Dale Carnegie Biography

(born Nov. 24, 1888, Maryville, Mo., U.S.—died Nov. 1, 1955, Forest Hills, N.Y.) U.S. lecturer and author. Born into poverty, he worked as a traveling salesman and an actor before he began teaching public speaking at a YMCA in New York City in 1912. His classes were extremely successful, and he was soon lecturing to packed houses. To standardize his teaching methods he began publishing pamphlets, which he collected into book form as Public Speaking: A Practical Course for Business Men (1926). His hugely popular How To Win Friends and Influence People (1936) won him a national following; like most of his books, it reveals little that was unknown about human psychology but stresses that an individual's attitude is crucial. The Dale Carnegie Institute subsequently established hundreds of chapters throughout the country.