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Who really said it

Can't somebody bring me a one-handed economist?

Attributed to Harry S. Truman 1884–1972 · 33rd President of the United States (1945–1953)
Attributed Rights unconfirmed

Credited to Truman almost everywhere the line appears, but nothing contemporary ties it to him. The exact wording is first documented in 1974, second-hand, when the economist Walter W. Heller told a meeting of the American Economic Association that Truman had shouted it after listening to his economic adviser Edwin Nourse — a scene that, if it happened, happened in 1949 or earlier.

Last verified 9 Sep 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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Unconfirmed quote & credit

“Can't somebody bring me a one-handed economist?” attributed to Harry S. Truman (1884–1972). No contemporary source. The wording is first documented second-hand in Edwin Nourse's New York Times obituary, 10 April 1974; the joke itself was circulating about other professions by 1936. Via Quotle.info

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In context

Evoking the world of Harry S. Truman — 33rd President of the United States (1945–1953). Theme: "Can't somebody bring me a one-handed economist?". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

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Provenance

Where the wording actually appears

Earliest print attribution
Edwin Nourse, 90, Dies; Truman’s Economic Aide, Sought Anonymity
Published
The New York Times, 10 April 1974, by Steven R. Weisman
Told by
Walter W. Heller, at a meeting of the American Economic Association — a second-hand account
Scene dated
1949 or earlier, if genuine: Edwin Nourse chaired the Council of Economic Advisers 1946–1949

At a meeting of the American Economic Association, Walter W. Heller [...] said that Dr. Nourse was a classic “on the one hand—on the other hand” economist and that he infuriated President Truman with his failure to present a clear policy for him to adopt. Finally, Dr. Heller said, Mr. Truman shouted: “Can’t somebody bring me a one-handed economist?” Second-hand, 1974

As printed in Edwin Nourse’s obituary in The New York Times, 10 April 1974 — the earliest attribution to Truman that Quote Investigator has found, and a recollection of a remark said to date from 1949 or earlier.

Quote Investigator: Can’t Somebody Bring Me a One-Handed Economist?

How we verified this

No work written or published by Truman contains this sentence; it survives only as a remark other people remembered. The earliest text that carries the wording is a 1974 New York Times obituary, which is itself in copyright, so nothing here can be called public domain — the seven-word quip has no identifiable published origin to assign a status to.

Rights status is our research, not legal advice — and copyright varies by country and edition. For commercial or published use, confirm with the rightsholder. See terms.

Fact-check

Everyone’s favourite economist joke, and its uncertain owner

This is not a fabricated quote so much as an orphaned one. The joke was in circulation before Truman reached the White House, was told about several different professions, and only attached itself to him in print long after he left office — which is why sites that print it with a confident date are printing something nobody can show you.

Harry S. Truman Unconfirmed

Repeated everywhere, sourced almost nowhere — the Foundation for Economic Education, for instance, tells the story with no citation or date at all ↗. Barry Popik’s survey of the printed record concludes that there is no evidence associating the joke with Truman’s administration ↗.

Charles E. Wilson Also credited

In January 1956 a Washington newspaper item ran the same gag about the Defense Secretary, reporting that Wilson could use a “good one-handed man” because subordinates kept saying on the one hand this and the other hand that — years before Truman’s name was ever attached to it in print ↗.

A tax consultant, an Alabama judge, a Colorado attorney general, anonymous businessmen Floating gag

Quote Investigator tracks the quip through a 1951 “one-armed tax man,” a 1955 “one-armed man for president” of the state bar, a 1957 “one-armed lawyer” and a 1960 “one handed attorney general” — a template that could be fitted to any hedging profession ↗.

The earliest published instance of the joke that Quote Investigator has located is a 1936 Scripps-Howard editorial calling for a “one-armed platform writer” — and the earliest version pinned to Truman is a second-hand anecdote printed in 1974 ↗. He may well have said it; the paper trail simply starts long after he could confirm it.

