A small sphere of exposed brass gears wears a copper paper crown on a plum velvet cushion.

Original artwork, not a still

Harry S. Truman

The C students run the world.

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

Truman remarks that students who earned middling grades are the ones running the world. The line is wry rather than scornful: it suggests that power goes to the merely competent and determined rather than the brilliant, and it gently undercuts academic prestige.

Context reviewed

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