ABSTRACT
The epigraph quote is often attributed to Hyman Rickover, although various Web sites credit Eleanor Roosevelt equally as often. The attributions are never accompanied by a reference to an original source. Both individuals may have used it, or its underlying wisdom, in speeches and writing. The quote may also be phrased as “Great men talk about ideas; mediocre men talk about things; small men talk about people.” Regardless of how it’s worded or who originally said or wrote it, the concept is quintessentially Rickoverian. Although remembered most for his central role in the development of the U.S. Navy nuclear submarine fleet, Rickover’s idealism extended far beyond the military. He was born in Poland, in 1900, but twenty-two years later graduated from the United States Naval Academy. Somewhere along the way between his student days and his ascendancy to positions of enormous influence over U.S. military technology, he recognized the link between education, national security, and the type of freedom Americans enjoyed. He fretted enough over the fate of his adopted nation that he addressed its human-resource development problems in books, speeches, and testimony before congressional hearings.
