harry truman

“Give ‘em hell, Harry!” “The buck stops here!” These and other sayings typify Harry S. Truman, the 32nd president of the United States. He was a man who decided to drop the atomic bomb on Japan, fire Gen. Douglas Macarthur from leading the Korean War, and form the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. No matter what he did, Truman did not like to back down from conflict. Truman was born on May 8, 1884, in Lamar, Missouri, to …

…and United Nations forces in the Far East. This came after Macarthur disagreed with and disobeyed Truman’s policy of containing the conflict with communists to the Korean peninsula. Macarthur was immensely popular in the United States, and Truman suffered intense criticism for the decision. After leaving office in 1953, Truman spent the remainder of his life in Independence, Missouri, where he wrote and tried to influence politics. He died on Dec. 26, 1972, at the age of 88.