Clifton Truman Daniel - Where the Buck Stops

Clifton Truman Daniel is the oldest grandson of President Harry S. Truman and his wife, Bess. He is the son of author Margaret Truman and former New York Times Managing Editor E. Clifton Daniel Jr. Mr. Daniel is honorary chairman of the board of the Truman Library Institute and board secretary of the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation. He is the author of Growing Up With My Grandfather: Memories of Harry S. Truman and Dear Harry, Love Bess: Bess Truman's Letters to Harry Truman, 1919-1943. In addition to portraying his famous grandfather on stage, Mr. Daniel gives a series of lectures on various aspects of the Truman presidency, the US, and the White House.

After Harry S. Truman left office, he wrote his memoirs and a book on his post presidency, Mr. Citizen. He also wrote down what he thought about leadership, the presidency and many of the men who had preceded him in office. He planned to turn it into a book but never did. His daughter, author Margaret Truman, did. She titled it Where the Buck Stops: The Personal and Private Writings of Harry S. Truman. Now her son, Clifton Truman Daniel, has adapted the book as a short performance piece. Daniel, in character as his grandfather, holds forth on Truman's childhood, early career and his thoughts on the presidency and other presidents — from James Madison, "who tipped the scales at 100 pounds only when he was soaking wet or had a bunch of rocks in his pockets," to Dwight Eisenhower's frustration with elected office. "Poor Ike. He'll get in there and say, 'Do this! Do that!' And nothing will happen. It won't be a bit like the army. He'll find it very frustrating."