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Dewey, Thomas Edmund

(Encyclopedia)Dewey, Thomas Edmund, 1902–71, American political figure, governor (1943–55) of New York, b. Owosso, Mich. Admitted (1925) to the bar, Dewey practiced law and in 1931 became chief assistant U.S. a...

Donovan, William Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Donovan, William Joseph dŏnˈəvən [key], 1883–1959, U.S. lawyer and government official, b. Buffalo, N.Y., grad. Columbia law school. Distinguished service in World War I won him medals and the n...

Tubman, William Vacanarat Shadrach

(Encyclopedia)Tubman, William Vacanarat Shadrach, 1895–1971, president of Liberia (1944–71). As a young man he was a lawyer, a collector of internal revenue, a teacher, and an officer of the Liberian militia. H...

Beccaria, Cesare Bonesana, marchese di

(Encyclopedia)Beccaria, Cesare Bonesana, marchese di chĕˈzärā bōnāzäˈnä märkāˈzā dē bĕk-kärēˈä [key], 1738–94, Italian criminologist, economist, and jurist, b. Milan. Although of a retiring dis...

nursery school

(Encyclopedia)nursery school, educational institution for children from two to four years of age. It is distinguishable from a day nursery in that it serves children of both working and nonworking parents, rarely r...

Overland Trail

(Encyclopedia)Overland Trail, any of several trails of westward migration in the United States. The term is sometimes used to mean all the trails westward from the Missouri to the Pacific and sometimes for the cent...

Perkins, Frances

(Encyclopedia)Perkins, Frances, 1882–1965, U.S. Secretary of Labor (1933–45), b. Boston. She worked at Hull House, was executive secretary of the New York Consumers' League (1910–12) and of the New York Commi...

Yazoo

(Encyclopedia)Yazoo yăzˈo͞o [key], river, 188 mi (303 km) long, formed in W central Miss. by the confluence of the Tallahatchie and Yalobusha rivers. Prevented by natural levees from joining the Mississippi Rive...

Sverdrup, Otto

(Encyclopedia)Sverdrup, Otto svĕrˈdro͝op [key], 1855–1930, Norwegian arctic explorer. A companion of Fridtjof Nansen on the voyage across Greenland in 1888 and on Nansen's later (1893–96) polar expedition, ...

Stewart, Jimmy

(Encyclopedia)Stewart, Jimmy (James Maitland Stewart), 1908–97, American actor, b. Indiana, Pa. He began his film career in 1935 and soon gained popularity for his lanky good looks, slow drawl and shy, homespun c...