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harry - 60 reference results
Widener, Harry Elkins, 1885-1912, American bibliophile, b. Philadelphia. He had the greatest Robert Louis Stevenson collection in existence. Widener died at the age of 27 on the Titanic. His library went by will to Harvard, where it is installed with other collections in the Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library, donated by his mother.
Vardon, Harry, 1870-1939, British golfer, b. Jersey. A former caddie, he became at 20 a professional golfer. He won six British Open championships (1896, 1898, 1899, 1903, 1911, and 1914). Vardon, rated by many as second only to Bobby Jones, was known for his accurate drives and for his introduction of the overlapping grip on the golf club. He toured the United States several times and in 1900 won the U.S. Open. He won over 60 important golf tournaments before retiring in 1934. He wrote The Complete Golfer (1913). A trophy named for him is awarded each year to the American or British professional with the lowest scoring average.

See his autobiography (1933).

Truman, Harry S., 1884-1972, 33d President of the United States, b. Lamar, Mo.

Early Life and Political Career

He grew up on a farm near Independence, Mo., worked at various jobs, and tended the family farm. He served as a captain of field artillery in France in World War I. On his return from the war he married (1919) Elizabeth (Bess) Virginia Wallace; they had one daughter, Mary Margaret. After a brief partnership in a haberdashery store, Truman turned to politics and, with support from the Democratic machine of Thomas J. Pendergast, was elected judge (1922-24) and president judge (1926-34) of Jackson co., Mo. He attended (1923-25) the Kansas City school of law.

In 1934 he was elected a U.S. Senator. In the Senate he was a firm supporter of the New Deal policies of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, but the administration was cool toward Truman because of his connection with Pendergast. By 1940 the Pendergast machine had been broken, and Truman had a hard fight for reelection. In his second term he achieved national prominence as chairman of a Senate committee to investigate government expenditures in World War II. His vigorous investigations revealed startling inefficiency and bungling on war contracts. Because he was acceptable both to the conservative Democrats and the New Dealers as well as to powerful labor leaders, Truman was nominated for Vice President in 1944 and was elected to office along with President Roosevelt.

Presidency

On the death (Apr. 12, 1945) of Roosevelt, Truman succeeded to the presidency. He assumed power at a very critical time. He was immediately confronted with the problems of concluding the war and preparing for the difficulties of international postwar readjustment. The war in Europe ended with Germany's unconditional surrender on May 8, 1945, and in July Truman attended the Potsdam Conference to discuss the postwar European settlement. To end the conflict with Japan, he authorized the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. That action did bring the war to an immediate end, but the morality of it continues to be debated.

First Term

At home, inflation and demobilization were the chief worries of reconversion to a peacetime economy. Although Truman began quietly to eliminate the old New Dealers from the administration, his domestic policies were essentially a continuation of those of the New Deal. His program (later labeled the Fair Deal) called for guaranteed full employment, a permanent Fair Employment Practices Committee to end racial discrimination, an increased minimum wage and extended social security benefits, price and rent controls, public housing projects, and public health insurance. However, Congress, which was controlled by the Republicans after the 1946 elections, blocked most of these projects, while passing other legislation—notably the Taft-Hartley Labor Act (1947)—over Truman's veto.

In foreign affairs his chief adversary was the USSR. Relations with that country deteriorated rapidly after Potsdam. The two powers were unable to agree to feasible plans for the unification of Germany, general disarmament, or the establishment of a United Nations armed force. Truman took an increasingly tough stand against what he considered to be the threat of Communist expansion in S and W Europe. In 1947 he proposed a program of economic and military aid to Greece and Turkey, stating that it should be a principle of U.S. policy "to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures." Enunciation of the so-called Truman Doctrine signaled the beginning of the policy of "containment" of Communism. It was implemented by the adoption of the Marshall Plan (1947), designed to effect the economic reconstruction of Europe, by the Point Four program (1949) of technical aid to underdeveloped countries, and, above all, by the creation (1949) of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

In 1948, Truman ordered the desegregation of the armed forces. As a result, a bloc of southern Democrats bolted the party and sponsored J. Strom Thurmond for President in the election of that year. Truman was also challenged on the left by Henry A. Wallace of the Progressive party, who opposed Truman's policy of confrontation with the Soviet Union. Although he won renomination, the President was thought to have little chance of reelection. But Truman embarked on a vigorous whistle-stop campaign across the country, blaming the Republican Congress for most of the nation's ills and highlighting its inactivity by calling a special session of Congress, at which he urged the Republicans to enact into law their own moderately liberal party platform. The campaign was a resounding success. Contrary to all the predictions, Truman defeated his Republican opponent, Thomas E. Dewey, and Democratic majorities swept into the House and Senate.

Second Term

In his second administration Truman made little progress with his Fair Deal programs, although he did secure passage of a housing act (1949). Domestic affairs were increasingly dominated by the fear of Communist subversion. Truman had instituted (1947) a loyalty program for civil servants, but the government came under increasing attack for loose security, particularly after the conviction of Alger Hiss. Truman dismissed the charges of internal subversion as a "red herring"; in 1950 the McCarran Internal Security Act, which provided for the registration of Communist and Communist-front organizations, was passsed over Truman's veto.

Overseas developments contributed considerably to the tide of fear within the United States. Truman's administration was blamed by many for the collapse of the regime of Chiang Kai-shek (toward which the administration had been cool) and the victory of the Communists in China (1949). The success of the Chinese Revolution was followed by the outbreak (1950) of the Korean War. Truman immediately sent U.S. troops to Korea under the aegis of the United Nations. In 1951 he raised the controversy that had been building up around American foreign policy to a new pitch of intensity when he dismissed Gen. Douglas MacArthur from his East Asian command for insubordination for attempting to involve the Chinese in the war and for publicly advocating an attack on China.

