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Alaska Peninsula

(Encyclopedia)Alaska Peninsula, SW Alaska, extending 500 mi (800 km) SW from the mainland, separating Bristol Bay and the Bering Sea from Cook Inlet, the Shelikof Strait, and Pacific Ocean. The Aleutian Range, runn...

Mnuchin, Steven Terner

(Encyclopedia)Mnuchin, Steven Terner məno͞ochən [key], 1962–, U.S. business leader, b. New York City, grad. Yale, 1985. An investment banker, he joined Goldman Sachs in 1985, becoming a partner in 1994 and exe...

Agriculture, United States Department of

(Encyclopedia)Agriculture, United States Department of, federal executive department established in 1862, whose head was made a cabinet member in 1889. The department administers federal programs related to food pr...

Cornell, Ezra

(Encyclopedia)Cornell, Ezra, 1807–74, American financier and founder of Cornell Univ., b. Westchester Landing, N.Y. Cornell, who began life as a laborer, was of an ingenious mechanical bent and had a shrewd busin...

Muhammad, Benjamin Franklin Chavis

(Encyclopedia)Muhammad, Benjamin Franklin Chavis, 1948–, African-American civil-rights and religious leader, b. Oxford, N.C., as Benjamin Franklin Chavis, Jr. An activist from boyhood, he was a youth coordinator ...

North, Oliver Laurence

(Encyclopedia)North, Oliver Laurence, 1943–, American military officer and broadcasting personality, b. San Antonio, Tex. Raised in Philmont, N.Y., he entered the U.S. Marines, graduated from Annapolis (1968), se...

civil rights

(Encyclopedia)civil rights, rights that a nation's inhabitants enjoy by law. The term is broader than “political rights,” which refer only to rights devolving from the franchise and are held usually only by a c...

Charlton, Bobby

(Encyclopedia)Charlton, Bobby (Sir Robert Charlton), 1937–, one of the most celebrated of all English soccer players. Famous for his graceful athleticism, powerfully accurate kick, and sportsmanlike behavior, Cha...

Esper, Mark Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Esper, Mark Thomas, 1964–, U.S. army officer and government official, b. Uniontown, Pa., B.S West Point, 1986; M.P.A. Harvard, 1995, Ph.D. George Washington Univ., 2008. Rising to the rank of lieute...

Hodge, Frederick Webb

(Encyclopedia)Hodge, Frederick Webb, 1864–1956, American anthropologist, b. England. He was taken to the United States at the age of seven. He entered the field of archaeology through service (1884–86) in the S...