Dale Carnegie was born November 24, 1888, on a farm inMaryville, Missouri. He was the second son of farmers Amanda Elizabeth Harbison (1858–1939) and James William Carnagey (1852–1941).[2][3] Carnegie grew up aroundBedison, Missouri, southeast of Maryville and attended rural Rose Hill and Harmonyone room schools.[4][5] Carnegie developed a longstanding friendship with another Maryville author,Homer Croy.[6]
In 1904, at age 16, his family moved to a farm inWarrensburg, Missouri. As a youth, he enjoyed speaking in public and joined his school's debate team.[3] Carnegie said he had to get up at 3 a.m. to feed the pigs and milk his parents' cows before going to school. During high school, he grew interested in the speeches at the variousChautauqua assemblies.[3] He completed his high school education in 1906.[3][7]
His first job after college was selling correspondence courses to ranchers. He moved on to sellingbacon,soap, andlard forArmour & Company.[8] He was successful to the point of making his sales territory ofSouth Omaha, Nebraska, the national leader for the firm.[9]
After saving $200, Dale Carnegie quit sales in 1911 in order to pursue a lifelong dream of becoming aChautauqua lecturer. He ended up instead attending theAmerican Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, but found little success as an actor, though it is written that he played the role of Dr. Hartley in a road show ofPolly of the Circus.[10] When the production ended, he returned to New York, living at theYMCA on 125th Street. There he got the idea to teach public speaking, and he persuaded the YMCA manager to allow him to instruct a class in return for 80% of the net proceeds. In his first session, he had run out of material. Improvising, he suggested that students speak about "something that made them angry", and discovered that the technique made speakers unafraid to address a public audience.[11] From this 1912 debut, the Dale Carnegie Course evolved. Carnegie had tapped into the average American's desire to have more self-confidence, and by 1914, he was earning $500 (about $15,700 in 2024) every week.[12]
By 1916, Dale conducted a sold out lecture atCarnegie Hall.[citation needed] Some time later he changed his last name's spelling because—as he explained to fellow Missourians while visiting in the 1930s—"none of his friends or correspondents spelled it correctly and he didn't want to constantly correct them."[14] Carnegie's first collection of his writings wasPublic Speaking: a Practical Course for Business Men (1926), later entitledPublic Speaking and Influencing Men in Business (1932). In 1936,Simon & Schuster publishedHow to Win Friends and Influence People. The book was a bestseller from its debut.[12] By the time of Carnegie's death, the book had sold five million copies in 31 languages, and there had been 450,000 graduates of his Dale Carnegie Institute.[15] It has been stated in the book that he had critiqued over 150,000 speeches in his participation in the adult education movement of the time.[16]
His first marriage ended in divorce in August 1931.[7][17]
On November 5, 1944, he married his former secretary,[7]Dorothy Price Vanderpool (1913–1998), who also had been divorced.[8] Vanderpool had a daughter, Rosemary, from her first marriage. She and Carnegie had a daughter, Donna Dale. Dorothy ran the Carnegie company following Dale's death.[18]
1920:Public Speaking: the Standard Course of the United Y. M. C. A. Schools.[22]
1926:Public Speaking: a Practical Course for Business Men.[23] Later editions and updates changed the name of the book several times:Public Speaking and Influencing Men in Business (1937 revised),[24]How to Develop Self-Confidence and Influence People by Public Speaking (1956)[25] andPublic Speaking for Success (2005).[26]
