1001 People Who Made America - Alan Axelrod [104]
Powell, John Wesley (1834–1902) Despite having lost an arm in the Civil War, Powell was an intrepid explorer of the American Southwest, especially the Grand Canyon and the Colorado River. From 1871 to 1879, he led a federal geologic and geographic survey of western lands, in the process establishing many of the fundamental practices of geology. As an ethnologist, Powell published the first classification of American Indian languages. Appointed the first director of the U.S. Bureau of Ethnology (1879) and director of the U.S. Geological Survey (1881–1892), Powell was also author of Report on the Lands of the Arid Region of the United States (1878), a major landmark in the study of ecology.
Powers, Francis Gary (1929–1977) Employed by the CIA as a pilot, Powers was captured on May 1, 1960, when his U-2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union. The resulting “U-2 Affair” exacerbated the Cold War between the U.S. and the USSR, prompting the cancellation of a major summit meeting between President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev. Tried and convicted of espionage, Powers was sentenced to 10 years in prison, but was exchanged in 1962 for Soviet spy Rudolf Abel.
Powhatan (died 1618) Wahunsonacock, called Powhatan by the English, was the sachem of more than 30 tribes, representing 128 villages with some 9,000 inhabitants living in territory from the Potomac River to the Great Dismal Swamp. Although this powerful chief initially opposed the settlement of the English colony at Jamestown in 1607, he soon established a friendly trading relationship with it. Possibly credible legend has it that his change of heart was due to the intercession of his daughter Pocahontas. Whatever his motives, his cordial treatment of the English was critical to the survival of the struggling settlement.
Prescott, William Hickling (1796–1859) Prescott is best remembered for his monumental History of the Conquest of Mexico (1843) and History of the Conquest of Peru (1847). He based his work on careful reading of original documents and strict analysis of evidence. His great gift as a historian was to combine this “scientific” approach with a major literary talent to produce histories that have endured both as history and literature for more than 150 years.
Presley, Elvis (1935–1977) Presley was born to a poor family in Tupelo, Mississippi, and moved with them to Memphis when he was in his teens. He auditioned for local record producer Sam Phillips, who, in 1954, issued Presley’s version of the blues classic “That’s All Right Mama.” It was the birth of “rockabilly”—a fusion of rock and roll and country and western with the African-American blues tradition—and soon took the country by storm. On September 9, 1956, Presley sang on the Ed Sullivan Show, the most influential variety TV program of the 1950s. From that point until his death (except for an interval of military service), Presley was the most popular of rock and roll performers, achieving status as a pop culture icon—feared by parents and adored by young fans.
Pulitzer, Joseph (1847–1911) Born in Hungary, Pulitzer immigrated to the United States in 1864 to fight in the Civil War. He became a German-language reporter after the war, bought into the St. Louis paper for which he worked, sold his share at a profit, and repeated the process with another paper. By 1878, he was publishing the city’s most important (English-language) daily, and in 1883 he moved to