Margaret Truman Daniel Dead at 83

Margaret Truman Daniel, Harry Truman's only child, dead after brief illness

Truman was pianist, TV personality, best known later as mystery writer

Early criticism of singing led to letter from father threatening music critic

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (AP) -- "Margaret Truman, the only child of former President Harry S. Truman who became a concert singer, actress, radio and TV personality and mystery writer, died Tuesday. She was 83.

Margaret Truman Daniel was a singer, TV personality and mystery writer.

Truman, known as Margaret Truman Daniel in private life, died at a Chicago assisted living facility following a brief illness, according to a statement from the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum in Independence. She had been at the facility for the past several weeks and was on a respirator, the library said.

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," she once said..."