Born in Burlington, Vermont, on October 20, John Dewey (1859–1952) lived a long and productive life as a psychologist, social activist, public intellectual, educator, and philosopher. Educated at the University of Vermont and Johns Hopkins, Dewey taught philosophy at the universities of Michigan, Minnesota, and Chicago, and Columbia University. He initiated the progressive laboratory school at the University of Chicago, where his reforms in methods of education could be put into practice. He was instrumental in founding the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), helped found the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and was active in the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Dewey remained active until shortly before his death in New York City on June 1.

John Dewey, 1859–1952. During the first half of the 20th century, Dewey was America's most famous exponent of a pragmatic philosophy that celebrated the traditional values of democracy and...