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House Un-American Activities Committee

(Encyclopedia)House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), a committee (1938–75) of the U.S. House of Representatives, created to investigate disloyalty and subversive organizations. Its first chairman, Martin ...

Morton, John, English prelate and statesman

(Encyclopedia)Morton, John, 1420?–1500, English prelate and statesman, archbishop of Canterbury (1486–1500). He studied law at Oxford and practiced in the London ecclesiastical courts. A supporter of the Lancas...

Leopold and Loeb

(Encyclopedia)Leopold and Loeb lōb [key], notorious American murderers defended by Clarence Darrow in 1924. The gregarious, dominating Richard A. Loeb (1905–1936) and the shy, submissive Nathan F. Leopold, Jr. (...

Crandell, Prudence

(Encyclopedia)Crandell, Prudence krănˈdəl [key], 1803–89, American educator and abolitionist, b. Hopkinton, R.I. In 1831 she opened a school for girls in Canterbury, Conn. Her decision to admit a black was pro...

Boston African American National Historic Site

(Encyclopedia)Boston African American National Historic Site: see National Parks and Monuments (table)national parks and monuments (table). ...

Wheelwright, John

(Encyclopedia)Wheelwright, John, c.1592–1679, American Puritan clergyman, founder of Exeter, N.H., b. Lincolnshire, England. He studied at Cambridge and was vicar (1623–33) of Bilsby. Suspended by Archbishop La...

McGill, William James

(Encyclopedia)McGill, William James, 1922–97, American educator and psychologist, b. New York City, grad. Fordham (A.B., 1943) and Harvard (Ph.D., 1953). A specialist in psychophysics and mathematical psychology,...

True, Alfred Charles

(Encyclopedia)True, Alfred Charles, 1853–1929, American agricultural expert and educator, b. Middletown, Conn., grad. Wesleyan Univ. (B.A., 1873). Associated with the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture from 1889, he was d...

North American Free Trade Agreement

(Encyclopedia)North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), accord establishing a free-trade zone in North America; it was signed in 1992 by Canada, Mexico, and the United States and took effect on Jan. 1, 1994. NAF...

Giamatti, A. Bartlett

(Encyclopedia)Giamatti, A. Bartlett jēˌəmätˈē [key], 1938–89, American educator and sports executive, b. Boston. President of Yale Univ. from 1978 to 1986, he was president of baseball's National League (19...