Truman Day in Missouri

On President Truman’s desk in his White House office there was a painted glass sign "The Buck Stops Here". On its reverse side the sign had the words "I’m From Missouri". The saying "the buck stops here" derives from the slang expression "pass the buck" which means passing the responsibility on to someone else. In an address at the National War College on December 19, 1952 Mr. Truman said, "You know, it’s easy for the Monday morning quarterback to say what the coach should have done, after the game is over. But when the decision is up before you - and on my desk I have a motto which says The Buck Stops Here’ - the decision has to be made." In his farewell address to the American people given in January 1953, President Truman referred to this concept very specifically in asserting that, "The President--whoever he is--has to decide. He can’t pass the buck to anybody. No one else can do the deciding for him. That’s his job.

Truman Day is a commemorative holiday to celebrate the birth of Harry S. Truman, the 33rd President of the United States. It is celebrated May 8 in Missouri as a state holiday, according to Missouri Revised Statutes Section 9-035 Public Holidays and nationally by the United States Democratic Party. Since Truman was the only president to come from Missouri, this day is special for this state.

Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884 – December 26, 1972) was the 33rd President of the United States (1945–1953), an American politician of the Democratic Party. He served as a United States Senator from Missouri (1935-1945) and briefly as Vice President (1945) before he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945 upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt. He was president during the final months of World War II, making the decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Truman was elected in his own right in 1948. He presided over an uncertain domestic scene as America sought its path after the war, and tensions with the Soviet Union increased, marking the start of the Cold War.

Source: wikipedia.org