Context

Why a president wanted an economist with one arm

The gag needs no explanation to anyone who has ever asked an expert a yes-or-no question. An adviser lays out the case “on the one hand,” then turns it over “on the other hand,” and the person who has to actually decide something is left holding two answers and no decision. Amputate a limb, the joke runs, and you get a straight reply.

Truman had a natural foil for it. Edwin G. Nourse, the Brookings economist he appointed in 1946 to chair the brand-new Council of Economic Advisers, was in the job until 1949 ↗ and had a scholar’s reluctance to hand a politician a single recommendation. Both surviving accounts of the remark put Nourse in the room. What neither account is, is contemporary: the first was published in 1974 and the second was a telephone recollection given in 1986, and Quote Investigator notes that both came decades after the events they describe ↗.

The joke is older than the president it belongs to.

The competing wordings, and where each one actually comes from

“Can’t somebody bring me a one-handed economist?” — Walter W. Heller’s account, as printed in Edwin Nourse’s New York Times obituary of 10 April 1974. This is the earliest attribution to Truman that Quote Investigator has found ↗.

“John, do you think you could find me a one-armed economist?” — what John R. Steelman, Truman’s Assistant to the President, recalled in a 1986 telephone conversation with Truman Library staff, as relayed by archivist Randy Sowell in 2019 ↗. Same scene, different limb.

“Get me a one-handed economist! All my economists say, ‘on the one hand, . . . but on the other.’” — as printed in Paul F. Boller’s Presidential Anecdotes (1996), where the supporting citation is an indirect one from 1980 ↗.

“Give me a one-handed economist!” — the form that actually circulates on the quote aggregators, where Goodreads, AZQuotes and Quotefancy all print it as a flat Truman quotation with no citation of any kind. It is Boller’s sentence with the verb changed, one step further from a source that was already indirect.

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Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

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Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

Quote Origin: Can't Somebody Bring Me a One-Handed Economist?quoteinvestigator.com

The full investigation: the 1936 ancestor, the mid-century versions credited to a tax man, a judge and Charles E. Wilson, the 1974 Heller account, and the Truman Library's 2019 answer.
One-Armed Economist (who doesn't say "on the other hand")barrypopik.com

Barry Popik's 2010 citation trail, which states flatly that there is no evidence connecting the joke to Truman's administration.
Edwin G. Nourse Papers — finding aidtrumanlibrary.gov

The Truman Library's own record for the adviser in the story: chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers 1946–1949, born 1883, died 7 April 1974.
Edwin Griswold Nourseen.wikipedia.org

Background on the first CEA chairman — and a reminder that the famous remark appears nowhere in his biography.
Harry S. Trumanen.wikiquote.org

Wikiquote's Truman page, which carries no version of the line in any section — sourced, disputed or misattributed.
An Indicator In The Hand (transcript, 29 March 2019)npr.org

A typical modern retelling: NPR's The Indicator opens by stating Truman asked a staffer to find him a one-armed economist, with no source given.

The man it is pinned to

About Harry S. Truman

Harry S. Truman

1884–1972 · 33rd President of the United States (1945–1953)

Harry S. Truman was born in Missouri on 8 May 1884 and became the 33rd President of the United States, serving from 1945 until 1953. In 1946 he appointed the Brookings economist Edwin G. Nourse to head the newly created Council of Economic Advisers, a post Nourse held until 1949 — the working relationship at the centre of this anecdote. Truman died on 26 December 1972; no recording or contemporary document of the “one-handed economist” remark has ever been produced.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Earliest documented attribution

Earliest documented in Steven R. Weisman, “Edwin Nourse, 90, Dies; Truman’s Economic Aide, Sought Anonymity,” The New York Times, 10 April 1974, p. 44 — quoted and dated in Quote Investigator, “Quote Origin: Can’t Somebody Bring Me a One-Handed Economist?” 10 April 2019. No contemporary source for the remark is known.

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘Can't somebody bring me a one-handed economist?’?” Last verified 9 Sep 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/cant-somebody-bring-me-a-one-handed-economist/

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