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Kubitschek, Juscelino

(Encyclopedia)Kubitschek, Juscelino zho͞osəlēˈno͝o ko͞oˈbəchĕk [key], 1902–76, president of Brazil (1956–61). A surgeon and political centrist who served as mayor of Belohorizonte and governor of Minas...

Ramsey, Norman Foster, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Ramsey, Norman Foster, Jr., 1915–2011, American physicist, b. Washington, D.C., Ph.D. Columbia, 1940. A member of the faculty at Harvard from 1947 and the Higgins professor of physics from 1966 (eme...

Rickover, Hyman George

(Encyclopedia)Rickover, Hyman George, 1900–1986, American admiral, b. Russia. In World War II he served as head of the electrical section of the navy's Bureau of Ships. After the war he was assigned (1946) to the...

Common Cause

(Encyclopedia)Common Cause, U.S. organization that seeks a “reordering of national priorities and revitalization of the public process to make our political and governmental institutions more responsive to the ne...

Coleman, William Thaddeus, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Coleman, William Thaddeus, Jr., 1920–2017, African-American lawyer and U.S. cabinet official, b. Philadelphia, grad. Univ. of Pennsylvania, 1941, Harvard Law School, 1946. He clerked for Justice Fra...

Gneisenau, August, Graf Neithardt von

(Encyclopedia)Gneisenau, August, Graf Neithardt von ouˈgo͝ost gräf nītˈhärt fən gənīˈzənou [key], 1760–1831, Prussian field marshal. In the Napoleonic Wars he fought at Jena (1806) and, as a major, won...

Ferraro, Geraldine Anne

(Encyclopedia)Ferraro, Geraldine Anne fərärˈō [key], 1935–2011, American political leader, b. Newburgh, N.Y., grad. Marymount College (1956), Fordham Law School (1960). A Democrat from Queens, N.Y., she began...

Green, Andrew Haswell

(Encyclopedia)Green, Andrew Haswell, 1820–1903, American civic leader, b. Worcester, Mass. He read law under Samuel J. Tilden and became his partner. Prominent in civic affairs of New York City, he held a number ...

Poston, Charles Debrill

(Encyclopedia)Poston, Charles Debrill pōsˈtən [key], 1825–1902, American explorer and author, b. Hardin co., Ky. After practicing law in Tennessee, he moved to California in 1850 and from there led a party to ...

Papadopoulos, George

(Encyclopedia)Papadopoulos, George (Georgios Papadopoulos) päˌpədŏpˈəlĭs [key], 1919–99, Greek colonel and political leader. A career army officer, he was the strongman of the military junta that seized po...

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