrote in his review: "Miss Truman is a unique American phenomenon with a pleasant voice of little size and fair quality. She is extremely attractive on stage. Yet Miss Truman cannot sing very well. She is flat a good deal of the time -- more so last night than at any time we have heard her in past years."

After the president read the review the next morning, he wrote to Hume: "I've just read your lousy review of Margaret's concert. It seems to me that you are a frustrated old man who wishes he could have been successful. When you write such poppycock . . . it shows conclusively that you're off the beam. . . . 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."

Good old Harry - responding just like a father would, even if that father is also the US President. I never heard Margaret sing, but I have read a couple of the books that she wrote later in her life. Safe only thanks to Harry's demise many years ago, I can say that I found the books to be . . . well, let's just say Margaret could not write very well either. A line in one of her books is a favorite of mine to this day, "He noticed her flashing eyes." Which was fine enough, except it appeared in a scene of a phone conversation.

While Margaret may not have been a great singer, or author, she certainly does seem to have had a good life, and that's nothing to mock. So rest in peace Margaret, and if you can, please don't let Harry haunt me for the "not write very well either" line.