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Harry S. Truman

81 quotes

“I think one man is just as good as another so long as he's honest and decent and not a nigger or a Chinaman. Uncle Wills says that the Lord made a white man from dust, a nigger from mud, and then threw what was left and it came down a Chinaman. He does hate Chinese and Japs. So do I. It is race prejudice I guess. But I am strongly of the opinion that negroes ought to be in Arica, yellow men in Asia, and white men in Europe and America.”
Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) first seen 1911 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Bess Wallace (22 June 1911)
“We want no Gestapo or Secret Police. F.B.I. is tending in that direction. They are dabbling in sex life scandles [sic] and plain blackmail when they should be catching criminals. They also have a habit of sneering at local law enforcement officers.”
Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) first seen 1945 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Longhand note (May 12, 1945)
“If we see that Germany is winning we ought to help Russia and if Russia is winning we ought to help Germany, and that way let them kill as many as possible, although I don't want to see Hitler victorious under any circumstances. Neither of them thinks anything of their pledged word.”
Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) first seen 1941 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in The New York Times (24 June 1941); also in Time magazine (2 July 1951))
“People are very much wrought up about the Communist bugaboo... the country is perfectly safe so far as Communism is concerned—we have too many sane people.”
Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) first seen 1947 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to George H. Earle, former governor of Pennsylvania (received 28 February 1947); reported in The New York Times (3 April 1947), p. 17, quoting Earle. Reported in David McCullough, Truman (Simon & Schuster, 2003),…
“I am not worried about the Communist Party taking over the Government of the United States, but I am against a person, whose loyalty is not to the Government of the United States, holding a Government job. They are entirely different things. I am not worried about this country ever going Communist. We have too much sense for that.”
Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) first seen 1947 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Responding to a question at his press conference (February 28, 1947); reported in Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Harry S. Truman, 1947, p. 191
“It is my deep conviction that we have reached a turning point in our country's efforts to guarantee freedom and equality to all our citizens. Recent events in the United States and abroad have made us realize that it is more important today than ever before to insure that all Americans enjoy these rights. When I say all Americans, I mean all Americans.”
Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) first seen 1947 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech to the NAACP (June 29, 1947)
“Some of my best friends never agree with me politically.”
Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) first seen 1947 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Statement to a group of four congress freshmen (2 July 1947), as quoted in The Memoirs of Richard Nixon, p. 44
“The Russians are like us, they look and act like us. They are fine people. They got along with our soldiers in Berlin very well. As far as I am concerned, they can have whatever they want just so they don't try to impose their system on others.”
Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) first seen 1947 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Statement to a group of four congress freshmen (2 July 1947), as quoted in The Memoirs of Richard Nixon, p. 44
“The Russians are liars – you can't trust them. At Potsdam they agreed to everything and broke their word. It's too bad the second world power is like this, but that's the way it is, and we must keep our strength.”
Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) first seen 1969 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Statement to Richard Nixon and his wife Pat in 1969, as quoted in The Memoirs of Richard Nixon, p. 44
“Tell him to go to hell; I'm for Jimmy Byrnes.”
Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) first seen 1944 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Upon hearing that Franklin D. Roosevelt wanted him to be his vice presidential running mate (21 July 1944), as quoted in Choosing Truman: The Democratic Convention of 1944 (1994); also quoted in "Harry S. Truman: Americ…
“Boys, if you ever pray, pray for me now. I don't know whether you fellows ever had a load of hay fall on you, but when they told me yesterday what had happened, I felt like the moon, the stars and all the planets had fallen on me. I've got the most terribly responsible job a man ever had.”
Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) first seen 1945 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Comment to reporters on having become president the day before, after the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt, (13 April 1945) as quoted in Conflict and Crisis: The Presidency of Harry S. Truman, 1945-1948 by Robert J. Donov…
“Never bring that fucking cretin in here again. He did not drop the bomb. I did. That kind of weepiness makes me sick.”
Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) said by 1972 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Comment to Secretary of State Dean Acheson regarding Robert Oppenheimer, after Oppenheimer's comment to Truman about having "blood on my hands" due to his role in creating the atomic bombs. As quoted in Alan Axelrod (20…
“No nation on this globe should be more internationally minded than America because it was built by all nations.”
Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) first seen 1945 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Harry Truman at Chicago, 17 March 1945, as recorded in Good Old Harry
“Mr. Luce, you've asked a fair question and I'll give you a fair answer. I've been in politics thirty-five years and everything that could be said about a human being has been said about me. But my wife has never been in politics. She has always conducted herself in a circumspect manner and no one has a right to make derogatory remarks about here. Now your wife has said many unkind and untrue things about Mrs. Truman. And as long as I am in residence here, she'll not be a guest in the White House.”
Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) first seen 1945 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Henry Luce (1945); as quoted in Good Old Harry
“I sincerely wish that every member of Congress could visit the displaced person's camp in Germany and Austria and see just what is happening to 500,000 human beings through no fault of their own.”
Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) first seen 1946 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Walter F. George (October 1946); as quoted in Great Jewish Quotations (1996) by Alfred J. Kolatch, p. 463
“But America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.”
Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) first seen 1947 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Special Message to the Congress: The President's First Economic Report (January 8, 1947)
“No government is perfect. One of the chief virtues of a democracy, however, is that its defects are always visible and under democratic processes can be pointed out and corrected.”
Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) first seen 1947 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech to a joint session of the US Congress (March 12, 1947)
“This is a Christian nation.”
Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) first seen 1947 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Exchange of Messages With Pope Pius XII," American Presidency Project (August 28, 1947)
“The people can never understand why the President does not use his powers to make them behave. Well all the president is, 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.”
Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) first seen 1947 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Mary Jane Truman (November 14, 1947)
“On tight money: It reflects a reversion to the old idea that the tree can be fertilized at the top instead of at the bottom — the old trickle-down theory.”
Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) first seen 1954 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Harry Truman at the Amalgamated Clothing Workers Convention, Atlantic City (May 13, 1954), Good Old Harry
“Your old friend Congressman Hartley of the Taft Hartley team ... has written a book ... The title of this book is Our New National Labor Policy, the Taft-Hartley Act and the Next Steps. Get that: "The Next Steps" ... They're going even further! ... The Republicans favor a minimum wage — the smaller the minimum the better.”
Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) first seen 1948 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Harry Truman at Akron (October 11, 1948), Good Old Harry
“Senator Barkley and I will win this election and make these Republicans like it — don't forget that! We will do that because they are wrong and we are right, and I will prove it to you in just a few minutes.”
Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) first seen 1948 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Address to the Democratic National Convention (15 July 1948); this has often been paraphrased as: "They are wrong and we are right and I'm going to prove it to you!
“One of the difficulties with all our institutions is the fact that we've emphasized the reward instead of the service.”
Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) first seen 1949 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Harold E. Moore (27 September 1949)
“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 S. Truman (1884–1972) first seen 1950 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Harry Truman in Detroit (14 May 1950), as recorded in Good Old Harry
“I was the only calm one in the house. You see I've been shot at by experts.”
Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) first seen 1950 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Comment on his World War I experience after an assassination attempt on (1 November 1950) as quoted in Bess W. Truman (1986) by Margaret Truman
“I have read your lousy review of Margaret's concert. I've come to the conclusion that you are an eight ulcer man on a four ulcer job ... Some day I hope to meet you. When that happens you'll need a new nose, a lot of beefsteak for black eyes and perhaps a supporter below.”
Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) first seen 1950 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to critic Paul Hume, as quoted in Time magazine (18 December 1950)
“On the one hand, the Republicans are telling industrial workers that the high cost of food in the cities is due to this government's farm policy. On the other hand, the Republicans are telling the farmers that the high cost of manufactured goods on the farm is due to this government's labor policy. That's plain hokum. It's an old political trick: "If you can't convince 'em, confuse 'em." But this time it won't work.”
Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) first seen 1948 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Address at the National Plowing Match (18 September 1948); as quoted in Miracle of '48: Harry Truman's Major Campaign Speeches and Selected Whistle-stops (2003); edited by Steve Neal. Truman's mention of an "old politic…
“Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear.”
Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) first seen 1950 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Special Message to the Congress on the Internal Security of the United States (August 8, 1950)
“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 S. Truman (1884–1972) first seen 1952 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Address at the National Convention Banquet of the Americans for Democratic Action (May 17, 1952)
“I have found the best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it.”
Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) first seen 1955 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview with Margaret Truman, sitting in for host Edward R. Murrow, on Person to Person, CBS Television (May 27, 1955) [http://books.google.com/books?id=r03gAAAAMAAJ&q=%22I+have+found+the+best+way+to+give+advice+to+yo…
“You know, the United States Government turns its Chief Executive out to grass. They're just allowed to starve . . . If I hadn't inherited some property that finally paid things through, I'd be on relief now.”
Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) first seen 1958 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview with Edward R. Murrow on CBS Television (February 2, 1958)
“It's a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it's a depression when you lose yours.”
Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) first seen 1958 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in The Observer (April 13, 1958)
“I don't give a damn about "The Missouri Waltz" but I can't say it out loud because it's the song of Missouri. It's as bad as "The Star-Spangled Banner" so far as music is concerned.”
Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) first seen 1958 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Time magazine (February 10, 1958)
“I'm proud that I'm a politician. A politician is a man who understands government, and it takes a politician to run a government. A statesman is a politician who's been dead 10 or 15 years.”
Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) first seen 1958 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Impromptu remarks before the Reciprocity Club, Washington, D.C. (11 April 1958)
“Whenever you have an efficient government you have a dictatorship.”
Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) first seen 1959 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Lecture at Columbia University (April 28, 1959)
“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 S. Truman (1884–1972) first seen 1959 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the 22nd Amendment limiting a president to two terms, in a lecture at Columbia University (April 28, 1959)
“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 S. Truman (1884–1972) first seen 1959 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Lecture at Columbia University (April 28, 1959)
“I've said many a time that I think the Un-American Activities Committee in the House of Representatives was the most un-American thing in America!”
Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) first seen 1959 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Third Radner Lecture, Columbia University, New York City (29 April 1959), as published in Truman Speaks: Lectures And Discussions Held At Columbia University On April 27, 28, And 29, 1959 (1960), p. 111
“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 S. Truman (1884–1972) first seen 1960 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Reported in Truman Speaks (1960), p. 59.
“Student: Some people suggest that you are getting mellowed and less militant. Is that so? Truman: Not in the slightest degree. They are trying to make an elder statesmen of me, but they will never succeed.”
Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) first seen 1960 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Mr. Citizen, Harry Truman (1960)
“I do not believe in shooting anything that cannot shoot back.”
Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) first seen 1960 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Mr. Citizen, Harry Truman (1960)
“My favorite animal is the mule. He has more sense than a horse. He knows when to stop eating — and when to stop working.”
Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) first seen 1960 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Mr. Citizen, Harry Truman (1960)
“There are 14 or 15 million Americans who have the resources to have representatives in Washington to protect their interests, and that the interests of the great mass of the other people — the 150 or 160 million — is the responsibility of the president of the United States, and I propose to fulfill it.”
Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) first seen 1962 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted by John F. Kennedy in an address in Atlantic City at the Convention of the United Auto Workers (8 May 1962) As reported in the Ready Reference: John F. Kennedy Quotations of John F. Kennedy Presidential Librar…
“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 S. Truman (1884–1972) first seen 1970 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On problems during the Vietnam War, in a letter to Charles Kennedy (March 18, 1970)
“My choice early in life was either to be a piano-player in a whorehouse or a politician. And to tell the truth there's hardly any difference.”
Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) first seen 1971 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Esquire, vol. 76 (1971), also in Truman's Crises: A Political Biography of Harry S. Truman (1980) by Harold Foote Gosnell, p. 9; sometimes paraphrased: Being a politician is like being a piano player in a w…
“I think the greatest asset that the Kremlin has is Senator McCarthy.”
Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) first seen 1950 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: News Conference at Key West, March 30, 1950
“There isn’t any difference between the totalitarian Russian Government and the Hitler government and the Franco government in Spain. They are all alike. They are police state governments.”
Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) first seen 1950 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: News Conference at Key West, March 30, 1950
“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 S. Truman (1884–1972) said by 1972 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In this shrinking world, it is futile to seek safety behind geographical barriers. Real security will be found only in law and in justice. Here in America, we have labored long and hard to achieve a social order worthy of our great heritage. In our time, tremendous progress has been made toward a really democratic way of life. Let me assure the forward-looking people of America that there will be no relaxation in our efforts to improve the lot of the common people.”
Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) said by 1972 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is not enough to yearn for peace. We must work, and if necessary, fight for it. The task of creating a sound international organization is complicated and difficult. Yet, without such organization, the rights of man on earth cannot be protected. Machinery for the just settlement of international differences must be found. Without such machinery, the entire world will have to remain an armed camp. The world will be doomed to deadly conflict, devoid of hope for real peace.”
Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) said by 1972 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source