John Carpenter is an auditor for the Internal Revenue Service from Hamden, Connecticut. He gained 15 minutes of fame on November 18, 1999 by becoming the first man to win $1,000,000 on the American version of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" He did so without using any of his lifelines for practical gain. He telephoned his father on the final question to say that he knew the answer and would win the largest prize in US television history. When he returned for their Tournament of Champions episode, he only won $250,000, half of which went to charity.
He won the million by knowing that Richard Nixon appeared on the television show Laugh-In, as well as knowing that I. M. Pei designed the glass pyramid that appears outside the Louvre. While impressive, his prize would eventually leave the record books. "Millionaire" introduced a rising jackpot in 2001. The first man to win this jackpot, professor Kevin Olmstead, won $2.18 million.