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Buck Stops Here Tie Tack
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Buck Stops Here Tie Tack

SKU H4058
The Buck Stops Here Tie Tack

A perfect accessory for the Truman fan and a sure conversation starter! The original famous desk sign that this pin is modeled after was made at the United States Southwest Reformatory (Federal Reformatory) in El Reno, Oklahoma. While visiting the Reformatory in 1945, Fred M. Canfil, then United States Marshal for the Western District of Missouri and a friend of Mr. Truman, admired a similar sign on the desk of Warden L. Clark Schilder. Schilder promptly offered to have his staff make one for President Truman.The saying “The buck stops here” derives from the slang expression “pass the buck,” which means passing the responsibility on to someone else. The latter expression is said to have originated with the game of poker, in which a marker or counter, frequently in frontier days a knife with a buckhorn handle, was used to indicate the person whose turn it was to deal. If the player did not wish to deal he could pass the responsibility by passing the “buck,” as the counter came to be called, to the next player.

On more than one occasion, President Truman referred to the desk sign in public statements. For example, in an address to 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 here 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 in January, 1953, President Truman referred to this concept very specifically in his 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.” Wood and gold toned, approximately 1-1/8" x 1/4".

Your purchase helps support the educational and exhibit programs of the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library & Museum.
    Your Price $3.00