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Rantoul

(Encyclopedia)Rantoul rănto͞olˈ [key], village (1990 pop. 17,212), Champaign co., E Ill., in a rich blackland farm area that yields corn and soybeans; inc. 1868. The Octave Chanute Aerospace Museum and the Korea...

Stockdale, James Bond

(Encyclopedia)Stockdale, James Bond, 1923–2005, U.S. naval officer, b. Abingdon, Ill.; grad. U.S. Naval Academy, 1947. A fighter pilot and highly decorated career naval officer (1946–79), he was the highest ran...

Pleiku

(Encyclopedia)Pleiku or Play Ku both: plāko͞oˈ [key], town, central Vietnam. A highway junction for roads going east (to Quy Nhon), west (to Cambodia), north (to Da Nang), and south (to Ho Chi Minh City), it was...

Halberstam, David

(Encyclopedia)Halberstam, David, 1934–2007, American journalist and author, b. New York City, grad. Harvard (B.A., 1955). A reporter (1956–60) for newspapers in Mississippi and Tennessee, he chronicled the nasc...

Bickerdyke, Mary Ann

(Encyclopedia)Bickerdyke, Mary Ann, 1817–1901, Union nurse in the American Civil War, b. Mary Ann Ball in Knox co., Ohio. Generally called Mother Bickerdyke, she served throughout the war in the West and was belo...

Riboud, Marc

(Encyclopedia)Riboud, Marc, 1923–2016, French photojournalist. After fighting in the resistance during World War II, he studied engineering. In 1952 he moved to Paris, where he met Henri Cartier-Bresson, who beca...

Federal National Mortgage Association

(Encyclopedia)Federal National Mortgage Association (FMNA), commonly known as Fannie Mae, government-sponsored enterprise that is the largest purchaser and guarantor of home mortgages in the country. Headquartered ...

Bien Hoa

(Encyclopedia)Bien Hoa bēĕnˈ wä [key], city, Vietnam, c.20 mi (30 km) NE of Ho Chi Minh City. It is famous ...

Hanoi

(Encyclopedia)Hanoi hănˈoi, hənoiˈ [key], city (1997 est. pop. 3,500,800), capital of Vietnam, on the right bank of the Red River. It is the transportation hub of the country, with two airports and rail connect...

Bao Dai

(Encyclopedia)Bao Dai bou dī [key], 1913–97, emperor of Annam (1926–45) and chief of state of Vietnam (1949–55). Born Prince Nguyen Vinh Thuy, he was the son of Emperor Khai Din and succeeded to the throne i...