A time machine interview with Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was born into humble circumstances in Missouri on May 8, 1884. He was the only president of the 20th century without a college degree. In World War I, he helped organize a National Guard regiment, was promoted to captain in France and assigned to its most unruly battery.
He was Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s vice president for just 82 days before FDR died and Truman became president without any briefings on the atomic bomb or the growing strains with Soviet Russia. During his first months in office, he dropped atomic bombs on Japan, ending World War II. His policy of communist containment undergirded the Marshall Plan and started both the Cold War and the Korean War.
Executive Leadership: May we say that it is amazing what you accomplished without a prominent family background.
HST: It is amazing what you can accomplish if you don’t care who gets the credit. Being an American is a belief that all men are created free and equal and that everyone deserves an even break.
EL: You called your first year as president a “year of decisions.” How did you get through them?
HST: I felt like the moon, the stars and all the planets had fallen on me. You never can get all the facts, it seems, and unless you have all the facts, it is difficult to make proper judgments. You simply do the best you can, one decision at a time. The atom bomb was no “great decision.” It was merely another powerful weapon in the arsenal of righteousness.
EL: How can the president influence public policy when Congress disagrees?
HST: On my Fair Deal? All the president can be is a glorified public relations man who spends his time flattering, kissing and kicking people to get them to do what they are supposed to do anyway.
EL: You’re famous for “giving ’em hell.”
HST: I never did give anybody hell. I just told the truth and they thought it was hell.
EL: Did you have friends in Washington?
HST: Only citizens I met on my walks around town. Otherwise, no. You want a friend in Washington? Get a dog.
EL: Do leaders require discipline?
HST: First, they need self-discipline. In reading the lives of great men, I found that the first victory they won was over themselves … self-discipline with all of them came first.
EL: You needed to act quickly and decisively against the Japanese, and then against the Soviets, who seemed determined to export communism. What was your philosophy?
HST: Carry the battle to them. Don’t let them bring it to you. Put them on the defensive, and don’t ever apologize for anything.
EL: Americans seemed to be of two minds after the war—there were optimists and pessimists. What’s your view?
HST: I say a pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties.
EL: What will history say about America?
HST: Men make history and not the other way around. In periods where there is no leadership, society stands still. Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better.
EL: And if leaders can’t or won’t do that?
HST: If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.
Sources: Harry S. Truman Library and Museum, Biography.com, WhiteHouse.gov.
