Oscar Wilde may have said it best: “The truth is rarely pure and never simple.” When it comes to history, the likelihood is that many of the most incredible stories about culturally significant 20th century leaders are, in fact, not quite true. Over time, if repeated enough, these misconceptions creep into common knowledge, becoming “facts” that are anything but.
Below, we look at some of the most persistent — and often bizarre — misconceptions about 20th century leaders, separating myth from reality.
Margaret Thatcher Invented Soft-Serve Ice Cream
The UK’s first female Prime Minister, and arguably the most divisive political figure in British history, Margaret Thatcher is often said to have invented soft-serve ice cream. The image of the “Iron Lady” as a secret mastermind behind Mr Whippy vans might sound too odd to be true — and that’s because it is.
Soft-serve ice cream is a softer, less dense variation of traditional ice cream, made by incorporating air during the freezing process, resulting in lower milk fat content and a lighter texture. While Thatcher did work briefly as a research chemist for food manufacturer J. Lyons & Co. in the late 1940s, she had nothing to do with its invention. In fact, soft-serve had already been popularised in the United States as far back as 1938, when Thatcher was still a teenager.
According to The Times, either J. F. McCullough or Tom Carvel can claim credit. McCullough served it at a friend’s shop in Illinois, selling 1,600 servings in just two hours — one every four and a half seconds — while Carvel stumbled upon it after his ice cream truck broke down in New York, selling the slowly melting product to delighted customers. Both went on to found major brands — Dairy Queen and Carvel — well before Thatcher’s stint at Lyons.
The myth likely comes from her role at Lyons during the company’s collaboration with US brand Mister Softee to introduce soft-serve to the UK. However, Thatcher’s actual job was inspecting cake and pie fillings, not developing ice cream technology. Even if she had been involved, she could hardly be credited as the sole inventor.
As a side note, for her brief scientific career, Thatcher was once nominated as a possible face for the new British £20 note. In 2019, the honour went to Enigma code-breaker Alan Turing — perhaps a more universally popular choice, especially in the north of England.
Mussolini Made the Trains Run on Time
“Say what you want about the fascists, but they made the trains run on time.” This line — or a variant of it — is often cited as a backhanded compliment to Benito Mussolini, the fascist dictator of Italy from the 1920s through the 1940s. But in reality, it’s another piece of political propaganda that’s been swallowed whole.
Italy’s railway system had begun improving before Mussolini ever came to power. Journalist Kenneth Roberts wrote in 1924 that service quality had improved “almost beyond belief” in Mussolini’s first year — but other accounts suggest much of this was exaggerated or fabricated. Trains still frequently ran late; Mussolini simply took credit for earlier reforms, using punctuality as a symbol of his regime’s supposed efficiency.
Historian Denis Mack Smith notes that key Alpine railway lines still had only single tracks, with total capacity far below the country’s peacetime needs. The “on-time” myth persisted because it was easy to understand, easy to repeat, and — for Mussolini — politically useful.
The one train Mussolini definitely ensured ran on time was the one carrying him to Rome after his 1922 March on Rome. He even phoned ahead to the stationmaster to make sure of it — though, ironically, he was heading to a meeting he wouldn’t actually attend.
It’s a classic example of how misconceptions about 20th century leaders can stick: the truth doesn’t matter as much as the story people want to believe.
Hitler Snubbed Jesse Owens
The 1936 Berlin Olympics, intended as a showcase of Nazi ideology and Aryan supremacy, famously backfired when African-American athlete Jesse Owens won four gold medals. The enduring story is that Adolf Hitler, embarrassed by Owens’ victories, refused to shake his hand — a snub that became symbolic of Nazi racism.
The reality is more nuanced. At the start of the Games, Hitler only congratulated German athletes. He was told by Olympic officials that he must either greet all medalists or none. He chose none, meaning Owens was not personally singled out for snubbing. Owens himself later stated: “When I passed the Chancellor, he arose, waved his hand at me, and I waved back. Hitler didn’t snub me.”