At home Truman became involved in further controversy when he seized (1952) the steel industry in order to prevent a strike. He claimed that the action was justified by the President's inherent powers in time of emergency, but the Supreme Court overruled him. Disclosures of corruption among federal officials were also politically damaging during this period. Truman declined renomination in 1952 and pressed the presidential candidacy of Adlai Stevenson, who was, however, overwhelmingly defeated by the Republican candidate, Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Later Life and Legacy

Truman remained active in politics for many years after his retirement, campaigning around the country for Democratic candidates and commenting on national issues. He also contributed much time to the Harry S. Truman Library, which opened in 1957 in Independence, Mo. Truman died on Dec. 26, 1972.

Although Truman did not have great success with his domestic programs, many of his reform proposals were later enacted into law. Thrust into office largely ignorant of foreign affairs, he acted decisively in erecting the machinery of "containment" against the threat of Communist expansion and committing the United States to a new internationalism. Some historians, however, have challenged the assumption of a Communist threat on which Truman's action were based. They argue that the cold war confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union could have been averted by a more conciliatory attitude on the part of the Truman administration. Although Truman's policies remain a subject of controversy, he has become a popular figure largely because of his feisty personality and his come-from-behind victory in 1948.

Bibliography

See his Year of Decisions (1955), Years of Trial and Hope (1956), and Mr. Citizen (1960). See also S. Neal, ed., Eleanor and Harry: The Corresondence of Eleanor Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman (2002); biographies by M. Truman (1972), D. McCullough (1992), and A. L. Hamby (1995); R. Donovan, The Presidency of Harry S. Truman (2 vol., 1979-84); R. Ferrell, Harry S. Truman and the Modern American Presidency (1983); R. S. Kirkendall, ed., Harry S. Truman Encyclopedia (1989); Z. Karabell, The Last Campaign: How Harry Truman Won the 1948 Election (2000).

Sullivan, Harry Stack, 1892-1949, American psychiatrist, b. Norwich, N.Y., M.D. Chicago College of Medicine and Surgery, 1917. He was, along with his teacher William Alanson White, responsible for the extension of Freudian psychoanalysis to the treatment of patients with severe mental disorders, particularly schizophrenia. In his work on the subject of schizophrenics, Sullivan argued that such individuals were not incurable, and that cultural forces were largely responsible for their condition. In his dual role as head of the William Alanson White Foundation (1934-43) and of the Washington School of Psychiatry (1936-47), he had the collaboration of like-minded psychologists, sociologists, and anthropologists in bringing his views to public and professional attention. His writings include Conceptions of Modern Psychiatry (1947, repr. 1966); Interpersonal Theory of Psychiatry (ed. by H. S. Perry and M. L. Gawel, 1953, repr. 1968); Schizophrenia as a Human Process (1962, repr. 1974).

See biography by H. Perry (1982, repr. 1987); study by P. Mullahy (1970).

Smith, Sir Harry George Wakelyn, 1787-1860, British general and administrator. He served in the Peninsular War and in the War of 1812 and was a brigade major at the battle of Waterloo. He commanded a division in the Kafir War (1834-36), in which he made his famous ride of 700 mi (1,130 km) from Capetown to Grahamstown in less than six days. He was governor of the newly annexed frontier territory, named Queen Adelaide prov., from 1835 until the annexation was repudiated by the British government in 1837. He was then transferred to India as deputy adjutant general. He distinguished himself in the Sikh Wars and was created baronet for the victory at Aliwal (1846). Returning to South Africa as governor of the Cape Colony (1847-52), he resumed his policy of expansion and carried on war with the Boers, accelerating their movement northward.

See his autobiography (ed. by G. C. Moore Smith, 2 vol., 1901).

Reid, Harry, 1939-, U.S. senator from Nevada (1987-), b. Searchlight, Nev. A Democrat and a lawyer, he served in the Nevada state assembly (1969-70), as lieutenant governor (1970-74), and as chairman (1977-81) of the Nevada Gaming Commission before winning a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1982. First elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986, he was Senate Democratic whip (1999-2005) before he became Senate minority leader (2005-7) and majority leader (2007-). A moderate conservative known for his amiable manner, he is also regarded as a tough and tenacious legislator and party leader.
Philby, Harry St. John Bridger, 1885-1960, British explorer, official, and author. He joined (1917) the British foreign service, was sent on a special mission to Arabia, and became the first European to visit the southern provinces of the Nejd. For some 30 years he was an adviser to King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia. Dissatisfied with British policy in the Middle East, he resigned (1930) from the foreign service, became a Muslim, and took the name of Hajj Abdullah.

See his Heart of Arabia (1923), Sa'udi Arabia (1955), and Forty Years in the Wilderness (1957).

Partch, Harry, 1901-74, American composer, b. Oakland, Calif. Highly individualistic and largely self-taught, Partch rejected many of the traditions of Western music. He developed a theory of "corporeal" music based on "harmonized spoken words," capturing the patterns of real speech and uniting text with music. The technique is exemplified by works such as Account of the Normandy Invasion by an American Glider Pilot, based on a recording of the pilot's recollections. Partch also wrote music based on such sources as newsboy cries, hitchhiker inscriptions, and hobo descriptions, the latter drawn from his own several years of experience riding the rails. Another of his innovations was the division of the octave into a 43-note scale. He designed and built string, keyboard, and percussion instruments to play the music composed from this scale and his iconoclastic book Genesis of a Music (1949) explains his tunings and theories. Partch wrote several stage works, including, in 1952, music for William Butler Yeats's adaptation of Sophocles' Oedipus.

