Harry Truman: Trending quotes

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Harry Truman: 238 quotes5 likes

“When requested by the Committee to do so, persons in the armed services or in any of the executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government shall testify before the Committee and shall make available for use of the Committee such documents and other information as the Committee may require.”

Harry Truman

Executive Order 9981 (1948)

“What do you mean "helped create"? I am Cyrus. I am Cyrus.”

Harry Truman

Response to being described by his friend Eddie Jacobsen as "the man who helped create the state of Israel." (November 1953); as quoted in "With Eyes Toward Zion" (1977) by Moshe Davis

“We are in a troublesome period, and some "nonsense" as you term it — but this is a great nation with a high purpose, and we shall come to our senses and resume our course.”

Harry Truman

On problems during the Vietnam War, in a letter to Charles Kennedy (18 March 1970)

“It isn't important who is ahead at one time or another in either an election or horse race. It's the horse that comes in first at the finish line that counts.”

Harry Truman

As quoted in Bush's Brain : How Karl Rove Made George W. Bush Presidential (2003) by Wayne Slater and James Moore, p. 173

“And as I say to you, whenever you put a man on the Supreme Court, he ceases to be your friend, you can be sure of that.”

Harry Truman

Reported in Truman Speaks (1960), p. 59.

“If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.”

Harry Truman

This saying was popularized by Truman after he publicly used it in 1952. It was soon credited to his aide Harry H. Vaughan in TIME (28 April 1952) but apparently originated with a Missouri colleague of Truman, Eugene "Buck" Purcell, according to The Quote Verifier: Who Said What, Where, And When (2006) by Ralph Keyes. Truman himself later made reference to his popularization of the remark in his book Mr. Citizen (1960), p. 229:
: There has been a lot of talk lately about the burdens of the Presidency. Decisions that the President has to make often affect the lives of tens of millions of people around the world, but that does not mean that they should take longer to make. Some men can make decisions and some cannot. Some men fret and delay under criticism. I used to have a saying that applies here, and I note that some people have picked it up, "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen."
Misattributed

“I do not believe in shooting anything that cannot shoot back.”

Harry Truman

Mr. Citizen, Harry Truman (1960)

“The Committee shall continue to exist until such time as the President shall terminate its existence by Executive order.”

Harry Truman

Executive Order 9981 (1948)

“Always be sincere, even if you don't mean it.”

Harry Truman

Attributed without citation in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (1992) by Angela Partington, disputed in The Quote Verifier : Who Said What, Where, and When (2006) by Ralph Keyes, p. 224, as something Truman is not known to have said, nor was likely to have said.
Disputed

“The Committee is authorized on behalf of the President to examine into the rules, procedures and practices of the Armed Services in order to determine in what respect such rules, procedures and practices may be altered or improved with a view to carrying out the policy of this order. The Committee shall confer and advise the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of the Army, the Secretary of the Navy, and the Secretary of the Air Force, and shall make such recommendations to the President and to said Secretaries as in the judgment of the Committee will effectuate the policy hereof.”

Harry Truman

Executive Order 9981 (1948)

“The United States has a tremendous responsibility to act according to the measure of our power for good in the world. We have learned that we must earn the peace we seek just as we earned victory in the war, not by wishful thinking but by realistic effort. At no time in our history has unity among our people been so vital as it is at the present time. Unity of purpose, unity of effort, and unity of spirit are essential to accomplish the task before us.”

Harry Truman

Special Message to the Congress on the Threat to the Freedom of Europe (1948)

“They couldn't include me in it because I was the President, and I can be elected as often as I want to be. I'm going to run again when I'm ninety. I've announced that a time or two, and you know, some damn fool looked the situation over and said, "When you're ninety, it's an off year," so I can't even run then. I didn't know I was going to stir up all that trouble...”

Harry Truman

On the 22nd Amendment limiting a president to two terms, in a lecture at Columbia University (28 April 1959)

“Almost 3 years have elapsed since the end of the greatest of all wars, but peace and stability have not returned to the world. We were well aware that the end of the fighting would not automatically settle the problems arising out of the war. The establishment of peace after the fighting is over has always been a difficult task. And even if all the Allies of World War II were united in their desire to establish a just and honorable peace, there would still be great difficulties in the way of achieving that peace.”

Harry Truman

Special Message to the Congress on the Threat to the Freedom of Europe (1948)

“So much blood has already been shed for the ideals which we cherish, and for which Franklin Delano Roosevelt lived and died, that we dare not permit even a momentary pause in the hard fight for victory.
Today, the entire world is looking to America for enlightened leadership to peace and progress. Such a leadership requires vision, courage and tolerance. It can be provided only by a united nation deeply devoted to the highest ideals.”

Harry Truman

Address to Congress (1945)

“I've seen it happen time after time. When the Democratic candidate allows himself to be put on the defensive and starts apologizing for the New Deal and the fair Deal, and says he really doesn't believe in them, he is sure to lose. The people don't want a phony Democrat. If it's a choice between a genuine Republican, and a Republican in Democratic clothing, the people will choose the genuine article, every time; that is, they will take a Republican before they will a phony Democrat, and I don't want any phony Democratic candidates in this campaign.”

Harry Truman

Address at the National Convention Banquet of the Americans for Democratic Action (17 May 1952) https://trumanlibrary.org/publicpapers/index.php?pid=1296&st=republican+party&st1=

“There shall be created in the National Military Establishment an advisory committee to be known as the President's Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services, which shall be composed of seven members to be designated by the President.”

Harry Truman

Executive Order 9981 (1948)

“He’s one of the few in the history of this country to run for high office talking out of both sides of his mouth at the same time and lying out of both sides.”

Harry Truman

On Richard Nixon, as quoted Plain Speaking : An Oral Biography of Harry S Truman (1974) by Merle Miller, p. 179

“All of you, I am sure, have heard many cries about Government interference with business and about "creeping socialism." I should like to remind the gentlemen who make these complaints that if events had been allowed to continue as they were going prior to March 4, 1933, most of them would have no businesses left for the Government or for anyone else to interfere with — and almost surely we would have socialism in this country, real socialism.”

Harry Truman

Harry Truman in Detroit (14 May 1950), as recorded in Good Old Harry

“I don't believe in anti-anything. A man has to have a program; you have to be for something, otherwise you will never get anywhere.”

Harry Truman

Lecture at Columbia University (28 April 1959)

“The principles and the purposes expressed in the Charter of the United Nations continue to represent our hope for the eventual establishment of the rule of law in international affairs. The Charter constitutes the basic expression of the code of international ethics to which this country is dedicated. We cannot, however, close our eyes to the harsh fact that through obstruction and even defiance on the part of one nation, this great dream has not yet become a full reality. It is necessary, therefore, that we take additional measures to supplement the work of the United Nations and to support its aims. There are times in world history when it is far wiser to act than to hesitate. There is some risk involved in action — there always is. But there is far more risk in failure to act. For if we act wisely now, we shall strengthen the powerful forces for freedom, justice, and peace which are represented by the United Nations and the free nations of the world.”

Harry Truman

Special Message to the Congress on the Threat to the Freedom of Europe (1948)