He was born on October 19, 1898, on the Otoe-Missouria reservation in Oklahoma Territory. His father, George Washington Dailey, was a member of the Eagle Clan of the Missouria and belonged to a traditionalist group within the combined Otoe-Missouria tribe called the "Coyote Band." As a result, Truman Dailey was well-versed in the traditional lore of his people.
Dailey attended Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College until 1922.
By 1938, Truman and Lavina were conducting their own church services, where he was considered a Road Manitoba (ceremonial leader). During the 1960s, Dailey worked at Disneyland as the announcer for the American Indian programs. When Walt Disney hired him, he allowed Dailey to use one of his own Indian names in the show, simply changing it to "Chief White Horse".
During this time he also appeared on The Steve Allen Show.
After leaving California, he and Lavina returned to Oklahoma in 1970, where he taught the Otoe-Missouria language in tribal classes and later served as a consultant for the University of Missouri native language project, in order to record Otoe-Missouria for posterity. Dailey remained a vocal advocate of Native American ceremonial rights.
In 1974, he testified in Washington, District of Columbia, and in Omaha, North-East, regarding the ceremonial use of feathers and other natural objects in opposition to the Migratory Bird Law. Dailey also testified before the United States Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs in 1978 (Senate Joint Resolution 102).
The resulting legislation, the American Indian Religious Freedom Acting, was signed into law by President Carter but was only partially successful, so that in 1992, Dailey, now 93 years of age, was called upon once again to give testimony to the Senate committee.
The resulting amendment to the Acting legalized the use of peyote for official Native American religious purposes. The following year, the University of Missouri at Columbia awarded him an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters. Lavina Koshiway Dailey had died in 1988.
Truman Dailey died on December 16, 1996, and was buried next to her in the Otoe-Missouria Tribal Cemetery.
He was a member of the Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Indians. While at Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical, Dailey performed in the college band and was made a member of Kappa Kappa Psi band fraternity.
