He made the trains run on time...

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Italian dictator Benito Mussolini rose to power after World War I. He created Italy's Fascist Party, became prime minister and eventually took control of the country. Mussolini liked to take credit for everything that went right in Italy, even when it didn't go that well at all. He was particularly fond of saying he was responsible for successful, large-scale public works projects, such as the railroad system.

In fact, there's an old saying about Mussolini that goes something like this: "Mussolini made the trains run on time." The idea is that even dictators have their good points. Despite fascism being an often brutal model of efficient government, full of poverty and corruption -- hey, at least the trains ran on time [source: Cathcart].

But, in Mussolini's case, even this good point wasn't exactly true. He used pro-Fascist propaganda to boost his power and selected the rail industry as an example of a key way in which he'd improve daily life for Italians. While there were some improvements -- in terms of reduced unemployment and investment in infrastructure -- this didn't always translate into the perfection the propaganda purported.

https://history.howstuffworks.com/history-vs-myth/did-mussolini-really-keep-trains-running-on-time.htm