Perhaps the most well-known author in the field of communication and public speaking, Dale Carnegie was born into poverty on a small farm in Maryville Missouri. Devoted to public speaking from his teen years, he was active in debate in high school.

In the early 1930s he was known for his books and a radio program. When he published How to Win Friends and Influence People in 1930, it enjoyed immediate success and would become one of the best-sellers of all time, selling more than 10 million copies in many languages. This led to demand for him as a lecturer and writer: he began a syndicated newspaper column and organized the Dale Carnegie Institute for Effective Speaking and Human Relations, with branches all over the world.