The desk sign was designed by Buford E. Tressider the head of the paint shop at the reformatory, who apparently made and painted the upright glass portion himself while receiving assistance from the Reformatory’s carpenter shop to fashion the walnut base. The sign measures approximately 2-1/2 inches by 13 inches. The glass portion bears the legend “The Buck Stops Here!” on the front and “I’m From Missouri” on the back. A felt pad on the bottom of the sign bears the legend, “El Reno.” President Truman received the sign on October 2, 1945.
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.”
On another occasion, in an interview with Barry Gray appearing in the New York Post on November 30, 1952, President Truman said, “I used to have a small sign on my desk that said, ‘the buck stops here!,’ for when everyone’s passed the buck it reaches this desk, and there’s only one place a president can take the ‘buck’ and that’s to God!”
This replica of Truman's iconic desk sign and guiding decision philosophy is approximately 13" X 2", with hardwood and polymer construction. Made in the USA.
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