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Pleasonton, Alfred

(Encyclopedia)Pleasonton, Alfred, 1824–97, Union general in the American Civil War, b. Washington, D.C. He served in the Mexican War and in the Indian wars on the frontier. In the Civil War, he distinguished hims...

Piérola, Nicolás de

(Encyclopedia)Piérola, Nicolás de nēkōläsˈ dā pyāˈrōlä [key], 1839–1913, president of Peru (1879–81, 1895–99). Minister of finance under José Balta, he was accused of misappropriating funds and wa...

Pierre, Abbé

(Encyclopedia)Pierre, Abbé äbāˈ pyĕr [key], 1912–2007, French priest and social activist, b. Lyons as Henri Antoine Grouès. Renouncing a wealthy inheritance to become a Capuchin monk in 1931, he left the mo...

Pinckney, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Pinckney, Thomas, 1750–1828, American political leader and diplomat, b. Charleston, S.C.; brother of C. C. Pinckney and cousin of Charles Pinckney. At the outbreak of the American Revolution he join...

Timoshenko, Semyon Konstantinovich

(Encyclopedia)Timoshenko, Semyon Konstantinovich sĭmyônˈ kənstəntyēˈnəvĭch tyēməshĕnˈkə [key], 1895–1970, Soviet marshal. He served in the civil war of 1918–20 as a cavalry commander and subsequen...

Reynaud, Paul

(Encyclopedia)Reynaud, Paul pōl rānōˈ [key], 1878–1966, French statesman and lawyer. He held several cabinet posts, and after Nov., 1938, as minister of finance in the cabinet of Édouard Daladier, he pursued...

Office of Strategic Services

(Encyclopedia)Office of Strategic Services (OSS), U.S. agency created (1942) during World War II under the jurisdiction of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for the purpose of obtaining information about enemy nations and ...

Wilhelmina

(Encyclopedia)Wilhelmina vĭlˌhĕlmēˈnä [key], 1880–1962, queen of the Netherlands (1890–1948), daughter and successor of William III. Her mother, Emma of Waldeck-Pyrmont, was regent until 1898. Wilhelmina ...

Sims, William Sowden

(Encyclopedia)Sims, William Sowden, 1858–1936, American naval officer, b. Port Hope, Upper Canada (now Ontario), of American parents. After serving with the Atlantic and Pacific fleets, he was (1897–1900) naval...

Slatin, Rudolf Carl, Freiherr von

(Encyclopedia)Slatin, Rudolf Carl, Freiherr von päˈshä [key], 1857–1932, Austrian adventurer in British and Egyptian service. Called to Egypt by C. G. Gordon, Slatin became governor of Dara (1879) and governor...