See T. McGeary, ed., Bitter Music: Collected Journals, Essays, Introductions, and Librettos (1991, repr. 2000); biography by B. Gilmore (1998).

Palgrave, Sir Robert Harry Inglis, 1827-1919, English banker and economist; son of Sir Francis Palgrave. He edited (1877-83) the Economist, wrote several books on economics, and served (1885) on the government commission on the depression of trade and industry, but he is best known as editor of The Dictionary of Political Economy (3 vol., 1894-99; appendix, 1908; rev. ed. by H. Higgs, 1923-26).
New, Harry Stewart, 1858-1937, U.S. Postmaster General (1923-29) and politician, b. Indianapolis. He was long connected (1878-1903) with the Indianapolis Journal. New was an Indiana state senator (1896-1900), chairman (1907-8) of the Republican National Committee, and served (1917-23) in the U.S. Senate, where he was a leader in the fight against the League of Nations. As Postmaster General under Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge, New gave great stimulus to commercial aviation by giving contracts to private firms to carry airmail.
Mulisch, Harry, 1927-, Dutch writer. In the 1960s Mulisch became a prominent member of Amsterdam's new left. He is extremely prolific and has written fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, much of it not yet translated into English. His powerful fiction, which often deals with the psychological aftermath of war, is characterized by an urbane intellectuality, experimental narrative structure, and an edgy ironic humor. Among his well-known works are the novels The Stone Bridal Bed (1959, tr. 1962) and Two Women (1975, tr. 1980). Mulisch is particularly acclaimed for his later novels, which include The Assault (1982, tr. 1985) and The Procedure (1998, tr. 2001). Widely considered his masterpiece, The Discovery of Heaven (1992, tr. 1996), is a massive philosophical novel with autobiographical overtones that deals with love, friendship, and divine intervention in the contemporary world.
Martinson, Harry, 1904-78, Swedish writer. Orphaned early, Martinson was self-educated. His works reveal his appreciation of nature and his distrust of modern technological society. He is best known for his long narrative poem Aniara (1956), about the journey of a spaceship. It was set to music in 1959 by K. B. Blomdahl. Noted for their novel, expressive style, his major works include Kap Farväl! [Cape Farewell] (1933), based on his travels; several volumes of poetry, Nässlorna blomma [flowering nettle] (1936); and Vägen till Klockricke (1948, tr. The Road, 1956), a sympathetic portrayal of society's outcasts. Martinson was the first writer of the working classes to be admitted to the Swedish Academy. He shared the 1974 Nobel Prize in Literature with the Swedish writer Eyvind Johnson. A collection of Martinsson's poems, tr. by William Jay Smith and Leif Sjöberg, was published as Wild Bouquet (1985).

See study by L. Sjöberg (1974).

Markowitz, Harry, 1927-, American economist, Ph.D. Univ. of Chicago, 1954. In the 1950s he developed a theory of "portfolio choice," which allows investors to analyze risk as well as their expected return. For this work Markowitz, a professor at Baruch College at the City Univ. of New York, shared the 1990 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences with William Sharpe and Merton Miller.
Lowie, Robert Harry, or Robert Heinrich Lowie, 1883-1957, American anthropologist, b. Vienna, grad. College of the City of New York, 1901, Ph.D. Columbia, 1908. He was on the staff of the American Museum of Natural History from 1908 until 1921. From that year until his death he taught at the Univ. of California. Lowie gained international fame through his studies of the Native North American, especially the northern Plains tribes, and his contributions to ethnological theory. His book, Primitive Society (1920, 2d ed. 1947), and its sequel, Social Organization (1948), are regarded as classics in their field. Other writings include Primitive Religion (1924, rev. ed. 1948), An Introduction to Cultural Anthropology (1934, rev. ed. 1940), The History of Ethnological Theory (1938), and Indians of the Plains (1954). His autobiography was published in 1959; the Crow Texts translated and edited by him and Selected Papers in Anthropology appeared in 1960.

See biography by R. F. Murphy (1972).

Lee, Light-Horse Harry: see Lee, Henry.
Lauder, Sir Harry, 1870-1950, Scottish baritone. His original name was MacLennan. Lauder was popular for his singing of ballads and comic songs, many of his own composition. During World War II he emerged from retirement to entertain the Allied soldiers. He was knighted in 1919.
Laidler, Harry Wellington, 1884-1970, American economist and Socialist leader, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., grad. Wesleyan Univ., 1907, Brooklyn Law School, 1910, Ph.D. Columbia, 1914. A founder (1905) and secretary (1910-21) of the Intercollegiate Socialist Society, he was also executive director (1921-57) of its successor organization, the League for Industrial Democracy. From 1920 a director of the National Bureau of Economic Research, he served twice as president (1930-32, 1948-49). Laidler was the Socialist candidate for numerous public offices and served (1940-41) on the New York City council. His writings include Boycotts and the Labor Struggle (1914), A History of Socialist Thought (1927), Concentration of Control in American Industry (1931), Social-Economic Movements (1944), and The History of Socialism (1968).
Johnston, Sir Harry Hamilton, 1858-1927, British explorer and colonial official. His early interest in the natural sciences was combined with his concern for the political problems of colonial Africa. He began his first trip to sub-Saharan Africa in 1882 and in 1883 encountered Henry Morton Stanley in the Congo Basin. In 1884 he made an expedition to Mt. Kilimanjaro that uncovered valuable scientific data and strengthened Britain's political hold in East Africa. Johnston entered the foreign service in 1885; he served in colonial administrative positions in many parts of Africa and established a British protectorate over Nyasaland (present-day Malawi). After his retirement (1902) he continued his naturalist studies. He was knighted in 1896.
Houdini, Harry, 1874-1926, American magician and writer, b. Budapest, Hungary. His real name was Erich Weiss; he took his stage name after the French magician Houdin. He was famed for his escapes from bonds of every sort—locks, handcuffs, straitjackets, and sealed chests underwater. While his stage magic skills were limited, Houdini was famously the originator (1918) of the celebrated Vanishing Elephant illusion. He performed in silent films and was also noted for his exposure of fraudulent spiritualist mediums and their phenomena (see spiritism). He left to the Library of Congress his library of magic, one of the most complete and valuable in the world. Among his writings are The Unmasking of Robert-Houdin (1908), Miracle Mongers and Their Methods (1920), and A Magician among the Spirits (1924).

See Houdini's Magic (ed. from his notebooks, 1932); biographies by H. Kellock (1928), W. L. Gresham (1959), and K. Silverman (1996); W. B. Gibson, Houdini's Escapes (1930); R. FitzSimons, Death and the Magician: The Mystery of Houdini (1985); J. Steinmeyer, Hiding the Elephant: How Magicians Invented the Impossible and Learned to Disappear (2003).

Hopkins, Harry Lloyd, 1890-1946, American public official, b. Sioux City, Iowa. A social worker, he was appointed (1931) head of New York's Temporary Emergency Relief Administration by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, then governor of New York. Two years later, after Roosevelt became President, Hopkins was made chief of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) and of the Civil Works Administration, which grew out of the FERA. In 1935 he became head of the Works Progress Administration. Hopkins was made Secretary of Commerce in Dec., 1938, but resigned in Aug., 1940, because of ill health. An intimate friend of President Roosevelt, Hopkins was a special assistant to the President during World War II. He administered the lend-lease program in 1941 and went on several missions to London and Moscow. After Roosevelt's death, he went as President Truman's representative to Moscow to settle problems that had arisen over Poland and the organization of the United Nations. In July, 1945, he retired from public life.
Harry S. Truman National Historic Site: see National Parks and Monuments (table).
Greb, Harry, 1894-1926, American boxer, b. Pittsburgh. Although blind in one eye, Greb was one of the most feared fighters in American ring history. He was a natural middleweight, but fought light heavyweights and heavyweights with considerable success. In 1922 he won the light heavyweight title from Gene Tunney (the only loss of Tunney's career); the following year Greb took the middleweight title. In his professional career (1913-26), Greb fought 288 matches, winning 115, losing 9 (only one of which was by knockout), and having 164 no-decision bouts.
Garfield, Harry Augustus, 1863-1942, American educator, b. Hiram, Ohio, grad. Williams 1885, studied law at Columbia; son of President James A. Garfield. From 1888 to 1903 he practiced law in Cleveland, Ohio, where he was active in civic affairs and also taught law at Western Reserve Univ. He was professor of politics at Princeton from 1903 to 1908 and president of Williams from 1908 until his retirement in 1934. He served as U.S. fuel administrator in 1917-19 and in 1921 founded the Institute of Politics at Williams.
Fosdick, Harry Emerson, 1878-1969, American clergyman, b. Buffalo, N.Y., grad. Colgate Univ., 1900, and Union Theological Seminary, 1904. Ordained a Baptist minister in 1903, he was pastor in Montclair, N.J., until 1915. From that year until 1946, Fosdick was professor of practical theology at Union Theological Seminary. He became pastor of the Park Ave. Baptist Church, New York City, in 1926; this was transformed into the Riverside Church in 1930, when the congregation and Fosdick moved to an impressive new structure on Riverside Drive. He served there until 1946, when he became pastor emeritus. His position as a Modernist leader in the Fundamentalist controversies of the 1920s and his forceful, practical sermons won wide recognition. His radio addresses were nationally broadcast. Among his writings are The Meaning of Prayer (1915), A Great Time to Be Alive (1944), The Man from Nazareth, as His Contemporaries Saw Him (1949), and his autobiography, The Living of These Days (1956).

See biography by R. M. Miller (1985).

Daugherty, Harry Micajah, 1860-1941, American politician, b. Fayette co., Ohio. He became a successful corporation lawyer in Columbus, Ohio, and served (1890-94) in the state legislature. A leader of the Republican party in his state, he directed Warren G. Harding's successful campaign for the presidential nomination in 1920. Daugherty, rewarded (1921) by Harding with the office of U.S. Attorney General, became the President's confidant and influenced his appointments. He was charged with being implicated in the Teapot Dome affair, and other scandals of the Harding administration. After President Calvin Coolidge forced (1924) his resignation, Daugherty was prosecuted (1927) for an alleged conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government, but the case was dismissed after two juries failed to agree. He wrote, with Thomas Dixon, The Inside Story of the Harding Tragedy (1932).
Crick, Francis Harry Compton, 1916-2004, English scientist, grad. University College, London, and Caius College, Cambridge. Crick was trained as a physicist, and from 1940 to 1947 he served as a scientist in the admiralty, where he designed circuitry for naval mines. At Cambridge after 1947, he trained and did research in biology. He was a visiting lecturer at several institutions in the United States including Brooklyn Polytechnic (1953-54), Harvard (1959), Univ. of Rochester (1959), and Johns Hopkins school of medicine (1960). Crick shared the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Maurice Wilkins and James Watson for their work in establishing the structure and function of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), the key substance in the transmission of hereditary characteristics from generation to generation. After 1976 he worked at the Salk Institute, San Diego, where he served as president from 1994 to 1995. His subsequent research focused on protein synthesis, the genetic code and its conversion into amino acids, embryonic development, the neurobiological basis of consciousness, and other biological issues.

See his Of Molecules and Men (1967), Life Itself (1981), and What Mad Pursuit (1988); biography by M. Ridley (2006); J. D. Watson, The Double Helix (1968), and H. F. Judson, The Eighth Day of Creation (expanded ed. 1996).

