“It’s déjà vu All Over Again!”

I took a month off from writing. Its a long time when you think about things. I worked a lot, did some car shopping (to no avail), went to the movies once, worked a lot of basketball games and sort of loafed.

But then last week, " “It’s déjà vu all over again!” as baseball great Yogi Berra would say. I am back to writing my blog thanks to one of those moments. While out driving somewhere, I don't know where, I flipped through my XM channels and heard Chicago singing one of my favorite tunes, "Harry Truman."

I have always been a Harry Truman fan. I have his autographed picture and think of him as a true American hero. Here is a man that led his nation bravely and intelligently and while we maybe didn't recognize it when he was in office, we now see him as one of the greatest presidents of all time. Even George Bush has read a Truman biography and probably goes to bed every night hoping that history will treat him as well (fat chance).

So as I reminisced about my historical remembrances of the Truman presidency (I was only 2 when he left office, but I have long studied and read about him), I wondered how he would do in the present political climate. My first reaction was that if people think Bill Clinton is out of line in his comments supporting his wife's presidential run, they would be appalled at the frank fashion in which Truman would approach his candidacy. He called it like he saw it, and did so with a blistering tone of voice capped off with some flowerly language.

I actually wished Harry Truman was around today. He would have been a great president even today. And most importantly, he would have been a legitimate candidate that would have left no voter ever second guessing if they had really voted for the right person. Honestly, regardless who I vote for this November I will mentally question whether or not I voted for the right person.

So the reference by Harry Truman in the lyrics sang by Chicago kick-started my brain. I thought about Harry Truman as I watched the news and read the newspapers. And then, out of nowhere, “It’s déjà vu all over again!” As I was flipping through USA Today the same evening, a headline jumped out and slapped me in the face. It read, "Truman did it all--author, singer, host."

Above the story was a picture of my political hero, Harry Truman, planting a fatherly kiss on his daughter's cheek. Nice picture. A father's love for his daughter. Could the story be as enlightening...well no. Margaret Truman, the only child of Harry and Bess, had died the day before.

Margaret has long been in view by the American public. As the headline read she had been a singer, a tv/radio host and a celebrated author. Her father had come to her defense during his presidency when he threatened a newpaper reporter for his not so glowing review of Margaret's singing. Margaret, however, needed no defense from her father for her hosting and writing--especially her writing.

During her career she published nine works of non-fiction and 23 mysteries. Her mysteries were what first attracted me to Margaret Truman. Each was based on murder, with the crime taking place in a famous Washington D.C. location. The series had its debut in 1980 with Murder in the White House. That book was eventually converted into a movie, "Murder at 1600" featuring Wesley Snipes. Other locations where murder took place included the CIA, the Library of Congress, the Pentagon, Union Station, Capitol Hill, FBI, Georgetown, the House, Watergate, Havanna, Foggy Bottom, the Opera, on the Potomac, Ford's Theater, the Washington Tribune, National Gallary, National Cathedral, Smithsonian, Supreme Court, Embassy Row, and the Kennedy Center. The series ended with Murder on K Street in 2007.

Margaret Truman's death closes a chapter of history that I cherish. Her father was my political hero, and she was an author that I dearly loved to read.