Ironically, the real snub came from Owens’ own country. Upon returning to the US, he was not invited to the White House, did not receive a telegram from President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and had to use a service lift to attend his own reception at the Waldorf Astoria because Black guests were barred from the main entrance.
It’s a perfect example of how some misconceptions about 20th century leaders survive not because they’re entirely false, but because they tell a story that resonates emotionally — even if the reality is more complicated.
Theodore Roosevelt Rides a Bull Moose
Among all the strong and stubborn personalities of the 20th century, none carried the same sheer “larger than life” energy as Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt. A man who famously sparred in the boxing ring, went on hunting expeditions across continents, navigated frozen rivers to catch boat thieves, and even delivered a full campaign speech after being shot in the chest — Roosevelt embodied toughness.
In the 1912 presidential election, Roosevelt ran under the Progressive Party banner, nicknamed the “Bull Moose” Party. This was partly thanks to Roosevelt himself reportedly saying, “I am as fit as a bull moose” after being asked about his health following an assassination attempt.
Somewhere along the way, this led to one of the more whimsical misconceptions about 20th century leaders: the idea that Roosevelt actually rode a bull moose. For over a century, a striking image circulated showing him astride the massive animal, using it as campaign imagery.
In reality, the “photo” was an early example of political photo manipulation. It wasn’t until 2013 that Heather Cole, curator of Harvard University’s Theodore Roosevelt Collection, confirmed it was a fake — a simple cut-and-paste job done with scissors and glue by the Underwood & Underwood photography firm for a collage called “The Race for the White House.” The original image was likely of Roosevelt riding a horse, swapped out for a moose to create a more memorable picture.
It fooled people for decades partly because Roosevelt really did have a deep connection to wildlife. He kept dozens of pets — from a bear named Jonathan Edwards to a lizard called Emily Spinach — and was a passionate conservationist. For many, the thought of him actually riding a moose didn’t seem all that far-fetched.
Stalin: “A Single Death Is a Tragedy, a Million Deaths Is a Statistic”
If there’s one line that gets casually dropped in political debates, documentaries, and history classrooms, it’s this one. The quote is chilling, cynical, and disturbingly apt for someone like Joseph Stalin — which is probably why it’s stuck so well in the public imagination. But despite its enduring fame, there’s no reliable evidence Stalin ever said it.
The trail leads elsewhere. German journalist Kurt Tucholsky wrote a similar line in 1925: “The death of one man: that is a catastrophe. One hundred thousand deaths: that is a statistic.” Author Erich Maria Remarque also penned a near-identical sentiment in his 1956 novel Der schwarze Obelisk. Soviet historians have found no record of Stalin saying anything like it in speeches, writings, or private correspondence.
That hasn’t stopped the quote from being attributed to him, often in English-language histories of the USSR. Its association with Stalin is likely because it fits with his reputation — cold, calculating, and indifferent to human suffering — and because it’s easier to remember the words if they’re attached to a notorious figure.
It’s yet another case study in how misconceptions about 20th century leaders often thrive not because of their truthfulness, but because they feel emotionally “right.”
Idi Amin’s Spot of Rugby
Idi Amin, Uganda’s self-proclaimed “President for Life” and one of the most infamous dictators of the 20th century, had a background that included genuine sporting achievements. Standing at 6’4” and weighing close to 300 pounds, Amin was the Ugandan light heavyweight boxing champion for nearly a decade, and he also played rugby for Nile R.F.C. and Kobs R.F.C. in Kampala.
The misconception comes from the oft-repeated claim that Amin once played as a replacement for East Africa in a 1955 match against the touring British Lions rugby team. It’s a colourful story — the idea of the future “Butcher of Uganda” facing off against one of rugby’s most prestigious teams — but it simply isn’t true.
