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Bunau-Varilla, Philippe Jean

(Encyclopedia)Bunau-Varilla, Philippe Jean fēlēpˈ zhäN bünōˈ-värēyäˈ [key], 1859–1940, French engineer, prominent in the Panama Canal controversy. An engineer after 1884 in the original French company ...

Buffalo, city, United States

(Encyclopedia)Buffalo, city (2020 pop. 278,349), seat of Erie co., W N.Y., on Lake Erie and the Niagara and Buffalo rivers; inc. 1832. With more than 37 mi (60 km) of...

Dole, Sanford Ballard

(Encyclopedia)Dole, Sanford Ballard, 1844–1926, Hawaiian statesman, b. Honolulu, of American missionary parents. After education in the United States he returned to Hawaii and became prominent in public life. A l...

Choate, Joseph Hodges

(Encyclopedia)Choate, Joseph Hodges chōt [key], 1832–1917, American lawyer and diplomat, b. Salem, Mass.; nephew of Rufus Choate. After being admitted (1855) to the bar, he moved to New York City. His legal care...

Waters, Muddy

(Encyclopedia)Waters, Muddy, 1915–83, African-American blues singer and guitarist, b. Rolling Fork, Miss., as McKinley Morganfield. As a teenager he began singing and playing traditional country blues on harmonic...

Foraker, Joseph Benson

(Encyclopedia)Foraker, Joseph Benson fŏrˈəkər [key], 1846–1917, American politician, b. Highland co., Ohio. After service in the Civil War, he practiced law in Cincinnati and was a judge of the superior court...

free silver

(Encyclopedia)free silver, in U.S. history, term designating the political movement for the unlimited coinage of silver. In 1896 free silver became the major issue of a presidential campaign when William Jennings...

Dewey, George

(Encyclopedia)Dewey, George do͞oˈē, dyo͞oˈ– [key], 1837–1917, American admiral, hero of the battle of Manila, b. Montpelier, Vt., grad. Annapolis, 1858. He saw active duty in the Civil War and rose in the ...

Cook, Frederick Albert

(Encyclopedia)Cook, Frederick Albert, 1865–1940, American explorer and physician, b. Sullivan co., N.Y. Cook early became interested in the arctic and accompanied the expedition of Robert E. Peary in 1891–92 as...

Phillips, Wendell

(Encyclopedia)Phillips, Wendell, 1811–84, American reformer and orator, b. Boston, grad. Harvard (B.A., 1831; LL.B., 1834). He was admitted to the bar in 1834 but, having sufficient income of his own, he abandone...