Legalizing the 1932 Lake Placid Olympic Bobrun: A Test of the Adirondack Wilderness Culture‪.‬

In January of 1928, the American Olympic Committee (AOC) approached Dr. Godfrey Dewey, the son of the inventor of the library categorization scheme known as the Dewey Decimal System and the vice president of the elite Lake Placid Club (LPC), with a compelling proposition. Would the LPC and the Lake Placid community be able and willing to host the Third Olympic Winter Games? At first, Dewey viewed such an achievement as "impossible" He would need considerable cooperation "not merely by the civic bodies of Lake Placid and the community itself," Dewey explained, "but by many others thruout [sic] the region and the state" (1) Nevertheless, after a ten-week European research trip to study other winter sports facilities and sites, Dewey exuded confidence that Lake Placid could successfully host this international winter sports festival. Dewey rallied state-wide support for the next year. In the spring of 1929, as a finale to his campaign, Dewey traveled to Lausanne, Switzerland, to endure one last 'grilling' by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and to plead a final case for Lake Placid. Waiting patiently outside the IOC meeting room, Dewey unofficially learned of Lake Placid's fate in a whisper from the committee's stenographer. "Vous etes gagne, Monsieur" you have won. Official word followed shortly after. The tiny Adirondack hamlet had defeated California and other international sites for the right to host the 1932 Winter Olympic Games. Godfrey Dewey appeared to have pulled off the impossible. (2)