"He emerges as a compromise candidate. 'The Missouri Compromise,' some people say." On May 8, 1884, President Harry Truman was born in Lamar, Missouri. | American Experience | PBS

"They began to realize that this fellow with the eyeglasses and the bank clerk look about him was, in fact, a man of real determination." President and WWI veteran Harry Truman died on December 26, 1972. | American Experience | PBS

Only a few weeks into his presidency, Harry Truman met the Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin for the first time on July 17, 1945. Though they would one day face each other on opposite sides of a cold war, the mood was light (Truman recorded the meeting in his diary as cordial). But while an optimistic Truman had a favorable first impression of Stalin, the Soviet leader found the President "worthless". | American Experience | PBS