Comment by ashf023
9 hours ago
> It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit. -- Me, 2026
Jokes aside, this is a thought provoking quote. I do think it's easy to say as a well known figurehead, when the quote and other actions below you may easily be attributed to you, at least partially. But I do agree somewhat, and I think the context around Truman's time (WWII) is a good example of what humanity can accomplish when the stakes at hand supersede the considerations of workers' rights or credit/ownership. Of course this is also a very favorable phrasing for a period of enormous human suffering. I think there is an arms race analogy to be drawn here, though the current situation and stakes are much different.
I remember reading an account of a number of intelligencia taking over a factory shortly after the Soviet revolution after it was nationalized and they got super dialed in an productivity shot up. The factory ran like a swiss watch.
It took nearly a year for things to regress. Bad actors started taking plum positions and the actual intellectuals didn't really want to be working in a factory long term and then there was the question of who got the benefits of this success.
It was fascinating though how heady it was for that first year when everybody was highly aligned and working smartly and in unison.
Funnily enough, there’s a good chance Truman never said those words; the earliest known attribution of the quote to him is from a Time magazine article written in 1988. It’s not in any of his personal writing or speeches.