Ball, George

Extract

Ball, George (21 December 1909–26 May 1994), lawyer and statesman, was born George Wildman Ball in Des Moines, Iowa, the son of Amos Ball, Jr., a businessman, and Jessie Edna Wildman, a schoolteacher. Amos Ball, who was largely self-educated and worked his way up the ranks to become a director of Standard Oil, encouraged nightly debates at the dinner table and weekly outings to the public library. In 1922 he moved the family to Evanston, Illinois. In 1926 George enrolled at nearby Northwestern University, where he came under the influence of ...