Harry S. Truman

Truman made two deeply unpopular choices in four years. His 1948 executive order to desegregate the armed forces angered Southern Democrats so much that some walked out to run Strom Thurmond against him. In 1951 he sacked General Douglas MacArthur for publicly challenging the administration's Korea policy, and his approval rating sank to around 22 per cent, among the lowest ever recorded. Both decisions now look like the right ones: a desegregated military and the principle of civilian control.