Howell, John Adams, 1840-1918, American naval officer and inventor, b. Bath, N.Y., grad. Annapolis, 1858. He served as a lieutenant throughout the Civil War, fighting under Admiral Farragut at Mobile Bay (1864). In the Spanish-American War he commanded a squadron of the North Atlantic Fleet and was promoted (1898) to rear admiral. Howell originated the gyroscopic steering torpedo, invented a flywheel torpedo, and developed torpedo-launching apparatus.

Dix, John Adams, 1798-1879, American statesman, b. Boscawen, N.H. He served in the War of 1812, was later admitted to the bar, and practiced law in Cooperstown, N.Y. He held high state offices and served (1845-49) as Democratic U.S. senator from New York. In 1848 he ran for governor of New York on the Free-Soil ticket. President Buchanan appointed him secretary of the treasury in 1861, and in his two-month tenure of office, despite secession, he was able to secure loans. He was a major general in the Civil War and later (1866-69) minister to France. Dix was prominent in railroad affairs and became (1863) president of the Union Pacific, with T. C. Durant as vice president, and he was the long-time president of the Erie RR. Dix served as Republican governor of New York in 1873-74.

(born Oct. 30, 1735, Braintree, Mass.—died July 4, 1826, Quincy, Mass., U.S.) U.S. politician, first vice president (1789–97) and second president (1797–1801) of the U.S. After graduating from Harvard College in 1755, he practiced law in Boston. In 1764 he married Abigail Smith (see Abigail Adams). Active in the American independence movement, he was elected to the Massachusetts legislature and served as a delegate to the Continental Congress (1774–78), where he was appointed to a committee with Thomas Jefferson and others to draft the Declaration of Independence. In 1776–78 he was appointed to many congressional committees, including one to create a navy and another to review foreign affairs. He served as a diplomat in France, the Netherlands, and England (1778–88). In the first U.S. presidential election, he received the second largest number of votes and became vice president under George Washington. Adams's term as president was marked by controversy over his signing of the Alien and Sedition Acts in 1798 and by his alliance with the conservative Federalist Party. In 1800 he was defeated for reelection by Jefferson and retired to live a secluded life in Massachusetts. In 1812 he overcame his bitterness toward Jefferson, with whom he began an illuminating correspondence. Both men died on July 4, 1826, the Declaration's 50th anniversary. John Quincy Adams was his son.

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