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Cornell, Alonzo B.

(Encyclopedia)Cornell, Alonzo B. kôrnĕlˈ [key], 1832–1904, American businessman and politician, b. Ithaca, N.Y. Cornell was a director (1868–69) and vice president (1870–76) of the Western Union Telegraph ...

executive

(Encyclopedia)executive, one who carries out the will or plan of another person or of a group. In government, the term refers not only to the chief administrative officer but to all others who execute the laws and ...

Fernández de Kirchner, Cristina Elisabet

(Encyclopedia)Fernández de Kirchner, Cristina Elisabet krēstēˈnä ālēsäbātˈ fārnänˈdās dā kērchˈnâr [key], 1953–, Argentinian politician. A Peronist student activist in the 1970s, she received (1...

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...

Schoolcraft, Henry Rowe

(Encyclopedia)Schoolcraft, Henry Rowe, 1793–1864, American ethnologist, b. near Albany, N.Y. He gave enormous impetus to the study of Native American culture and may be regarded as the foremost pioneer in Native ...

Saint Pierre and Miquelon

(Encyclopedia)Saint Pierre and Miquelon săN pyĕr, mēkəlôNˈ [key], French territorial collectivity (2015 est. pop. 6,000), 93 sq mi (241 sq km), consisting of nine small islands S of Newfoundland, Canada, in t...

Twenty-one Demands

(Encyclopedia)Twenty-one Demands (1915), instrument by which Japan secured temporary hegemony over China. Japan used its declaration of war against Germany (Aug., 1914) as grounds for invading Kiaochow, the German ...

Ollivier, Émile

(Encyclopedia)Ollivier, Émile āmēlˈ ôlēvyāˈ [key], 1825–1913, French statesman, a leading figure in the “Liberal Empire” of Napoleon III. Widely known as a brilliant lawyer, he was elected to the legi...

Austin, Stephen Fuller

(Encyclopedia)Austin, Stephen Fuller, 1793–1836, American leader of colonization in Texas, known as the Father of Texas, b. Wythe co., Va.; son of Moses Austin. He grew up in Missouri, studied at Transylvania Uni...

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