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Jones, David Charles

(Encyclopedia)Jones, David Charles, 1921–2013, American military officer, b. Aberdeen, S. Dak., studied Univ. of N Dakota and Minot State College. He joined the Army Air Corps at the outbreak of World War II, and...

excess profits tax

(Encyclopedia)excess profits tax, levy on any profit above a standard level. Chiefly a wartime phenomenon, it is intended to increase revenue during periods of distress and to prevent businessmen from taking unfair...

bazooka

(Encyclopedia)bazooka, in warfare, portable, lightweight metal tube from which rockets are launched, usually operated by two men. It is used by infantry as an antitank weapon and also for attacking pillboxes and bu...

Moon, Sun Myung

(Encyclopedia)Moon, Sun Myung sŭn yŭng mo͞on [key], 1920–2012, South Korean religious leader. He was an engineering student in Japan and a dockworker before founding (1954) the Unification Church with a doctri...

Marshall, Samuel Lyman Atwood

(Encyclopedia)Marshall, Samuel Lyman Atwood (S. L. A. Marshall), 1900–1977, American author and military analyst, b. Catskill, N.Y. Having served in World War I, he embarked upon a career in journalism, working a...

Conable, Barber Benjamin, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Conable, Barber Benjamin, Jr., 1922–2003, American politician, b. Warsaw, N.Y., grad. Cornell Law School, 1948. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II and the Korean War and was a la...

Pittsburg

(Encyclopedia)Pittsburg pĭtsˈbərg [key]. 1 Industrial city (1990 pop. 47,564), Contra Costa co., W Calif., on the edge of the San Francisco Bay area, at the junction of the Sacramento and the San Joaquin rivers;...

wage and price controls

(Encyclopedia)wage and price controls, economic policy measure in which the government places a ceiling on wages and prices to curb inflation. Also known as incomes policy, such programs have generally been avoided...

Carpenter, Malcolm Scott

(Encyclopedia)Carpenter, Malcolm Scott, 1925–2013, American astronaut, b. Boulder, Colo. The second American to go into orbital flight around the earth, he made his historic and suspenseful flight on May 24, 1962...

Bourke-White, Margaret

(Encyclopedia)Bourke-White, Margaret bûrkˈ hwīt [key], 1904–71, American photo-journalist, b. New York City. One of the original staff photographers at Fortune, Life, and Time magazines, Bourke-White was noted...

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