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Mason, James Murray

(Encyclopedia)Mason, James Murray, 1798–1871, U.S. Senator and Confederate diplomat, b. Georgetown, D.C.; grandson of George Mason. He began to practice law in Winchester, Va., in 1820. Mason served in the Virgin...

Matsu

(Encyclopedia)Matsu or Ma-tsu mäˈdzo͞oˈ [key], Taiwanese island group, administered as Lienchiang co. (2010 pop 14,604), in the East China Sea, off Fujian prov., China, E of Fuzhou, and c.100 mi (160 km) from T...

Laski, John

(Encyclopedia)Laski, John yän lăsˈkē [key], Latin Johannes Alasco, 1499–1560, Polish Protestant reformer. A learned priest, he went in 1523 to Basel, where he was a close friend of Erasmus. After returning to...

Ardennes, region, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France

(Encyclopedia)Ardennes, wooded plateau, from 1,600 to 2,300 ft (488–701 m) high, in SE Belgium, N Luxembourg, and Ardennes dept., N France, E and S of the Meuse River. The plateau is cut into wild crags and ravin...

Károlyi, Count Michael

(Encyclopedia)Károlyi, Count Michael, 1875–1955, Hungarian politician, of an ancient noble family. A liberal, he organized (1918) a national council for Hungary after the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Mona...

Polk, Leonidas

(Encyclopedia)Polk, Leonidas, 1806–64, American Episcopal bishop and Confederate general in the Civil War, b. Raleigh, N.C. He left the army to study for the ministry and was ordained in 1831. He served as missio...

War Production Board

(Encyclopedia)War Production Board (WPB), former U.S. government agency, established (Jan., 1942) by executive order to direct war production and the procurement of materials in World War II. The chairman (Donald M...

Tobruk

(Encyclopedia)Tobruk tōbro͝okˈ [key], Arab. Tubruq, city (1984 pop. 75,282), NE Libya, a port on the Mediterranean Sea. It was a fiercely contested objective in World War II (see North Africa, campaigns in). Tob...

Unabomber

(Encyclopedia)Unabomber or Unabomer both: yo͞oˈnəbŏmˌər [key], name given by the FBI to the elusive perpetrator of a series of bombings (1975–95) in the United States that killed 3 and wounded 23. The targe...

Quadros, Jânio da Silva

(Encyclopedia)Quadros, Jânio da Silva zhäˈnyo͝o dä sēlˈvə kwäˈdro͝os [key], 1917–92, president of Brazil (Jan.–Aug., 1961). A schoolteacher and lawyer, he served as mayor of the city of (1953–54) a...