[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 14 (Tuesday, January 29, 2008)]
[House]
[Page H537]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               TRIBUTE TO THE LATE MARGARET TRUMAN DANIEL

  (Mr. BLUNT asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. BLUNT. Mr. Speaker, I want to rise to follow up on the 
announcement that my good friend Mr. Skelton from Missouri just made.
  Of course, all Missourians are proud of President Truman and his 
family. He was a man of great humility. In fact, one day recently in 
Washington I happened to be driving by, on Connecticut Avenue, the 
small apartment that he and Margaret and Mrs. Truman lived in when he 
was Vice President and for I think the first 3 days of his Presidency. 
Not the grandeur that anybody would expect, but something that the 
Trumans, a family who actually never lived in a house that they owned 
for most of Margaret Truman's life, appreciated.
  I was just sharing with Mr. Skelton the memory of Margaret Truman 
when we recommissioned the Battleship Missouri when it went back into 
active duty in 1985 or 1986, and I had the honor at the recommissioning 
dinner in San Francisco to introduce Margaret Truman, who had been the 
principal sponsor of the ship the first time when her father was in the 
Senate.
  By that point in the evening, about every speaker had pronounced the 
name of our State differently. Some said ``Missouri,'' some said 
``Missoura,'' and I made a couple of comments about that. And Margaret 
Truman got up and she said, ``It is `Missoura.' My father always said 
`Missoura.' My family always said `Missoura.' I was there when this 
ship was commissioned. We commissioned it the `Battleship Missoura,' 
and that should settle it.''
  But she was a lady that led an interesting life, the truly adored 
daughter of her father, and she saw politics the way that very few 
people do. I appreciate her life and her family.

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