Family Occasion

The White House's big, high-ceilinged rooms were astir with all the pleasant bustle of a holiday weekend. Margaret was back from her concert tour.

Looking trim and poised, Margaret popped into the regular press conference held by her mother's secretaries. She told reporters that she had thoroughly enjoyed her tour,/- though it had meant giving up desserts, candy and smoking. Singing, she admitted, was hard work, and she had had little time for partying.

Was there any chance of her "doing a Princess Elizabeth?" one reporter asked coyly. "No indication whatever," replied Margaret firmly, adding thoughtfully that she had met several nice young men on the trip. What about the President's recent remark that he preferred grandchildren to a prima donna in the family? Margaret laughed. "I hadn't heard that one," she admitted, "but it sounds just like father."

The President himself kept routine business to a holiday minimum. He popped over to Union Station to see the Freedom Train, peered at one of General George Washington's army supply accounts, noted: "Rum on every page." He received a delegation of National Guardsmen, told them that he would again ask Congress to authorize universal military training. He was presented with a maroon tie, emblazoned with a Missouri mule leading a camel bearing three wise men. Ex-Haberdasher Truman promptly twisted the tie into a salesman's knot, observed: "I haven't forgotten how."

Thanksgiving was a quiet day with family & friends. On Saturday, the President and Mrs. Truman boarded the eleven-car special for Philadelphia and the Army-Navy game, accompanied by a 200-member party which included most of his official family and their wives. The Trumans sat in the front row on the Army side, stayed there throughout the game. His knees wrapped in an electric blanket, the President cheered with careful impartiality. At the half, he munched sandwiches and matched grins with General Dwight Eisenhower for news pictures.

/- At the box office, if not with the critics, Margaret's tour was a considerable success. Her estimated take (from which she had to pay her secretary, manager and accompanist); Fort Worth, $2,500; Oklahoma City, close to $4,000; Memphis, $2,150; Hollywood, close to $1,000; Pittsburgh, about $5,000; Amarillo, about $1,400.

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