1001 People Who Made America - Alan Axelrod [32]
Dewey, George (1837–1917) Dewey began the Battle of Manila Bay, Philippines, before 6:00 a.m. on May 1, 1898, with the words (directed to the captain of his flagship): “You may fire when ready, Gridley.” Dewey destroyed the Spanish fleet without losing a single man. In March 1899, Congress created a new rank expressly for him—admiral of the navy, the highest rank ever held by a U.S. naval officer.
Dewey, John (1859–1952) Working mainly at the University of Chicago, Dewey was a pioneer of philosophical pragmatism, which holds that ideas are essentially tools to be used in the solution of problems encountered in the environment. A typically American approach to intellect, the philosophy gave rise to what Dewey called functional psychology and to a pragmatic program of progressive education, which stressed interaction with the world on a practical, physical level as the best means of developing a child’s mind.
Dewey, Thomas E. (1902–1971) Dewey’s unsuccessful runs for the White House in 1944 (against FDR) and 1948 (against Truman) overshadow his early success as a New York prosecutor. Between 1935 and 1937, his prosecution of organized crime in New York resulted in 72 convictions out of 73 prosecutions. In 1942, he was elected to the first of three terms as New York governor and was a powerful Republican political leader.
Dickey, James (1923–1997) Dickey earned his literary reputation as a poet (the 1965 Buckdancer’s Choice is his best-known collection) and critic, but he became a popular literary sensation with his 1970 novel Deliverance, a horror-adventure narrative of canoeing down a Georgia river. He transformed the bestselling novel into a screenplay, which was produced in a 1972 film of the same name.
Dickinson, Emily (1830–1886) Dickinson was born and died in Amherst, Massachusetts. Outwardly, she led an uneventful life. Inwardly, she experienced intense physical and spiritual passion, which found expression in nearly 2,000 lyric poems of striking modernity. Her fame was entirely posthumous, the work of her lifetime not published until well after her death.
Dickinson, John (1732–1808) Dickinson’s 1767–68 Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania, to the Inhabitants of the British Colonies crystallized colonial resistance to the oppressive Townshend Acts (1767) and thereby advanced the cause of independence. He served as a delegate from Pennsylvania in the Continental Congress during 1774–1776 and helped draft the Articles of Confederation (1776–1777), under which the revolution was fought. Dickinson served as Delaware delegate to the Constitutional Convention (1787) and was instrumental in defending and promoting the completed document.
Dillinger, John (1902–1934) Dillinger spent most of his adult life as a criminal—primarily a bank robber—and gained the dubious distinction of becoming the first man placed on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list. Dillinger was the subject of a long FBI manhunt, which culminated in Chicago, when FBI agents ambushed him in front of the city’s Biograph Theater, shooting him down on July 2, 1934.
Disney, Walt (1901–1966) An animator by vocation, Walter Elias Disney created the animated character of Mickey Mouse in the 1928 short Steamboat Willie and used its success to build a cartoon and entertainment empire, which came to encompass television and two theme parks, Disneyland, which opened in Anaheim, California, in 1955, and Walt Disney World, in Orlando, Florida, shortly before his death. The company Disney founded and built expanded far beyond cartoons and theme parks to become one of the world’s great entertainment corporations.
Dix, Dorothea (1802–1887) A schoolteacher since the age of 14, Dix was asked in 1841 to teach a Sunday school class in the East Cambridge (Massachusetts) House of Correction. While there, she was appalled by the inhumane treatment of the mentally ill, who were jailed with criminals and without regard to age or sex. They were often left naked, in darkness, sometimes chained, frequently flogged. Dix began a campaign to reform the treatment of the mentally ill, and