The daughter of President Harry S. Truman, Margaret Truman was a singer and writer of memoirs, biographies, history books and mystery novels.
She moved to Washington to attend George Washington University. She later served as a hostess and good-will ambassador during her father’s administration.
A professional singer, Truman sang at Constitution Hall in 1947. When her father left the White House, she moved to New York City to continue her work with the National Broadcasting Company, with which she had signed a contract in February 1951.
Truman was the author of four books of memoir and biography: Souvenir, Margaret Truman’s Own Story with Margaret Cousins (1956), Harry S. Truman (1973), Bess W. Truman (1986), and The Life Of A White House Girl (2003). She edited Letters From Father: The Truman Family’s Personal Correspondence (1981), and Where The Buck Stops: The Personal and Private Writings of Harry S. Truman (1989). Her nonfiction books included White House Pets (1969), Women of Courage (1976), First Ladies (1995), and The President’s House: 1800 to the Present (2004).
Truman was also the credited author of 25 mysteries all set in Washington, including Murder in the White House (1980), Murder on Capitol Hill (1981), Murder in the Supreme Court (1982), Murder in the Smithsonian (1983), Murder on Embassy Row (1984), Murder at the Kennedy Center (1989), Murder at the Library of Congress (1999), Murder in Foggy Bottom (2000), and Murder on K Street (2007). Her first book in the series was adapted into the 1997 film Murder at 1600 starring Wesley Snipes, Alan Alda and Diane Lane.
Truman lived in an apartment on Connecticut Avenue with her parents while her father was in the Senate and she was a student at George Washington University. She later lived in the White House during her father’s administration.
The Homes
4701 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington, DC
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC (The White House)
Built of Aquia Creek sandstone, this 130-room Neoclassical mansion was largely destroyed by arson during the War of 1812, and reconstructed in 1817. Additions include the South Portico (1824), the North Portico (1829), the West Wing (1901), and the Oval Office (1909). In 1949, the inside was completely gutted to stabilize the building with steel framing. The grounds were designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. in 1935. The mansion was named a National Historic Landmark in 1960.
Also home to: Rose Elizabeth Cleveland Ulysses S. Grant John Hay Herbert Hoover Paul Jennings John F. Kennedy Alice Roosevelt Longworth Anna Roosevelt Halsted Eleanor Roosevelt Elliott Roosevelt James Roosevelt II Theodore Roosevelt Helen Herron Taft Edith Bolling Galt Wilson
Margaret Truman
4701 Connecticut Ave NW
Located in Forest Hills neighborhood, Northwest- West of Rock Creek
Margaret Truman
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Located in Lafayette Square neighborhood, Northwest - East of Rock Creek