Harry S. Truman

(1884 - 1972)

Harry S. Truman assumed the presidency upon Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s death in April 1945. In roughly the span of his first year in office—in which time he dropped atomic bombs on Japan and subsequently helped to conclude World War II—Truman’s approval rating dropped from 87 to 32 percent. He defeated Thomas Dewey in the election of 1948. On Truman’s desk he had two signs: one was a quote from Mark Twain, "Always do right, this will gratify some people and astonish the rest," and the other was "The buck stops here."