“He was not a hero or a magician or a chess player, or an obsession.
He was a certifiable member of the human race, direct, fallible, and unexpectedly wise when it counted.
He did not require to be loved. He did expect to be followed blindly. Congressional opposition never struck him as subversive, nor did he regard his critics as traitors. He never whined.
He walked around Washington every morning – it was safe then. He met with reporters frequently as a matter of course, and did not blame them for his failings. He did not use the office as a club or a shield, or a hiding place. He worked at it…..He said he lived by the Bible and history. So armed, he proved that the ordinary American is capable of grandeur. And that a President can be a human being.”
Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States, died 48 years ago today (December 26). Mary McGrory, from the Washington Star, wrote this obituary the following day, as recorded by David McCullough in his biography, TRUMAN (Simon & Schuster,1992)