Harry S. Truman (1884-1972)
33rd U.S President
Harry as President didn’t take kindly to his appointees misusing their office. It was his custom to fire the erring members of his team fired before all. Unlike Eisenhower who succeeded him to the White House, who had to get rid five of his appointees for more or less for the same offence. Ike accepted their resignations after handing out fulsome praise for their services, so flattering that each had it framed in gold and hung in his living room. When Harry was asked what he thought of it, he remarked, ‘I see why he had to fire them, but I don’t see why they had to kiss them on both cheeks.’
The country boy from Missouri, Plains when elevated into the highest office kept his head and was conscious of the responsibility reposed by the nation in him. The sign ‘The Buck Stops Here’ was an outward symbol of it. He never complained or shirked it even when some decisions were later proved wrong. During the eight years under his Watch were many events: the dropping of the Bomb, the formation of the UN, the Korean War, the firing of MacArthur, the birth of the nation of Israel, NATO, the Marshall Plan and in each case he was not in the eye of the storm but the eye of the storm.