Carman, Harry James, 1884-1964, American historian and educator, b. Greenfield, Saratoga co., N.Y. He was a elementary-school teacher and a high-school principal before becoming an instructor and then an assistant professor at Syracuse Univ. (1914-17). In 1918 he began teaching at Columbia, where he attained the rank of professor in 1931. From 1925 to 1931 he was assistant to the dean of Columbia College, and from 1943 to 1950 he was dean. He was appointed a member of the Board of Higher Education of New York City in 1938 and served on the New York State Board of Mediation from 1941 to 1955. Among his works are Social and Economic History of the United States (2 vol., 1930-34), Lincoln and the Patronage (with R. H. Luthin, 1943), A History of the American People (with H. C. Syrett, rev. ed. 1962), and A Short History of New York State (with others, 1957). He also edited several works concerning early American agriculture, on which he was a leading authority and was the editor of a valuable compilation, A Guide to the Principal Sources for American Civilization, 1800-1900, in the City of New York (with A. W. Thompson, 2 vol., "Manuscripts," 1960, and "Printed Sources," 1962).
Callahan, Harry Morey, 1912-99, American photographer, b. Detroit. Self-taught, he began taking pictures (1938) as a hobby and, inspired by the work of Ansel Adams, began to produce professional-quality photographs in the 1940s. His mature work is said to mingle the precision of Americans like Adams with the experimentalism of Europeans like Lázló Moholy-Nagy. From his first efforts, Callahan portrayed certain typical subjects drawn from his own daily life experience. His black-and-white city streetscapes and rural landscapes combine the commonplace with the starkly abstract, exploring contrasts of sunlight and shadow, tone and texture, static buildings and hurried passersby, while his many lovingly distinctive portraits of his wife and daughter are extremely personal and intimate. He sometimes used multiple exposures, and experimented with color slide film in the 1940s, again making color images from 1977 on. An influential figure in modern photography, he taught at Chicago's Institute of Design (1946-61) and the Rhode Island School of Design (1961-77).
Byrd, Harry Flood, 1887-1966, U.S. Senator from Virginia (1933-65), b. Martinsburg, W.Va.; brother of Richard E. Byrd. Educated at Shenandoah Academy in Winchester, Va., he became publisher of the Winchester Star and an important figure in state Democratic politics. His administration as governor (1926-30) was marked by the development of the state highway system. Appointed Senator in 1933, he was continually reelected until his retirement in 1965. He was a leading conservative Democrat and opposed the New Deal and later progressive measures. For many years he was chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and he advocated government economy.
Bridges, Harry (Alfred Renton Bridges), 1901-90, American labor leader, b. Melbourne, Australia. Arriving (1920) as an immigrant seaman in San Francisco, he became a longshoreman and militant labor organizer. Bridges led (1934) the West Coast maritime workers' strike, which expanded into an abortive general strike, and in 1937 he set up the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union (ILWU), and became West Coast director of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). Proceedings in 1939 to deport him as a Communist alien ended when he was officially absolved of Communist affiliation. The U.S. House of Representatives passed (1940) a bill to deport him, but it was ruled (1945) illegal by the Supreme Court. He became a citizen in 1945. His support of Henry A. Wallace for President in 1948 resulted in his ouster as CIO regional head. He was convicted and sentenced (1950) to a five-year prison term for swearing falsely at his 1945 naturalization hearing that he had never been a member of the Communist party. In 1953, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed the indictment for perjury against Bridges, thus voiding his prison sentence. He was reindicted on similar charges, but in 1955 a federal district judge ruled that the government had failed to prove that he was a Communist or that he had concealed that fact when he was naturalized. Shortly thereafter the U.S. Justice Dept. announced it had given up its long fight to deport Bridges. In 1958 he was granted a U.S. passport. In 1971 and 1972 Bridges led the ILWU in a strike that tied up the West Coast waterfront for several weeks.

See study by C. P. Larrowe (1972).

Blind Harry or Henry the Minstrel, fl. late 15th cent., supposed Scottish poet. He is considered the author of the patriotic epic, The Wallace, which celebrates the life of Sir William Wallace. Violently anti-English, the poem was popular in Scotland down to the 18th cent. Since the skillful literary technique of The Wallace makes its composition by the traditionally blind and humble Harry unlikely, it is felt that the poem owes much to another hand.

See edition by W. A. Craigie (1940).

Blackmun, Harry Andrew, 1908-99, Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1970-94), b. Nashville, Ill. Educated at Harvard, he practiced law privately, was general counsel to the Mayo Clinic (1950-59), then became a federal circuit court judge. He was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Nixon. Blackmun was initially allied with the conservatives on the court, including his boyhood friend Warren Burger, but is best known for his 1973 majority opinion in Roe v. Wade, legalizing abortion. By the 1980s he tended toward a liberal view in most areas, particularly civil-rights cases.

See L. Greenhouse, Becoming Justice Blackmun (2005).

Bertoia, Harry, 1915-78, American sculptor and furniture designer, b. Italy. Bertoia emigrated to the United States in 1933 and joined Knoll International (1950). There he designed chairs that brought him wide acclaim. Important examples of his sculptural works are a structural screen for the Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company, New York City, and a bronze panel at Dulles International Airport, Washington, D.C.
Barnes, Harry Elmer, 1889-1968, American historian and sociologist, b. Auburn, N.Y. He received his Ph.D. from Columbia in 1918 and taught economics, sociology, and history at various institutions of higher learning, notably at the New School for Social Research. His wide interests generally centered on the main themes of the development of Western thought and culture. His ability to synthesize information from various fields profoundly affected the teaching of history. Notable among the works that show his remarkable scope are Social History of the Western World (1921), Psychology and History (1925), History and Social Intelligence (1926), History of Western Civilization (1935), An Intellectual and Cultural History of the Western World (with some contributions from others, 1937, 3d rev. ed. 1965), and Social Thought from Lore to Science (with Howard Becker, 3d ed. rev. and enl. 1961).

