1001 People Who Made America - Alan Axelrod [113]
Salinger, J. D. (1919– ) Salinger created a literary sensation with his 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye, whose troubled adolescent hero, Holden Caulfield, was hailed as a 20th century Huckleberry Finn, an innocent lost in a corrupt society. The novel struck a chord in the American consciousness that has yet to cease reverberating. Salinger shied away from the celebrity that followed the publication of the novel, wrote only 13 short stories in addition to it, and has lived a secretive life ever since.
Salk, Jonas (1914–1995) The public release of Salk’s polio vaccine on April 12, 1955, ended the scourge of one of the cruelest diseases, which brought death or paralysis to millions—especially children. Celebrated as a medical hero, Salk went on to become director of the Institute for Biological Studies in San Diego, California, which was later named for him: the Salk Institute.
Samoset (circa 1590–1653) Samoset greeted the Pilgrims at Plymouth Colony on March 16, 1621. He spoke English and reportedly said, “Greetings, Englishmen. Do you have any beer?” An Abenaki sagamore (subchief), he introduced the Pilgrims to Squanto, who served as an emissary between the newcomers and the local Indians.
Sandburg, Carl (1878–1967) As a young man, Sandburg worked a variety of odd jobs, including as a newspaper reporter. He burst onto the literary scene in 1914 with his Chicago Poems, verses dedicated to urban America and the men and women who built it and worked in it. Sandburg’s choice of subject and his muscular free verse drew comparisons with Walt Whitman. Sandburg was also a passionate folklorist, who issued two great folksong collections, The American Songbag (1927) and New American Songbag (1950). His multivolume biography of Abraham Lincoln (1926–1940) earned the 1940 Pulitzer Prize in history.
Sanger, Margaret (1879–1966) A feminist and nurse, Sanger (who was born Margaret Louisa Higgins) challenged prevailing statutes and morality to found the birth-control movement in the United States. She is generally credited as the originator of the term “birth control” and the concepts associated with it.
Sargent, John Singer (1856–1925) Sargent was born in Italy of American parents and did not come to the United States until 1876. Influenced by the French Impressionists, he created a lush bravura style, which he used to paint elegant portraits of wealth and privilege in America and Europe. His work is a vivid and beautiful evocation of the exuberant Edwardian age on both sides of the Atlantic.
Sarony, Napoleon (1821–1896) Born in Quebec, Canada, Sarony settled in New York City about 1836. He started his career as an illustrator for Currier & Ives, then became a lithographer. By the mid 1860s, he opened a photographic portrait studio and built his career photographing the celebrities of his day, paying them for the privilege and making his money selling the pictures.
Schiavo, Terri (1978–2005) On March 31, 2005, Terri Schiavo died, after her husband, Michael Schiavo, won the right to remove the feeding tube that had sustained her life since she slipped into a coma on February 25, 1990. The Schiavo case had been argued in the courts beginning in 1993. During 2003, Florida governor Jeb Bush, brother of President George W. Bush, intervened against Michael Schiavo, and as state and federal courts repeatedly upheld Michael Schiavo’s right as his wife’s guardian to remove her feeding tube, Congress, shortly after 12:30 a.m. on March 21, 2005, passed a private bill granting Schiavo’s parents the right to continue suing for the maintenance of the feeding tube and to order reinsertion of the feeding tube while the suit was pending. President Bush signed the measure at 1:11 a.m., but a federal district court refused to order the tube reinserted, and the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear