(5 of 6)
At the end of her tour, Margaret temporarily renounced her own career to help her father's; the 1948 campaign was on. There was more than a casual parallel between the two. The nation's music critics have done little more to encourage Margaret in her ambitions than the political pollsters did for Harry. At best, they have been kind, holding back in gentlemanly restraint from the blasts they might have loosed at a more seasoned professional. "Few artists now appearing before the public have Miss Truman's physical advantages," wrote the New York Herald Tribune's Virgil Thomson. "She seems to sing carefully, is obliged to, indeed, by the poverty of her resources."
A few have been encouraging. "It is a pleasant duty to cheer a promising beginning . . ." wrote the Washington Times-Herald's Glenn Dillard Gunn. "Her musical feeling is sure and persuasive [but] it has yet to be matured."
None of the critics has gone further in outright praise than to describe Margaret's voice as "agreeable in quality" and "produced accurately."
"Laugh It Off." But some of Harry Truman's native stubbornness has been inherited by his daughter, and has perhaps given her a happy indifference to criticism. "When the papers say mean things," she explains, "Dad and I just laugh it off." That "Dad" is not impervious to criticism directed at his only child was made plain in the now famous, outraged letter from the President to the Washington Post's Paul Hume, who wrote bluntly: "Miss Truman cannot sing very well."
With the presidential campaign over, Margaret went back to her singing, without benefit of Mrs. Strickler. This time she was coached as a lyric soprano by another Missouri girl, Helen Traubel. Diva Traubel, a longtime idol of Margaret's, was not properly a teacher at all, but for about a year she served in a voluntary, friendly capacity to give Margaret the benefit of her long experience.
Soprano Truman is still a long way from being in Soprano Traubel's league, but hundreds of thousands of people have now paid money to hear her sing and, as Margaret says, "they haven't thrown anything yet." She has received an average of $1,500 apiece for close to 70 concerts. She has earned from $2,000 to $3,000 each for appearances on radio and television with such stars as Fred Allen and Tallulah Bankhead. Her first recording, an RCA Victor album of folk songs, will soon be on sale at music stores. Last week her business manager was arranging the final details of a contract with NBC which will guarantee Margaret between $25,000 and $35,000 for appearances on radio and TV during the next year. An NBC vice president says he would be happy to sign Margaret as an M.C. whether she could sing or not. NBC's checks, plus some 20 to 30 concerts planned for next year, should bring her earnings close to the $100,000 her father gets as President.