See A. Goddard, ed., Harry Elmer Barnes (1968).

(born May 9, 1870, Grouville, Jersey, Channel Islands—died March 20, 1937, Totteridge, Hertfordshire, Eng.) British golfer. While working as a manservant for an affluent amateur golfer on the island of Jersey, Vardon learned golf, and he turned professional at age 20. A technical innovator, he won the British Open six times (1896, 1898, 1899, 1903, 1911, and 1914) and the U.S. Open once (1900). The Vardon Trophy is awarded annually by the Professional Golfers' Association of America to the professional with the best scoring average.

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(born Feb. 21, 1892, Norwich, N.Y., U.S.—died Jan. 14, 1949, Paris, France) U.S. psychiatrist. He engaged in clinical research at the Pratt Hospital in Maryland (1923–30), pursuing his interest in the use of psychotherapy to treat schizophrenia, which he viewed as stemming from disturbed interpersonal relationships in early childhood. He asserted that psychiatric symptoms arise out of conflicts between the individual and his human environment and that personality development likewise stems from a series of interactions with other people. He helped establish the William Alanson White Psychiatric Foundation (1933) and the Washington School of Psychiatry (1936), and he also founded (1938) and served as editor of the journal Psychiatry. His works include The Interpersonal Theory of Psychiatry (1953) and The Fusion of Psychiatry and Social Science (1964).

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(born June 24, 1901, Oakland, Calif., U.S.—died Sept. 3, 1974, San Diego, Calif.) U.S. composer and instrument maker. He grew up in Arizona and was largely self-taught musically. During the Great Depression, he traveled as a hobo, conceiving many of his musical ideas while doing so. About 1930 he began building original percussion and string instruments, tunable to 43 divisions of the octave. His works often involve theatrical elements, reflecting his interest in African, Japanese, and Native American ritual. They include Barstow—8 Hitchhiker Inscriptions from a Highway Railing at Barstow, California (1941), US Highball (1943), and And on the Seventh Day Petals Fell on Petaluma (1966).

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(born May 6, 1904, Jämshög, Swed.—died Feb. 11, 1978, Stockholm) Swedish novelist and poet. He spent his childhood in foster homes and his young adulthood as a merchant seaman, labourer, and vagrant. He described his early experiences in two autobiographical novels, Flowering Nettle (1935) and The Way Out (1936), and in travel sketches. Among his best-known works are the poetry collection Trade Wind (1945), the novel The Road (1948), and the epic poem Aniara (1956). In 1949 he became the first self-taught working-class writer ever elected to the Swedish Academy. He shared the 1974 Nobel Prize for Literature with Eyvind Johnson.

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(born Jan. 29, 1756, Prince William county, Va.—died March 25, 1818, Cumberland Island, Ga., U.S.) American army officer and politician. In the American Revolution he rose to cavalry commander (earning the nickname “Light-Horse Harry”) and led victories at Paulus Hook, N.J., and in the South. As governor of Virginia (1791–94), he commanded the army that suppressed the Whiskey Rebellion (1794). In the U.S. House of Representatives (1799–1801), he wrote the resolution eulogizing George Washington as “first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.” After 1800 Lee failed in several land and financial speculations and was twice imprisoned for debt. He was the father of Robert E. Lee.

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Sinclair Lewis.

(born Feb. 7, 1885, Sauk Center, Minn., U.S.—died Jan. 10, 1951, near Rome, Italy) U.S. novelist and social critic. He worked as a reporter and magazine writer before making his literary reputation with Main Street (1920), a portrayal of Midwestern provincialism. Among his other popular satirical novels puncturing middle-class complacency are Babbitt (1922), a scathing study of a conformist businessman; Arrowsmith (1925), a look at the medical profession; Elmer Gantry (1927), an indictment of fundamentalist religion; and Dodsworth (1929), the story of a rich American couple in Europe. He won the 1930 Nobel Prize for Literature, the first given to an American. His later novels include Cass Timberlaine (1945). Lewis's reputation declined in later years, and he lived abroad much of the time. He was married to Dorothy Thompson from 1928 to 1942.

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(born July 16, 1860, Randers, Den.—died April 30, 1943, Roskilde) Danish linguist. He led a movement for basing foreign-language teaching on conversational speech rather than textbook study of grammar and vocabulary, helping to revolutionize language teaching in Europe. An authority on English grammar, Jespersen contributed greatly to the advancement of phonetics and linguistic theory. His many published works include Modern English Grammar, 7 vol. (1909–49), Language: Its Nature, Development, and Origin (1922), and The Philosophy of Grammar (1924). He originated Novial, an international language.

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orig. Erik Weisz

Harry Houdini.

(born March 24, 1874, Budapest, Hung.—died Oct. 31, 1926, Detroit, Mich., U.S.) U.S. magician. The son of a rabbi who emigrated from Hungary to the U.S. and settled in Wisconsin, he became a trapeze performer at an early age. In 1882 he moved to New York City, where he played in vaudeville shows without much success. From about 1900 he earned an international reputation for his daring feats of escape from locked boxes, often submerged, while shackled in chains and handcuffed. His success depended on his great strength and agility and his unusual skill in manipulating locks. He exhibited his abilities in several films (1916–23). In his later years he campaigned against magicians and mind readers who claimed supernatural powers, including Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin, from whom Houdini had taken his name.

