Carnegie, Dale

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Dale Carnegie (kär´nəgē, kärnā´gē), 1888–1955, American lecturer and writer on self-improvement, b. Maryville, Mo., as Dale Carnagey; grad. State Normal School Number Two, Warrensburg, Mo. (1908). After stints as a salesman and actor, he began teaching (1912) public speaking in New York City at a YMCA. His popular classes eventually became the Dale Carnegie Course, a pioneering training program in communication and interpersonal relations for people in sales, business management, and other fields. Carnegie wrote How to Win Friends and Influence People (1936), a runaway best seller; How to Stop Worrying and Start Living (1948); and other books. He also penned newspaper columns and had a radio program.

See biography by S. Watts (2013).