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Casey, William Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Casey, William Joseph, 1913–87, American public official, b. New York City. After graduating from Fordham (B.S., 1934) he obtained a law degree from St. Johns Univ. (1937). During World War II he be...

Persons, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Persons or Parsons, Robert both: pärˈsənz [key], 1546–1610, English Jesuit missionary. He left a fellowship at Balliol College, Oxford, and went to the Continent to be received (1575) into the Ro...

Alliance for Progress

(Encyclopedia)Alliance for Progress, Span. Alianza para el Progreso, U.S. assistance program for Latin America begun in 1961 during the presidency of John F. Kennedy. It was created principally to counter the appea...

Gayoom, Maumoon Abdul

(Encyclopedia)Gayoom, Maumoon Abdul mämo͞onˈ äbˈdo͞ol gīo͞omˈ [key], 1937–, Maldivian political leader, president of the Maldives (1978–2008), b. Malé. He studied at Al-Azhar Univ. in Cairo, then was ...

Ne Win, U

(Encyclopedia)Ne Win, U o͞o nā wĭn [key], 1911–2002, Burmese soldier and political leader. He abandoned his original name, Shu Maung, in 1941 when he joined a Japanese-supported nationalist military group. Bec...

Baffin Island

(Encyclopedia)Baffin Island, 183,810 sq mi (476,068 sq km), c.1,000 mi (1,610 km) long and from 130 to 450 mi (210–720 km) wide, in the Arctic Ocean, Nunavut Territory, Canada. It is the fifth largest island in t...

Pinkerton, Allan

(Encyclopedia)Pinkerton, Allan, 1819–84, American detective, founder of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, b. Glasgow, Scotland. A cooper by trade, he emigrated to the United States in 1842 and opened in We...

Mirabeau, Honoré Gabriel Riquetti, comte de

(Encyclopedia)Mirabeau, Honoré Gabriel Riquetti or Riqueti, comte de ōnôrāˈ gäbrēĕlˈ rēkĕtēˈ kôNt də mēräbōˈ [key], 1749–91, French revolutionary and political leader; son of Victor de Mirabeau...

ballot

(Encyclopedia)ballot, means of voting for candidates for office. The choice may be indicated on or by the ballot forms themselves—e.g., colored balls (hence the term ballot, which is derived from the Italian ball...

Underground Railroad

(Encyclopedia)Underground Railroad, in U.S. history, loosely organized system for helping fugitive slaves escape to Canada or to areas of safety in free states. It was run by local groups of Northern abolitionists,...