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(born Aug. 17, 1890, Sioux City, Iowa, U.S.—died Jan. 29, 1946, New York, N.Y.) U.S. New Deal official. He was a social worker in New York City through the 1920s. From 1931 to 1933 he directed the state's emergency relief agency. After Franklin D. Roosevelt became president in 1933, Hopkins was appointed head of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration. In 1935 he created the Works Progress Administration (WPA). After serving as U.S. commerce secretary (1938–40), he made several trips for Roosevelt to London and later to Moscow to discuss economic assistance and military strategy. In 1941 he was put in charge of the lend-lease program. He was regarded as Roosevelt's closest personal adviser during World War II.

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(born May 9, 1870, Grouville, Jersey, Channel Islands—died March 20, 1937, Totteridge, Hertfordshire, Eng.) British golfer. While working as a manservant for an affluent amateur golfer on the island of Jersey, Vardon learned golf, and he turned professional at age 20. A technical innovator, he won the British Open six times (1896, 1898, 1899, 1903, 1911, and 1914) and the U.S. Open once (1900). The Vardon Trophy is awarded annually by the Professional Golfers' Association of America to the professional with the best scoring average.

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(born Feb. 21, 1892, Norwich, N.Y., U.S.—died Jan. 14, 1949, Paris, France) U.S. psychiatrist. He engaged in clinical research at the Pratt Hospital in Maryland (1923–30), pursuing his interest in the use of psychotherapy to treat schizophrenia, which he viewed as stemming from disturbed interpersonal relationships in early childhood. He asserted that psychiatric symptoms arise out of conflicts between the individual and his human environment and that personality development likewise stems from a series of interactions with other people. He helped establish the William Alanson White Psychiatric Foundation (1933) and the Washington School of Psychiatry (1936), and he also founded (1938) and served as editor of the journal Psychiatry. His works include The Interpersonal Theory of Psychiatry (1953) and The Fusion of Psychiatry and Social Science (1964).

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(born June 24, 1901, Oakland, Calif., U.S.—died Sept. 3, 1974, San Diego, Calif.) U.S. composer and instrument maker. He grew up in Arizona and was largely self-taught musically. During the Great Depression, he traveled as a hobo, conceiving many of his musical ideas while doing so. About 1930 he began building original percussion and string instruments, tunable to 43 divisions of the octave. His works often involve theatrical elements, reflecting his interest in African, Japanese, and Native American ritual. They include Barstow—8 Hitchhiker Inscriptions from a Highway Railing at Barstow, California (1941), US Highball (1943), and And on the Seventh Day Petals Fell on Petaluma (1966).

Learn more about Partch, Harry with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Oct. 22, 1912, Detroit, Mich., U.S.—died March 15, 1999, Atlanta, Ga.) U.S. photographer. He had no formal training in photography and first developed an interest in it in 1938. In 1941 Ansel Adams's photographs inspired him to develop his own style. His subjects included landscapes, cityscapes, and unconventional portraits of his wife and daughter. He was best known as a teacher; he was head of the photography department at the Chicago Institute of Design (1949–61) and developed the photography department at the Rhode Island School of Design (1961–76). In 1980 two collections of his works were published, Water's Edge and Harry Callahan: Color, 1945–1980.

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(born Aug. 17, 1890, Sioux City, Iowa, U.S.—died Jan. 29, 1946, New York, N.Y.) U.S. New Deal official. He was a social worker in New York City through the 1920s. From 1931 to 1933 he directed the state's emergency relief agency. After Franklin D. Roosevelt became president in 1933, Hopkins was appointed head of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration. In 1935 he created the Works Progress Administration (WPA). After serving as U.S. commerce secretary (1938–40), he made several trips for Roosevelt to London and later to Moscow to discuss economic assistance and military strategy. In 1941 he was put in charge of the lend-lease program. He was regarded as Roosevelt's closest personal adviser during World War II.

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orig. Erik Weisz

Harry Houdini.

(born March 24, 1874, Budapest, Hung.—died Oct. 31, 1926, Detroit, Mich., U.S.) U.S. magician. The son of a rabbi who emigrated from Hungary to the U.S. and settled in Wisconsin, he became a trapeze performer at an early age. In 1882 he moved to New York City, where he played in vaudeville shows without much success. From about 1900 he earned an international reputation for his daring feats of escape from locked boxes, often submerged, while shackled in chains and handcuffed. His success depended on his great strength and agility and his unusual skill in manipulating locks. He exhibited his abilities in several films (1916–23). In his later years he campaigned against magicians and mind readers who claimed supernatural powers, including Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin, from whom Houdini had taken his name.

Learn more about Houdini, Harry with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born May 6, 1904, Jämshög, Swed.—died Feb. 11, 1978, Stockholm) Swedish novelist and poet. He spent his childhood in foster homes and his young adulthood as a merchant seaman, labourer, and vagrant. He described his early experiences in two autobiographical novels, Flowering Nettle (1935) and The Way Out (1936), and in travel sketches. Among his best-known works are the poetry collection Trade Wind (1945), the novel The Road (1948), and the epic poem Aniara (1956). In 1949 he became the first self-taught working-class writer ever elected to the Swedish Academy. He shared the 1974 Nobel Prize for Literature with Eyvind Johnson.

Learn more about Martinson, Harry (Edmund) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

orig. Alfred Bryant Renton

(born July 28, 1901, Kensington, near Melbourne, Vic., Austl.—died March 30, 1990, San Francisco, Calif., U.S.) Australian-born U.S. labour leader. He arrived in the U.S. as a seaman in 1920, and he soon settled in San Francisco and became active in the local branch of the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA). In 1937 he led the Pacific Coast division out of the ILA and reconstituted it as the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union (ILWU), affiliated with the CIO (see AFL-CIO). His aggressive labour tactics and Communist Party connections led the CIO to expel the ILWU in 1950 during a purge of allegedly communist-dominated unions, and opponents tried unsuccessfully to have Bridges deported. He retired as president of the ILWU in 1977.

