1001 People Who Made America - Alan Axelrod [50]
Gorky, Arshile (1904–1948) Born Vosdanik Adoian in Armenia, Gorky took his pseudonym from the Russian word for “bitter,” which was also the pseudonym of a writer he much admired, Maxim Gorky. The name reflected the horrors of his childhood during the Turkish genocide of Armenia—a fate he narrowly escaped by immigrating to the United States. Here he developed a dashing, dramatic style that built on the surrealist tradition and laid the foundation for abstract expressionism. Gorky thus emerged as one of the great pivotal figures in American art.
Grady, Henry (1850–1889) A journalist, Grady bought a quarter interest in The Atlanta Constitution newspaper in 1879, which he used as a platform from which he promoted the industrialization and modernization of the South. His work on the newspaper and as a popular orator helped transform the South, defeated and economically depressed following the Civil War, into fertile ground for new industrial investment and development.
Graham, Billy (1918– ) Graham was ordained as a Southern Baptist minister in 1939 and, after World War II, began preaching fundamentalist sermons on radio. By 1950, he was nationally famous. Eminently telegenic, he appeared on TV as that medium developed, and also toured the country in revival crusades. Immensely popular, he also had the ear of every U.S. president since Harry S. Truman.
Graham, Martha (1894–1991) Graham was a driving force in American modern dance for half a century, creating a new style of expressive choreography with works “designed to reveal the inner man” by expressing primal emotion and the spiritual and emotional essence of what it is to be human. Her work was sometimes based on Greek myth and drama, but was also rooted in America, as in her collaboration with the great American composer Aaron Copland on the ballet Appalachian Spring (1944), perhaps her most famous work.
Grant, Ulysses S. (1822–1885) Grant failed at every enterprise he attempted except soldiering. After winning victories in the western theater of the Civil War, he was promoted by Abraham Lincoln to general-in-chief of the Union Army, which he led to a costly victory in the Civil War. Hailed by many as a bold leader and great strategist, he was condemned by some as a “butcher,” a man always willing to spill the blood of others. Grant was elected president of the United States in 1868 and served two terms (1869–1877), his administration notorious for its corruption—although he himself was regarded as a scrupulously honest man. After leaving the White House, Grant failed in business and was on the verge of abject poverty when Mark Twain, who had a controlling interest in a publishing company, offered him a fortune for his memoirs. The result was a masterpiece of autobiography and history, completed just four days before Grant succumbed to cancer of the throat.
Greeley, Horace (1811–1872) Greeley raised himself from Vermont printer’s apprentice to founder in 1841 of the New York Tribune, which became the liberal voice of abolitionism, woman suffrage, and general political reform. Greeley set a high journalistic standard in news-gathering and public-spirited moral purpose. He was the original American “crusading journalist.”
Greenhow, Rose O’Neal (1815–1864) The widow of a prominent physician and historian, Rose O’Neal Greenhow was a popular Washington, D.C., hostess who was connected at the very highest levels of government. A Maryland native, her sympathies were wholly with the South during the Civil War, and she used her social position and considerable sexual allure to