Amin’s name doesn’t appear in team lists or photographs from the game, and there’s an even more basic reason the myth falls apart: replacements weren’t permitted in rugby union until 1968, 13 years later. The legend probably grew from the fact that Amin was a known rugby player in that era, and people conflated his club-level play with the famous British Lions match.
Bizarrely, Amin’s true sporting fandom later turned to Hayes F.C., a tiny football club in Greater London, after a conversation with a military colleague sparked his interest.
Castro Led a Communist Revolution from the Start
Few leaders are as synonymous with 20th century communism as Fidel Castro. But one of the most common misconceptions about 20th century leaders is that Castro’s 1959 Cuban Revolution was communist from the outset.
In reality, the revolution’s initial goals were much broader and more in line with mainstream Cuban political aspirations of the time: restoring the 1940 constitution, redistributing land to poor farmers, and ending government corruption under President Fulgencio Batista. While some communists supported the revolution, Cuba’s communist party — which had previously aligned with Batista — didn’t back Castro until near the end of the conflict, when US arms embargoes weakened Batista’s position.
Historian Ada Ferrer notes that calling the revolution “communist” from day one oversimplifies history and ignores the internal Cuban dynamics and Cold War pressures that later pushed Castro firmly into the Soviet camp. Cuba officially became a communist state in 1961, two years after Castro took power.
Hirohito Was Seen as a “God” by All of Japan
Emperor Hirohito, Japan’s longest-reigning modern monarch, is often thought to have been universally regarded as a living god before and during World War II. This belief has roots in the Meiji era, when Japan’s leadership deliberately promoted the emperor’s divine status to unify the nation, drawing on ancient myths recorded in the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki texts.
However, this was far from universally held by the Japanese public, and Hirohito himself publicly renounced divinity in the 1946 Humanity Declaration, stating that Japan’s bond between ruler and people “does not depend upon mere legends and myths” or on the idea of racial superiority.
Despite this, the emperor remained a controversial figure, particularly for his role during World War II. By the 1980s, surveys showed that most young Japanese people felt apathetic toward him, with less than a quarter expressing positive feelings.
Saddam Hussein Never Had Interest in Nuclear Weapons
Another misconception about 20th century leaders emerged after the 2003 Iraq War, when the absence of active weapons of mass destruction led some to believe Saddam Hussein had never pursued them. While Iraq did not have operational nuclear weapons in 2003, it had previously shown clear intent to develop them.
As far back as 1959, Iraq had engaged the Soviet Union for nuclear cooperation. By the late 1970s and 1980s, its weapons programs were advancing, leading to Israel’s 1981 bombing of the Osirak nuclear reactor to prevent Iraq from acquiring a nuclear strike capability.
The 1991 Gulf War revealed just how close Iraq had come to enriching uranium for weapons, despite being a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Chairman Mao Means “Cat” in Chinese
One of the lighter misconceptions about 20th century leaders is that Mao Zedong’s surname translates to “cat” in Chinese. While “mao” can mean “cat” in Mandarin, the character for Mao in Mao Zedong’s name (毛) actually means “hair.”
Mandarin is a tonal language, meaning identical-sounding syllables can have entirely different meanings depending on pitch. The word for cat (貓) uses the first tone, while Mao’s name uses the second tone, which can also mean “spear” or “anchor” in other contexts.
The mix-up has been repeated in pop culture, including on the BBC panel show QI, but native speakers and linguists have long pointed out the error.
Epilogue
If there’s one lesson to take from these stories, it’s that history is rarely as straightforward as the headlines — or the myths — would have us believe. Misconceptions about 20th century leaders arise from propaganda, misunderstanding, or simply from the irresistible appeal of a good story.
Over time, they become “truths” in the public imagination, whether it’s Thatcher with an ice cream cone, Roosevelt on a moose, or Stalin making chilling pronouncements. In the decades to come, new myths will no doubt emerge — and some, like these, will be stubbornly hard to kill.
