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Rubin, Robert Edward

(Encyclopedia)Rubin, Robert Edward ro͞oˈbĭn [key], 1938–, U.S. business executive and government official, b. New York City. A graduate of Harvard, he attended the London School of Economics before receiving h...

Walafrid Strabo

(Encyclopedia)Walafrid Strabo (Walafrid the Squinter), c.809–849, German scholar, b. Swabia. Educated at the abbey of Reichenau, he wrote, at 18, a Latin verse account of a journey to the hereafter, Visio Wettini...

Nansen International Office for Refugees

(Encyclopedia)Nansen International Office for Refugees, worldwide agency est. 1931 by the League of Nations to work on behalf of refugees. It was named for Fridjof Nansen, head of the League's High Commission for R...

Marbury v. Madison

(Encyclopedia)Marbury v. Madison, case decided in 1803 by the U.S. Supreme Court. William Marbury had been commissioned justice of the peace in the District of Columbia by President John Adams in the “midnight ap...

civil service

(Encyclopedia)civil service, entire body of those employed in the civil administration as distinct from the military and excluding elected officials. The term was used in designating the British administration of I...

MacVeagh, Isaac Wayne

(Encyclopedia)MacVeagh, Isaac Wayne məkvāˈ [key], 1833–1917, American political figure, U.S. Attorney General (1881), b. Chester co., Pa. A lawyer, he was the son-in-law of Simon Cameron, Republican boss of Pe...

amortization

(Encyclopedia)amortization ămˌərtəzāˈshən, əmôrˈ– [key], reduction, liquidation, or satisfaction of a debt. The term amortization may also refer to the sum used for that purpose. The term is commonly us...

Pemberton, John Clifford

(Encyclopedia)Pemberton, John Clifford, 1814–81, Confederate general in the American Civil War, b. Philadelphia. He served in the Seminole and Mexican wars and at various frontier posts. He resigned from the U.S....

Abscam

(Encyclopedia)Abscam, U.S. scandal resulting from an investigation begun in 1978 by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The FBI created a front (Abdul Enterprises, Ltd., hence, Abscam) for its agents, who, posing ...

Mundell, Robert A.

(Encyclopedia)Mundell, Robert A., 1932–2021, Canadian economist, b. Kingston, Ont., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Ph.D. , 1956). He taught at a number of u...

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