Question 1

True or false: Truman was the last U.S. president without a college degree.

Accepted Answer

True. He attended law school briefly but never graduated; his only degree was an honorary one after leaving office.

Question 2

True or false: Truman was born in a log cabin, like several earlier presidents.

Accepted Answer

False. He was born in a frame house in Lamar, Missouri—not a log cabin—though his family had humble roots.

Question 3

True or false: Truman was the first president to fly in an airplane while in office.

Accepted Answer

False. Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first sitting president to fly, notably to the Casablanca Conference in 1943.

Question 4

True or false: Truman was an avid piano player and once considered a career as a musician.

Accepted Answer

True. As a young man, he played piano daily and even briefly considered joining a touring vaudeville act.

Question 5

True or false: Truman served in the administrative role of Presiding Judge of Jackson County before becoming a U.S. Senator.

Accepted Answer

True. Truman was elected Presiding Judge of Jackson County, Missouri, in 1926, an administrative (not judicial) position. He served until 1934 when he won a U.S. Senate seat.

Question 6

True or false: Truman's middle initial 'S' doesn't stand for a full name—it's just 'S.'

Accepted Answer

True. His parents couldn't decide between naming him after his grandfathers, Anderson Shipp Truman or Solomon Young, so they settled on just the letter 'S.'

Question 7

True or false: Truman approved the use of atomic bombs without ever seeing a test explosion.

Accepted Answer

True. He was informed of the Trinity test but did not witness it; he relied on reports from scientists like Oppenheimer.

Question 8

True or false: Truman's famous 'The buck stops here' sign was made by a friend in prison.

Accepted Answer

False. The sign was a gift from prison warden Fred A. Canfil, a friend of Truman, but it was crafted at the El Reno Federal Reformatory, not by an incarcerated friend.

Harry S. Truman Trivia Questions