Seth Kaller, Inc.

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“She lived in the White House / With her Dad and Mother / For her father was President / Better than any other…”

Inventory #21485       Price: $2,500

Three years removed from the presidency, and a month before her daughter’s marriage, Truman signs a lyrical tribute to Mary Margaret Truman, intended to be sung to the tune of the “Missouri Waltz”.

Historical Background

Missourian Harry Truman, it was widely reported, loved to play the “Missouri Waltz” in the White House. In 1949, after Truman’s comeback victory over Thomas Dewey in the 1948 presidential election, the Missouri legislature adopted it as the official state song. “Missouri Waltz” was written by Tin Pan Alley lyricist James Royce Shannon in 1916 over a 1914 composition by Frederick Knight Logan.

Mary Margaret Truman Daniel (1924- ) is the daughter of President Harry Truman and a writer of biographies, books on the White House, and best-selling mystery novels. A graduate of George Washington, she aspired to be a singer, and performed on stage and radio in the late 1940s and 1950s. On April 21, 1956, she married New York Times reporter Clifton Daniel in Independence, Missouri. In 1972, the year of her father’s death, she published Harry S. Truman, a critically acclaimed biography using materials from the Truman Presidential Library, on whose Board of Directors she continues to serve.

Harry S. Truman (1884-1972), Thirty-third President of the United States. A Missouri native, Truman was first elected to public office in 1922, winning a judge’s seat of the Jackson County Court.  After serving several terms, Truman was elected to the Senate in 1934, and in 1940 gained national attention for his chairmanship of the Senate Special Committee to Investigate the National Defense Program, which was eventually nicknamed “The Truman Committee”. Truman continued his political rise in 1944; he was elected Vice-President as FDR’s running mate. After only 82 days in the White House, Truman was thrust into the Presidency when FDR died unexpectedly. His inheritance was a world at war. Germany had surrendered, but Japan refused to give up the battle. Truman, in a desperate move to avoid having to invade the Japanese mainland, ordered the deployment of two atomic bombs. They were dropped on August 6 and August 9, 1945. Japan surrendered on August 14, 1945. As President, Truman waged an undeclared war on the Soviet Union, drafting the “Truman Doctrine,” which proclaimed the United States’ willingness to provide aid to countries resisting communism. And the Marshall Plan sought to strengthen the European economy in the hopes that this, too, would prevent the spread of Soviet influence. He also brought United States troops into the Korean War (1950-1953). In addition to his cold war activities, Truman’s administration expanded the New Deal, and promoted Civil Rights initiatives.