Harry Truman

ANECDOTE 1...

After his election to the U.S. Senate in 1934, Truman was amused by the advice he received from an old judge he had worked with on the county court, who had once worked for a Senator in Washington. "Harry," he said, "don't you go to the Senate with an inferiority complex. You'll sit there about six months, and wonder how you got there. But after that you'll wonder how the rest of them got there." 

ANECDOTE 2...

As president, Truman kept two signs on his desk. One quoted Mark Twain: "Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest." The other read, "The buck stops here."

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE...

U.S statesman; 33rd president of the United States (1945-53). Shortly after taking office upon the death of Franklin Roosevelt, he ordered the atomic bombing of two Japanese cities to end the war with Japan. In foreign policy he initiated the Truman Doctrine, sending military and economic aid to states threatened with interference from other powers. His Marshall Plan (1948) assisted Europe's postwar recovery, and he promoted the formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). His Fair Deal program for domestic reform achieved improvements in old-age benefits and slum clearance.