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Borden, Sir Robert Laird

(Encyclopedia)Borden, Sir Robert Laird, 1854–1937, Canadian political leader, prime minister during World War I, b. Grand-Pré, N.S. Called to the bar in 1878, he won a reputation as a constitutional lawyer. He w...

Villa, Francisco

(Encyclopedia)Villa, Francisco fränsēsˈkō vēˈyä [key], c.1877–1923, Mexican revolutionary, nicknamed Pancho Villa. His real name was Doroteo Arango. When Villa came of age, he declared his freedom from the...

Monroe Doctrine

(Encyclopedia)Monroe Doctrine, principle of American foreign policy enunciated in President James Monroe's message to Congress, Dec. 2, 1823. It initially called for an end to European intervention in the Americas,...

Lyell, Sir Charles

(Encyclopedia)Lyell, Sir Charles līˈəl [key], 1797–1875, British geologist. After studying and briefly practicing law, he spent most of his life in travel and in popularizing scientific ideas. He championed an...

Auchincloss, Louis

(Encyclopedia)Auchincloss, Louis (Louis Stanton Auchincloss) ôˈkĭnklŏs [key], 1917–2010, American novelist and man of letters, b. Lawrence, New York; studied Yale, Univ. of Virginia Law School (LL.B., 1941). ...

Knapp, Seaman Asahel

(Encyclopedia)Knapp, Seaman Asahel sēˈmən āˈsəhĕlˌ năp [key], 1833–1911, agriculturist and teacher, b. Schroon Lake, N.Y., grad. Union College, Schenectady, 1856. He went to Iowa in 1866 and began public...

Teapot Dome

(Encyclopedia)Teapot Dome, in U.S. history, oil reserve scandal that began during the administration of President Harding. In 1921, by executive order of the President, control of naval oil reserves at Teapot Dome,...

Robbins, Jerome

(Encyclopedia)Robbins, Jerome, 1918–98, American choreographer and dancer, b. New York City as Jerome Wilson Rabinowitz. Robbins began his career dancing in musicals (1937). In 1940 he joined the Ballet Theatre a...

Veracruz, city, Mexico

(Encyclopedia)Veracruz, city (1990 pop. 303,152), Veracruz state, E central Mexico, on the Gulf of Mexico. Rivaling Tampico as the country's main port, it is also the commercial and industrial center of an importan...

Gates, Henry Louis, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Gates, Henry Louis, Jr., 1950–, American scholar and critic, b. Keyser, W.Va., B.A. Yale, 1973, Ph.D. Cambridge, 1979, where he studied with Wole Soyinka. Gates is an expert on African-American lite...