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(born Nov. 12, 1908, Nashville, Ill., U.S.—died March 4, 1999, Arlington, Va.) U.S. jurist. He received his law degree from Harvard (1932) and taught law at the St. Paul College of Law (1935–41) while advancing to general partner in a Minnesota law firm. After serving as resident counsel to the Mayo Clinic (1950–59), he was appointed to the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In 1970 Pres. Richard Nixon named him to the Supreme Court of the United States, where he served until 1994. Perceived as a conservative when he began his Supreme Court service, Blackmun became increasingly liberal over the years. He wrote the majority decision in Roe v. Wade (1973).

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The Diamond chair designed by Harry Bertoia, 1952

(born March 10, 1915, San Lorenzo, Italy—died Nov. 6, 1978, Barto, Pa., U.S.) Italian-born U.S. sculptor and designer. He attended the Cranbrook Academy of Art and later taught there (1937–43). He worked in California with designer Charles Eames before joining Knoll Associates in New York City in 1950. His achievements there included the Diamond Chair (commonly known as the Bertoia chair), made of polished steel wire and covered with elastic Naugahyde upholstery. He also produced “sound sculptures” that were activated by the wind and numerous works for corporations and public spaces.

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(born Nov. 12, 1908, Nashville, Ill., U.S.—died March 4, 1999, Arlington, Va.) U.S. jurist. He received his law degree from Harvard (1932) and taught law at the St. Paul College of Law (1935–41) while advancing to general partner in a Minnesota law firm. After serving as resident counsel to the Mayo Clinic (1950–59), he was appointed to the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In 1970 Pres. Richard Nixon named him to the Supreme Court of the United States, where he served until 1994. Perceived as a conservative when he began his Supreme Court service, Blackmun became increasingly liberal over the years. He wrote the majority decision in Roe v. Wade (1973).

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(born June 8, 1916, Northampton, Northamptonshire, Eng.—died July 28, 2004, San Diego, Calif., U.S.) British biophysicist. Educated at University College, London, he helped develop magnetic mines for naval use during World War II but returned to biology after the war. He worked at the University of Cambridge with James D. Watson and Maurice Wilkins to construct a molecular model of DNA consistent with its physical and chemical properties, work for which the three shared a 1962 Nobel Prize. Crick also discovered that each group of three bases (a codon) on a single DNA strand designates the position of a specific amino acid on the backbone of a protein molecule, and he helped determine which codons code for each amino acid normally found in protein, thus clarifying the way the cell uses DNA to build proteins. Seealso Rosalind Franklin.

Learn more about Crick, Francis (Harry Compton) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born June 8, 1916, Northampton, Northamptonshire, Eng.—died July 28, 2004, San Diego, Calif., U.S.) British biophysicist. Educated at University College, London, he helped develop magnetic mines for naval use during World War II but returned to biology after the war. He worked at the University of Cambridge with James D. Watson and Maurice Wilkins to construct a molecular model of DNA consistent with its physical and chemical properties, work for which the three shared a 1962 Nobel Prize. Crick also discovered that each group of three bases (a codon) on a single DNA strand designates the position of a specific amino acid on the backbone of a protein molecule, and he helped determine which codons code for each amino acid normally found in protein, thus clarifying the way the cell uses DNA to build proteins. Seealso Rosalind Franklin.

Learn more about Crick, Francis (Harry Compton) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Oct. 22, 1912, Detroit, Mich., U.S.—died March 15, 1999, Atlanta, Ga.) U.S. photographer. He had no formal training in photography and first developed an interest in it in 1938. In 1941 Ansel Adams's photographs inspired him to develop his own style. His subjects included landscapes, cityscapes, and unconventional portraits of his wife and daughter. He was best known as a teacher; he was head of the photography department at the Chicago Institute of Design (1949–61) and developed the photography department at the Rhode Island School of Design (1961–76). In 1980 two collections of his works were published, Water's Edge and Harry Callahan: Color, 1945–1980.

Learn more about Callahan, Harry (Morey) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

orig. Alfred Bryant Renton

(born July 28, 1901, Kensington, near Melbourne, Vic., Austl.—died March 30, 1990, San Francisco, Calif., U.S.) Australian-born U.S. labour leader. He arrived in the U.S. as a seaman in 1920, and he soon settled in San Francisco and became active in the local branch of the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA). In 1937 he led the Pacific Coast division out of the ILA and reconstituted it as the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union (ILWU), affiliated with the CIO (see AFL-CIO). His aggressive labour tactics and Communist Party connections led the CIO to expel the ILWU in 1950 during a purge of allegedly communist-dominated unions, and opponents tried unsuccessfully to have Bridges deported. He retired as president of the ILWU in 1977.

Learn more about Bridges, Harry with a free trial on Britannica.com.

The Diamond chair designed by Harry Bertoia, 1952

(born March 10, 1915, San Lorenzo, Italy—died Nov. 6, 1978, Barto, Pa., U.S.) Italian-born U.S. sculptor and designer. He attended the Cranbrook Academy of Art and later taught there (1937–43). He worked in California with designer Charles Eames before joining Knoll Associates in New York City in 1950. His achievements there included the Diamond Chair (commonly known as the Bertoia chair), made of polished steel wire and covered with elastic Naugahyde upholstery. He also produced “sound sculptures” that were activated by the wind and numerous works for corporations and public spaces.

Learn more about Bertoia, Harry with a free trial on Britannica.com.

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