Background
Born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where his father was on the faculty (and later president) of Macalester College, he attended Mount Hermon School as a youth (now Northfield Mount Hermon School).
Born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where his father was on the faculty (and later president) of Macalester College, he attended Mount Hermon School as a youth (now Northfield Mount Hermon School).
Wallace attended college at Macalester from 1907 to 1909 and transferred to the University of California, Berkeley for two years.
He returned to Saint Paul in 1912 and was hired by a publishing firm specializing in farming literature. During World War I, Wallace enlisted in the United States. Army and was wounded. He spent four months in a French hospital recovering from his injuries, passing the time by reading American magazines.
Returning to the United States., Wallace spent every day of the next six months at the Minneapolis Public Library researching and condensing magazine articles
He wanted to create a magazine with articles on a wide variety of subjects, abridged so that each could be easily read. The Wallaces decided to publish the magazine themselves and market it by direct mail.
The first issue appeared on February 5, 1922. Reader"s Digest soon became one of the most widely circulated periodicals in the world.
Wallace was a supporter of the Republican Party with strong anti-communist views, and the magazine reflected these beliefs.
Wallace was a noted philanthropist, donating much of his massive fortune to his alma mater Macalester College. There is a dormitory with his name on the Northfield Mount Hermon campus. He funded the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum, opened in 1985 at Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia.
On January 28, 1972, DeWitt Wallace was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Richard Nixon.
Served as sergeant 35th Division, United States Army, 1917-1919.
Married Lila Bell Acheson, October 15, 1921.