Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Communications Satellite Corporation

(Encyclopedia)Communications Satellite Corporation (Comsat), organization incorporated (1962) by an act of Congress to establish a commercial system of international communications using artificial satellites. Alth...

Resolution Trust Corporation

(Encyclopedia)Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC), in U.S. history, government-owned company formed in 1989 to liquidate the assets of insolvent savings and loan associations (S&Ls). Essentially a huge property-...

Federal National Mortgage Association

(Encyclopedia)Federal National Mortgage Association (FMNA), commonly known as Fannie Mae, government-sponsored enterprise that is the largest purchaser and guarantor of home mortgages in the country. Headquartered ...

Dawes, Charles Gates

(Encyclopedia)Dawes, Charles Gates dôz [key], 1865–1951, American statesman and banker, b. Marietta, Ohio. Admitted (1886) to the bar, Dawes practiced law in Lincoln, Nebr., until 1894 and became interested in v...

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

(Encyclopedia)Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), an independent U.S. federal executive agency designed to promote public confidence in banks and to provide insurance coverage for bank deposits up to $250...

Home Owners' Loan Corporation

(Encyclopedia)Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC), former U.S. government agency established in 1933 to help stabilize real estate that had depreciated during the depression and to refinance the urban mortgage deb...

Fessenden, William Pitt

(Encyclopedia)Fessenden, William Pitt, 1806–69, American politician, b. Boscawen, N.H. Admitted (1827) to the bar, he began practice in Portland in 1829 and by 1835 was regarded as one of the leading lawyers of M...

Berle, Adolf Augustus, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Berle, Adolf Augustus, Jr. bûrˈlē [key], 1895–1971, American lawyer and public official, b. Boston. Admitted to the bar in 1916, he served in World War I and was a member of the American delegati...

Browse by Subject