Moment for Margaret

One of the hardest jobs the President had to do last week was to sit still in Key West while his daughter made her radio debut in Detroit. Margaret had a good choir-average soprano voice, and she had trained it faithfully for years. Had she been anyone else, most of the U.S. would have missed her show. But now a record 15 million listeners waited for the worst.

On the crowded stage of Detroit's Music Hall, Margaret faced the nearly empty auditorium in a blue, off-shoulder gown and a mantle of apparent composure. The Music Digest Sunday Evening Hour tactfully announced its pleasure in presenting "Miss Margaret Truman, of Washington, D.C." No reference to her father was made.

At a nod from Maestro Karl Krueger, her conductor and friend, Margaret began. She tackled the reasonably simple Cielito Lindo with power and control, sang the tricky aria, Charmant Oiseau, with swooping zest (and a few flat notes), and coasted home with the well-worn Last Rose of Summer, a song her father had requested.

When it was over, Margaret beamed at the 55 floral bouquets she had received, posed for the photographers and rustled off to her hotel.

The critics wrestled with themselves, and turned out estimates ranging from "considerable promise" to "at best, a good amateur." Most agreed that she had considerable courage. Margaret stayed close to her phone. Her mother called from the White House; her father from Florida. "Baby," said Harry Truman, "I'm glad it's over."

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