1001 People Who Made America - Alan Axelrod [37]
Edwards, Jonathan (1703–1758) A Connecticut clergyman and religious philosopher, Edwards was an orator of electrifying spiritual eloquence, whose most celebrated sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” (1741), had his congregation writhing with a sense of hellfire. His preaching stimulated the “Great Awakening,” a mass religious revival that swept America during the mid 18th century. Edwards was the forerunner of the modern American evangelist preachers.
Ehrlich, Paul R. (1932– ) A Philadelphia-born zoologist who served as Bing Professor of Population Studies at Stanford University, Ehrlich writes about the dangerous impact of runaway population growth on the United States and the world and is the author of the best-selling The Population Bomb, published in 1968, which warned of the collapse of civilization unless world governments institute policies to control population growth.
Ehrlichman, John (1925–1999) Ehrlichman was officially assistant for domestic affairs in the administration of President Richard M. Nixon, but his mission was, in effect, to selectively insulate the president from the public and from other members of the government. Early in the administration, Ehrlichman created a covert and illegal team of operatives he called the Plumbers, because their role was to stop information leaks. They also illegally acquired political intelligence. Ehrilchman resigned in April 1973, during the Watergate scandal, and was subsequently convicted of conspiracy, perjury, and obstruction of justice, for which he served 18 months in prison.
Eisenhower, Dwight D. (1890–1969) Born in Texas and raised in Kansas, “Ike” Eisenhower graduated from West Point in 1915 and rose through the U.S. Army to become Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, during World War II. From this position, he coordinated the Allied victory over fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. After the war, he served briefly as president of Columbia University, returned to active duty as supreme commander of the newly formed NATO forces, then ran for president on the Republican ticket in 1952. Elected by a landslide over Democrat Adlai E. Stevenson, he served two terms, during which the United States experienced a decade of business and economic expansion as well as a certain postwar complacency, despite the early ferment of the civil rights movement at home and the ongoing Cold War.
Eliot, T. S. (1888–1965) A native of St. Louis, Eliot was educated at Harvard but lived his literary life in England, where, during the 1920s, he became a leading light of the “modernist” movement in poetry. His lyrical yet challenging works explore the alienation of 20th-century humanity and search for answers in a spiritual wasteland. His masterpieces include the long poems The Waste Land (1922) and The Four
Quartets (1943)—the latter earning him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1948. Ellington, Edward Kennedy “Duke” (1899–1974) Washington-born Duke Ellington was the elegant embodiment of big band jazz, a great pianist, and perhaps the most prolific jazz composer in history. The ensemble sound he created has never been duplicated, and his compositions combined classical tone poem traditions with swing-era jazz. While Ellington was a great jazz symphonist, he also wrote some of the most memorable songs in the pop repertoire, including “Sophisticated Lady,” “Satin Doll,” “Don’t Get Around Much Any More,” and “Prelude to a Kiss.”
Ellison, Ralph (1914–1994) Educated at Alabama’s Tuskegee Institute, Ellison began writing for publication in the late 1930s, publishing his only finished novel, Invisible Man, in 1953. The semi-realistic, semi-surrealistic novel tells the story of an idealistic Southern black youth who seeks opportunity in Harlem