Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Taft, William Howard

(Encyclopedia)Taft, William Howard, 1857–1930, 27th President of the United States (1909–13) and 10th chief justice of the United States (1921–30), b. Cincinnati. Taft retired from public life and taught ...

governor, in government

(Encyclopedia)governor, chief executive of a dependent or component unit in a political system. In the United States, a governor is the chief executive of each state and is elected by the people of the state. In th...

Lyndhurst, John Singleton Copley, Baron

(Encyclopedia)Lyndhurst, John Singleton Copley, Baron, 1772–1863, British jurist, b. Boston, Mass.; son of John Singleton Copley, the American painter. Educated in England, he was called to the bar in 1804. He at...

Matthiessen, F. O.

(Encyclopedia)Matthiessen, F. O. (Francis Otto Matthiessen) măthˈĭsĕn [key], 1902–50, American critic, b. Pasadena, Calif., grad. Yale Univ., 1923, B.Litt., Oxford, 1925, Ph.D., Harvard, 1927. A Rhodes schola...

Lane, Franklin Knight

(Encyclopedia)Lane, Franklin Knight, 1864–1921, U.S. Secretary of the Interior (1913–20), b. near Charlottetown, P.E.I., Canada. Raised in California, he later studied law and practiced in San Francisco, where ...

Tewodros II

(Encyclopedia)Tewodros II or Theodore II, 1818–68, emperor of Ethiopia (1855–68), originally named Kasa or Lij Kasa. He was a commoner and a bold and clever warrior. He seized control of his native province, Ka...

Holland, Henry Richard Vassall Fox, 3d Baron

(Encyclopedia)Holland, Henry Richard Vassall Fox, 3d Baron, 1773–1840, British politician, nephew of Charles James Fox. He was a member of the Whig opposition party from 1797 and served as lord privy seal in the ...

Haldane of Cloan, Richard Burdon Haldane, Viscount

(Encyclopedia)Haldane of Cloan, Richard Burdon Haldane, Viscount, 1856–1928, British statesman. He entered (1885) the House of Commons as a Liberal. As war secretary (1905–12) he effected drastic army reforms, ...

Attlee, Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl

(Encyclopedia)Attlee, Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl ătˈlē [key], 1883–1967, British statesman. Educated at Oxford, he was called to the bar in 1905. His early experience as a social worker in London's East ...

Browse by Subject