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executive

(Encyclopedia)executive, one who carries out the will or plan of another person or of a group. In government, the term refers not only to the chief administrative officer but to all others who execute the laws and ...

Springsteen, Bruce Frederick

(Encyclopedia)Springsteen, Bruce Frederick, 1949–, American singer, guitarist, and songwriter, nicknamed “The Boss,” b. Long Branch, N.J. Springsteen established himself as a singer and songwriter, as well as...

Tacna-Arica Controversy

(Encyclopedia)Tacna-Arica Controversy täkˈnə-ərēˈkə [key], 1883–1929, dispute between Chile and Peru. It arose from provisions of the Treaty of Ancón (1883), which ended the War of the Pacific (see Pacifi...

DiMaggio, Joe

(Encyclopedia)DiMaggio, Joe (Joseph Paul DiMaggio) dĭmăjˈēōˌ, –mäjˈēōˌ [key], 1914–99, American baseball player, b. Martinez, Calif. One of the most charismatic of 20th-century sports figures, “Jol...

O'Keeffe, Georgia

(Encyclopedia)O'Keeffe, Georgia ōkēfˈ [key], 1887–1986, American painter, b. Sun Prairie, Wis. After working briefly as a commercial artist in Chicago, O'Keeffe abandoned painting until she began the study of ...

Atget, Eugène

(Encyclopedia)Atget, Eugène özhĕnˈ ätzhĕˈ [key], 1857–1927, French photographer. After working as a sailor and then as an actor for many years, Atget became a photographer at the age of 42. He began at onc...

Motherwell, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Motherwell, Robert, 1915–91, American painter and writer, b. Aberdeen, Wash. Motherwell taught art at several colleges and during the early 1940s he became a cogent theoretician of abstract expressi...

Field, Cyrus West

(Encyclopedia)Field, Cyrus West, 1819–92, American merchant, promoter of the first Atlantic cable, b. Stockbridge, Mass.; brother of David Dudley Field and Stephen J. Field. As head of a paper business, he accumu...

Smith, Edmund Kirby

(Encyclopedia)Smith, Edmund Kirby, or Edmund Kirby-Smith, 1824–93, American soldier, Confederate general in the Civil War, b. St. Augustine, Fla. A West Point graduate, he was cited for gallantry in the Mexican W...

Ponca

(Encyclopedia)Ponca, Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Siouan branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). According to tradition the group lived in the Ohio valle...