Dale Carnegie’s Death
Many years ago when I was doing my under-graduate work in college, I read Dale Carnegie’s book “How to Stop Worrying and Start Living“. It was a good book with advice that I found reasonable and practical. In a conversation with a friend, I mentioned what I was reading. He laughed and said that it was ironic because Dale Carnegie leaped to his death from the window of a high-rise building six months after writing this book. I believed him because he stated it as a matter of fact.
There was no Internet, at least in my hometown, in India at that time. I would have had to verify such a fact by finding a biography or encyclopedia in the library - since it was no big deal, I didn’t do so. Furthermore, for several years, whenever mention of Dale Carnegie would come up, I would think, “Aha! The hypocrite who committed suicide because he couldn’t stop worrying.” The funny thing was that in later years, a Google search was just seconds away and I would still place my faith in my friend’s words. Until just a few days ago…
In my last post, I wrote about reading the Personal MBA books. Accordingly, I went to the library (Leach Library in Londonderry, NH) and found there was a new audio book for “How to Win Friends and Influence People“. I like audio books since they are convenient to get through during my daily commute. As part of the whole chain of events, I finally Googled “Dale Carnegie” and got to the Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dale_Carnegie. Here’s the excerpt:
“He died of Hodgkin’s disease on November 1, 1955“
I did more searches on Google and, yes, he did die at the age of 67 in 1955. The “How to Stop Worrying…” book was published in 1948. I have not found any mention of suicide or euthanasia regarding his death.
So what does this mean? I wonder how many other ideas, concepts and “facts” we all walk around with believing that they are absolute truth without doing any cross-verification. The problem is that after years of listening to people, reading various sources, and other means of acquiring information, it is natural to forget where any piece of information was acquired from. And even if it was acquired from a respectable source like a news site, when does someone look at the name of the actual person who wrote the information and further verify it? How many times do we read Letters to the Editor where a mistake is pointed out?
New discoveries and inventions in every field of human endeavor are also changing what previously was accepted as fact. I was very surprised when I read that the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2005 was awarded for the discovery that gastritis and peptic ulcer disease was caused by a bacterium. For all my life, it was thought that stress was the cause of ulcers. Hence, the term “don’t burn a hole in your stomach“.
Moral of the story: Question beliefs. Cross-verify facts. Show me the corroboration.
Very interesting – hadn’t heard the Carnegie suicide rumor, but it does make you question how much of what you hear is factually correct. Thanks for the interesting post!
Glad you liked the PMBA, by the way!
Josh Kaufman
Josh
5 Jan 07 at 7:18 am
Krishna, That story about Dale Carnegie committing suicide is an old cannard, and we’ve got no idea how it started. The information you eventually found is correct: he died of natural causes. While I never knew him personally, everyone that I have met that knew him tell me that he was the personification of what he taught. Peter Handal, Chairman, Dale Carnegie
Anonymous
6 Jan 07 at 2:25 pm
Krishna
What you say is extremely interesting!
What actually proves it to be so?
What is the process of fixing belief?
Is skepticism healthy?
When I searched the net for how Dale Carnegie died … I found thes e two notes A & B …
A. Carnegie’s first job was selling correspondence learning courses to farmers. Then he worked as a salesman for Armour & Company, the largest slaughterhouse and meatpacking company in Chicago. Carnegie was selling their meats, soap, lard, and other byproducts. Armour & Company was notorious for low compensation and also for banning unionization. Carnegie was the most successful salesman in the state of Omaha, and made his sales territory the national leader of the company. He lost all his savings in the stock market crash of 1929.http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0138646/bio
B. Just short of graduating, he decided to quit and start a career as a salesman in the Midwest. Despite his knack for expressing himself, his heart was never in sales, and he was less than successful. http://www.bookrags.com/Dale_Carnegie
Was he a successful salesman in his early career? Question remains!
Similarly with his suicide. There seems to be something about it which makes people skeptical …
Would return to this again if you really wish …
Me Paparazzi
me paparazzi
18 Feb 07 at 6:11 am
@me paparazzi
Yes, it is difficult to know what to believe. The problem is that it is very difficult to be skeptical about everything. Sometimes, the fact may be buried in a larger article and we go with the flow.
Thanks for your comments. Do you have a blog/website I can visit?
Krishna Kumar
18 Feb 07 at 6:37 am
Thanks dude…I also searched in google after hearing this rumour…
chris
21 Mar 07 at 11:30 pm
you just saved me 200 bucks
…i had brought his book but have abandoned it midway when my father told me that he killed himself 
…now i feel like going back and reading it
cOOL_aLIEN_fRM_mARS
20 Jun 07 at 12:39 am
Wow ,I am so glad to learn that, I had read how to win friends and Influence ppl , long back and was impressed by his works, bought few more books authored by him, but in the midway , one of my friend told me that he comitted sucide and I left the book, never thought of googling the reason. Now I will be back to the books with full enthusiasm
Anup Baruah
4 Feb 08 at 1:37 pm
Hieeee guys dis is gurinder from vancouver canada… its regarding dale carnegie’s death.
