media executiveBorn: 7/2/1918Birthplace: New York City Son of David Sarnoff, a pioneer in radio and television who had organized NBC in 1926, Robert W. Sarnoff was groomed to succeed his father at…
(Encyclopedia) Astor, John JacobAstor, John Jacobăsˈtər [key], 1763–1848, American merchant, b. Walldorf, near Heidelberg, Germany. At the age of 16 he went to England, and five years later, in 1784…
(Encyclopedia) North Little Rock, city (1990 pop. 61,741), Pulaski co., central Ark., on the Arkansas River opposite Little Rock; settled c.1856, inc. as a city 1903. North Little Rock lies in a…
(Encyclopedia) Patrick, Deval Laurdine, 1956–, African-American politician and government official, b. Chicago, grad. Harvard 1978, Harvard Law School 1982. A lawyer with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund…
(Encyclopedia) Hickel, Walter Joseph, 1919–2010, U.S. secretary of the interior (1969–70), b. Claflin, Kan. After moving to Alaska in 1940, he founded (1947) a construction company and built it into…
(Encyclopedia) spoonbill, common name for a large wading bird related to the ibis. It has a long bill with a tip like a flattened spoon, with which it captures small aquatic animals. The roseate…
(Encyclopedia) Wentworth, William Charles, 1793?–1872, Australian statesman. His exploration (1813) of the Blue Mts. in Australia revealed vast pasturelands in the western part of the continent. In…
(Encyclopedia) boat-billed heron or boatbill, a tropical New World heron, Chochlearius chochlearius. With shorter legs and a squatter appearance than most herons, this bird is remarkable chiefly for…
(Encyclopedia) kiwikiwikēˈwē [key] or apteryxapteryxăpˈtərĭks [key], common name for the smallest member of an order of primitive flightless birds related to the ostrich, the emu, and the cassowary.…
(Encyclopedia) Coolidge, Calvin, 1872–1933, 30th President of the United States (1923–29), b. Plymouth, Vt. John Calvin Coolidge was a graduate of Amherst College and was admitted to the bar in 1897…
