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Valois, royal house of France

(Encyclopedia)Valois välwäˈ [key], royal house of France that ruled from 1328 to 1589. At the death of Charles IV, the last of the direct Capetians, the Valois dynasty came to the throne in the person of Philip ...

Emanuel, Rahm Israel

(Encyclopedia)Emanuel, Rahm Israel, 1959–, American politician, b. Chicago, grad. Sarah Lawrence College (B.A., 1981), Northwestern Univ. (M.A., 1985). A seasoned Democratic power broker and skilled dealmaker kno...

Miers, Harriet Ellan

(Encyclopedia)Miers, Harriet Ellan mīˈərz [key], 1945–, American lawyer and government official, b. Dallas, Tex., grad. Southern Methodist Univ. (B.S., 1967; J.D., 1970). A prominent female lawyer in private p...

Madison, Dolley

(Encyclopedia)Madison, Dolley, 1768–1849, wife of President James Madison, b. Guilford co., N.C. Born Dolley Payne of Quaker parents, she was brought up in simplicity and was married (1790) to a Quaker, John Todd...

Longworth, Alice Lee Roosevelt

(Encyclopedia)Longworth, Alice Lee Roosevelt, 1884–1980, American socialite, b. New York City. The only child of Theodore Roosevelt and his first wife, Alice Hathaway Lee, she was a teenager when her father assum...

LeHand, Missy

(Encyclopedia)LeHand, Missy (Marguerite Alice LeHand), 1896–1944, personal secretary to Franklin Roosevelt, b. Potsdam, N.Y. She worked for Roosevelt's unsuccessful vice presidential campaign (1920) before she be...

Kavanaugh, Brett Michael

(Encyclopedia)Kavanaugh, Brett Michael, 1965–, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (2018–), b. Washington, D.C., grad. Yale (B.A. 1987, J.D. 1990). He clerked for Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy a...

Safire, William L.

(Encyclopedia)Safire, William L. săfˈīrˌ [key], 1929–2009, American journalist and speechwriter, b. New York City as William Safir. A former reporter and public-relations executive, he became a speechwriter (...

English sparrow

(Encyclopedia)English sparrow or house sparrow, small bird, Passer domesticus, common throughout most of the world. English sparrows are 4 to 7 in. (10–18 cm) long, with short, stout bills. The male is brown with...

Baker, Russell

(Encyclopedia)Baker, Russell, 1925–2018, American journalist, author, humorist, and television personality, b. Loudon Co., Va., grad. John Hopkins (1947). He began as a night police reporter for The Baltimore Sun...