No commentary intended on whether or not Truman said any of that; he just happens to be one of my favorite presidents, is all.

It happens that the origins of both the Truman quotes alluded to in Fred Kiesche’s comment are disputed. Yet the fact that Truman used the quotes is not really disputed.

The Yale Book of Quotations (YBQ) attributes the earliest documented use of the phrase “If you don’t like the heat, get out of the kitchen” to Harry Vaughan, U.S. presidential advisor and general, 1893-1981. It says the phrase first appeared in Time magazine in April 1952.

The phrase is often attributed to Truman and he did say it, but Truman does not claim that he created it. In a speech in December 1952 Truman said he heard it from a “colleague on the Jackson County Court”. This datum also comes from the YBQ which cites a biography of Truman by Wolfgang Mieder.

“The Buck Stops Here” did appear as a sign on Truman’s desk according to multiple references. But the YBQ says that it has an older history, and it cites a photo of a sign with the quote on an Army Colonel’s desk that appeared in a newspaper in October 1942.

Calvin Coolidge said a related phrase “I won’t pass the buck” in 1920 according to a 1924 reference cited in the YBQ. There is more information on both phrases in the YBQ which unfortunately is not online.

A quick Google Book search on the phrases using upper limits on the dates yields too many spurious hits with incorrect chronological information to be quickly useful. Google Book search is a powerful tool but all the results it gives have to be reviewed and cross-checked carefully.