1001 People Who Made America - Alan Axelrod [49]
Goethals, George Washington (1858–1928) A U.S. Army engineer, Goethals directed construction of the Panama Canal from 1907 until its opening in 1914, when Goethals became the first governor of the U.S. Canal Zone.
Goldman, Emma (1869–1940) Goldman immigrated to the United States from her native Russia (where she had been a radical activist) in 1885 and became active in socialism, but increasingly gravitated toward anarchism. She was arrested and imprisoned on several occasions and in 1906 founded an anarchist periodical, Mother Earth, which she published until the U.S. government suppressed it in 1917. Jailed during World War I for her activities in opposition to the war, she was deported to the Soviet Union as a Communist in 1919. She was appalled by the effects of the Russian Revolutions, but continued to espouse anarchism. Her autobiography, Living My Life (1931), is a classic of political dissent.
Goldwater, Barry (1909–1998) Republican U.S. senator from Arizona (1953–1964 and 1969–1987), Goldwater lost the presidential contest to Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964. Goldwater was the embodiment of hardline conservatism in a time of emerging liberalism.
Gompers, Samuel (1850–1924) A pioneering American labor leader, Gompers was the first president of the American Federation of Labor in 1886. Having arrived as an immigrant from England in 1863, he settled in New York, where he worked as a cigar maker. Naturalized in 1872, Gompers took the national organization of cigar makers out of the Knights of Labor and made it the basis of the AFL. He served as the president of the federation from 1886 to 1924 (except for 1895).
Goodman, Andrew (1943–1964) With fellow Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) volunteers Michael Schwerner and James Chaney, Goodman was murdered on June 21, 1964, on a back road in Mississippi while working for CORE’s Mississippi Summer Project to register black voters in the segregated South. A white Manhattan native, Goodman was driven by a passion for social justice.
Goodman, Benny (1909–1986) Bandleader and jazz clarinet virtuoso, Goodman was a master of swing—the musical sound of the 1930s and 1940s, featuring fast, syncopated rhythms that were meant to be danced to. Goodman’s band featured a who’s who of American jazz, including guitarist Charlie Christian, trumpeter Harry James, drummer Gene Krupa, vibraphonist Lionel Hampton, and pianist Teddy Wilson. Some of Goodman’s most memorable tunes were arranged by orchestration genius Fletcher Henderson.
Goodnight, Charlie (1836–1929) A Confederate veteran, Goodnight returned to Texas after the Civil War, rounded up and branded as much free-ranging cattle as he could, and in 1866, with partner Oliver Loving, drove 2,000 longhorns from Belknap, Texas, to Fort Sumner, New Mexico, to feed U.S. Army troops there. It was a hot, dry distance of some 500 miles, and the partners lost 400 head on the trail—300 from thirst, another 100 trampled to death when they finally reached the watering hole—but they were paid the spectacular sum of eight cents a pound for the stringy meat, netting a profit of $12,000. The Goodnight-Loving Trail they blazed became one of the most heavily trafficked routes in the Southwest, was the foundation of the trail-drive industry, and gave employment to the most celebrated and beloved worker in American industry, the cowboy.
Gore, Al (1948– ) Gore was vice president under Bill Clinton (1993–2001) and, before that, a Tennessee representative and senator. In 2000, he out-tallied Republican George W. Bush in the popular vote for president of the United States, but in a hotly disputed election affected by a Supreme Court ruling, he was defeated in the Electoral College. A longtime champion of environmental causes, Gore emerged in the first decade of the 21st century with a mission to raise the awareness of the dangers posed by global warming.
Gorgas, William (1854–1920) A U.S. Army surgeon, Gorgas was responsible for health and sanitation in Havana during the period of