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Crédit Mobilier of America

(Encyclopedia)Crédit Mobilier of America krĕˈdĭt mōbĭlyāˈ, krādēˈ [key], ephemeral construction company, connected with the building of the Union Pacific RR and involved in one of the major financial sca...

Ladd, William

(Encyclopedia)Ladd, William, 1778–1841, American pacifist, b. Exeter, N.H., grad. Harvard, 1797. He commanded sailing vessels until the outbreak of the War of 1812, when he retired to a farm in Maine. In 1820 he ...

Poindexter, George

(Encyclopedia)Poindexter, George poinˈdĕkˌstər [key], 1779–1853, American political leader, b. Louisa co., Va. After practicing law in Virginia, he moved (1802) to Mississippi. As attorney general of Mississi...

Joyce, William

(Encyclopedia)Joyce, William, 1906–46, British Nazi propagandist, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., called Lord Haw-Haw. Taken to England as a child, Joyce became involved there in the fascist movement. He went to Germany just ...

Baeyer, Adolf von

(Encyclopedia)Baeyer, Adolf von (Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Adolf von Baeyer) äˈdôlf fən bāˈyər; yōhänˈ frēˈdrĭkh vĭlˈhĕlm [key], 1835–1917, German chemist. He taught at Berlin and Strasbourg and in...

state of emergency

(Encyclopedia)state of emergency, situation in which a government or a government body is empowered to act with enhanced powers in order to respond to a crisis. The enhanced or emergency powers, and in many cases i...

Reconstruction Finance Corporation

(Encyclopedia)Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC), former U.S. government agency, created in 1932 by the administration of Herbert Hoover. Its purpose was to facilitate economic activity by lending money in th...

Lehmann, Lotte

(Encyclopedia)Lehmann, Lotte lāˈmən, Ger. lāˈmän [key], 1888–1976, German-American soprano. Lehmann studied at the Berlin State Conservatory. She made her debut in Hamburg in 1910 and was a member of the Vi...

Zielona Góra

(Encyclopedia)Zielona Góra zhĕlôˈnä go͞oˈrä [key], Ger. Grünberg, city (1993 est. pop. 115,100), capital (with Gorzów) of Lubuskie prov., W Poland. It is a railroad junction and has lignite mines. Famous ...

Li Keqiang

(Encyclopedia)Li Keqiang, 1955–2023, Chinese political leader. He became a member of the Communist party while performing manual labor in th...