Though it has been stated that Dale Carnegie died of uremia, it is widely rumored that he died at age 66 by committing suicide. The rumor began because another author, Irving Tressler,wrote “How to Lose Friends and Alienate People” as an unauthorized parody
of the classic Dale Carnegie book. Mr. Tressler later committed suicide and was confused with Dale Carnegie himself. The official biography from Dale Carnegie & Associates, Inc. states that he died of Hodgkin’s disease on November 1, 1955. He died at Forest Hills, New York, and was buried in the Belton, Cass County, Missouri cemetery.
Guyz… right information only comes from right source. Get the right information.
Gurinder Litt
(littgurinder@gmail.com)
Gurinder Litt
20 Apr 08 at 6:50 pm
I’ve heard this rumour about suicide and that’s why i’m here : why should we believe Wiki is right ?still i agree that we should have some info about contrary if we want to argue
good luck
andrej.jodko@gmail.com
Anonymous
5 Jul 08 at 3:33 am
You are right. We cannot believe that the Wiki is also necessarily correct. Nevertheless, it does seem to be a better source than hearsay.
thoughtclusters.com
5 Jul 08 at 3:38 pm
I dont belive he commited suicide but even if he did his books are worth reading and his advice worth taking.
Anonymous
28 Jul 08 at 7:07 am
I would ask a simple question, Is is worthwhile to know about the person in detail before reading a book. If the book’s ideas are good, follow it Otherwise not. The main thing matter is your own belief not the other’s.
Hemant Gupta
Anonymous
9 Aug 08 at 4:16 am
@anonymous
Generally speaking, I would agree with you that you can ignore the author while reading a book. However, if the author’s actions fundamentally contradict the book, then you have to wonder where the ideas are coming from. True ideas come from experience or research, not from a vacuum. If the ideas are just meant to sell books, the writing may sound good, but the ideas are hollow.
Krishna Kumar
11 Aug 08 at 10:36 am
I think you are misquoting wiki on this matter. Wiki says 'The official biography from Dale Carnegie & Associates, Inc. states that he died of Hodgkin's disease on November 1, 1955.[9] It has long been rumoured that Dale Carnegie committed suicide."
So Wiki has put both the things together, without stressing one over other. The official biography is by Dale Carnegie's own company, so the credibilty of thst can be questionable. The other is a rumour. So no one knows the fact……….
Anil
13 Aug 08 at 9:19 am
Anil, this is interesting. When I read the Wikipedia article, that text was not there. The article now goes on to say, “Many attribute this rumor to the suicide of Irving Tressler, author of, “How to Lose Friends and Alienate People”, an unauthorized parody of Dale Carnegie’s classic book.”
As you say, no one knows the fact. Of course, my original point was exactly that – we have to understand the sources of information better.
Krish
13 Aug 08 at 1:09 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01bALyYZFcs&feature=related
It is interesting to note in the above video that Sri Sri is also seems to be believing this rumor
Anonymous
23 Oct 08 at 10:37 pm
Thanks for all views and facts, guys, even i heard this rumour, but i never bothered to check, Since his books have really changed my life. Anyway i got away with this rumour as well, today. Thanks for all, sens_k@yahoo.com
Anonymous
24 Oct 08 at 8:25 am
hey thanx 4 the info…….even my frnd told me ’bout the suicide while i was readin the buk……. so i was verifying….. glad i verified immediatly….. bcos it is reallly ironic that he himself committed suicide aft writin all that stuff…thanx!-mansi vaidya
Anonymous
21 Nov 08 at 6:20 am
Whether he committed suicide or not is not important. One fact about him seems to be agreeable by all. He divorced his first wife. If a man like him who proposed so much about winning and retaining friends and whatever, how can one even divorce such a close relationship. its a very big thing to ‘divorce’ oneself from a relationship. God only know what was going on inside this man…
Koushik Varaghur
5 Dec 08 at 1:52 am
That’s interesting, Koushik. I didn’t know about that. It is strange – divorces were not so common then, either.
Krish
5 Dec 08 at 8:24 am
Including persons like Swami Sukhabodhananda, they don’t bother to check the truth, and they are propagating wrong information to their participants in their discourses and in thier life programs about the great person like Dale Carnegie.
Anonymous
21 Jan 09 at 11:35 am
Thanking you friend for coming this far reading this thread.
I[Harish] started reading Dale Carnegie books and have applied the philosophy in my life. Principles were working fine. Unless a person has followed these principles in his own life, it can’t work so wonderfully. My heart tells, Dale Carnegie had a natural death and more over fully followed his principles unto his last breath.
It is a sorry fact that some people get a kind of pleasure by spreading rumors.
Friend, in all such cases ask the answers from your heart. It only knows the truth.
Anonymous
6 Feb 09 at 9:45 pm
I recently became a Dale Carnegie Instructor. Obviously it would be nice to believe he didn’t commit suicide. If he did it is truely sad. On the flip side, his training and literature have truely changed many people’s lives accross the world, including mine. His ideas and fundamental principles were way before his time. I may be speaking from a biased perspective, yet anything that can withstand Two Wold Wars, The Great Depression and a few recessions and still be considered one of the best business training sessions in the world…no matter how much technology there is, humans will always be humans….
scotty
11 Feb 09 at 7:30 pm