Courage and Leadership

By Zig Ziglar

The name Harry Truman reminds us of his famous quote, “The buck stops here.” He also said, “If you can’t stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen.” Mr. Truman was saying that, as a leader, it was his ultimate responsibility to make the final decision. He also knew that as president he would receive a considerable amount of criticism - some justified and some unjustified.

Much of the world is indebted to Harry Truman because of the things he started. Winston Churchill called him “the man who saved Western civilization.” He’s the one who put a stop to traditional American isolationism. He introduced a strategy of containment for the Soviet Union. He pushed through the Marshall Plan to rebuild Western Europe. He ended segregation in the U.S. Armed Forces and Federal Civil Service.

Truman had only a high school education, but he was a marvelous student, particularly of history. When Israel became a nation, the State Department advised him not to recognize them. The thinking was that they were a small nation surrounded by a hostile enemy and it was imprudent for America to recognize them. However, Truman knew his history and eleven minutes after Israel became an independent nation, he recognized her sovereignty. That took courage.

Truman gave the go-ahead on dropping the atomic bomb. Today there is considerable controversy over it, but the military people were unanimous in their agreement that, as horrible as it was, it saved millions of Japanese and American lives. In addition to that, had the bomb not been dropped, Russia would have been in on the invasion of Japan, and all of history would have been dramatically different. That decision took courage, but most significant decisions take both initiative and courage. Harry Truman had an abundance of both of those qualities and that’s why history has been so kind to him. Message: Develop those qualities and I’ll SEE YOU AT THE TOP!