1001 People Who Made America - Alan Axelrod [127]
Tibbets, Paul (1915– ) Tibbets was an outstanding bomber pilot in World War II and was chosen in September 1944 to command the 509th Composite Group, which would drop the first atomic bombs on Japan. On August 6, 1945 Tibbets flew his B-29, named Enola Gay after his mother, from Tinian Island in the Marianas and dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima at 8:15 a.m. local time.
Tiffany, Charles Lewis (1812–1902) Connecticut-born Tiffany went to New York City in 1837 and, with John B. Young opened a stationery store that soon also offered jewelry and silverware. By 1853, Tiffany gained sole control of the firm, which he named Tiffany & Co.—today the most famous name in American jewelry.
Tiffany, Louis Comfort (1848–1933) Son of the jeweler Charles Lewis Tiffany, Louis Tiffany became a stained-glass artist in 1875, attaining leadership in the field by the 1890s and fashioning decorative glass that created the dominant look of the Art Nouveau period. Tiffany also went on to create blown-glass works of great artistry, then expanded into lamps, jewelry, and pottery.
Tilden, Samuel J. (1814–1886) During 1865–1875, Tilden reorganized the Democratic Party of New York City, ousting the infamously corrupt Tweed Ring and generally reforming the city’s politics. He went on to election as New York governor in 1874 and earned national recognition for his reforms. Nominated by the Democratic Party for president in 1876, he outpolled Republican Rutherford B. Hayes, but the election was contested and in a backroom deal, the Democrats conceded the election to Hayes in return for his pledge that he would bring an immediate end to post-Civil War Reconstruction (including military government) in the South. Tilden accepted the deal for what he considered the good of the country.
Tocqueville, Alexis de (1805–1859) A French political scientist and historian, Tocqueville toured the United States during 1831–1832 and produced the four-volume Democracy in America (1835–1840), a brilliant analysis of American government, politics, society, and the collective national psyche. It is among the most perceptive analyses of American culture ever written.
Toomer, Jean (1894–1967) Toomer was a leading black literary figure of the 1920s, who wrote poetry and fiction. He is best known for his 1923 novel Cane, which used experimental literary techniques, imagery, and symbolism to explore the history of black America.
Tower, John (1925–1991) Tower, a conservative Republican senator from Texas, was appointed on December 1, 1986, by President Ronald Reagan to chair a commission charged with investigating the National Security Council and its role in the Iran-Contra affair, by which arms were to be illegally sold to Iran in exchange for Iran’s help in freeing American hostages held in Lebanon; profits from the arms sales were to be illegally funneled to the “contras,” the right-wing opponents of the leftist Sandinista regime in Nicaragua. Tower delivered the commission’s report on February 26, 1987. To the surprise of many, who expected a whitewash, the report criticized the council and although it did not conclude that the president was aware of the extent of the illegal scheme, it also criticized him for lacking control over council staff.
Travis, William B. (1809–1836) Travis was an attorney and soldier who settled in Texas in 1831 as one of the early American colonists of what was then a Mexican possession. He became an advocate of independence from Mexico and was in command of the Texas forces that garrisoned the Alamo (in San Antonio) when it was attacked by far superior numbers of Mexican soldiers under General Antonio López de Santa Anna. Travis died along with the Alamo’s other defenders on March 6, 1836.
Trist, Nicholas P. (1800–1874) Trist studied law under Thomas Jefferson and served as private secretary to Andrew Jackson. President James K. Polk sent him to negotiate an end to the U.S.–Mexican War,