Born into poverty on a Missouri farm, Carnegie tried sales and acting and was, surprisingly, unsuccessful at those professions. He found his niche when he began teaching public speaking at the YMCA in New York in 1912. His success as a lecturer led to his pamphlets, which were later developed into books. Carnegie served in the army in World War I and then managed Lowell Thomas’s lecture tour before beginning his own lecture tours. Carnegie was his own best success story, rising from rural poverty to the point where, by the time of his death in 1955, his name was synonymous with self-help and success.