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Pan-American Highway

(Encyclopedia)Pan-American Highway, system of roads, c.16,000 mi (25,750 km) long, linking the nations of the Western Hemisphere. It was suggested at the Fifth International Conference of American States (1923) and...

Pitman, Sir Isaac

(Encyclopedia)Pitman, Sir Isaac, 1813–97, English inventor of phonographic shorthand. In Stenographic Soundhand (1837) he set forth a shorthand system based on phonetic rather than orthographic principles; adapte...

Zimmermann note

(Encyclopedia)Zimmermann note, secret telegram sent on Jan. 16, 1917, by German foreign secretary Arthur Zimmermann to Count Johann von Bernstorff, the German ambassador to the United States. In it Zimmermann said ...

Stephens, Alexander Hamilton

(Encyclopedia)Stephens, Alexander Hamilton, 1812–83, American political leader, Confederate vice president (1861–65), b. Taliaferro co. (then part of Wilkes co.), Ga. He was admitted to the bar in 1834, served ...

Public Works Administration

(Encyclopedia)Public Works Administration (PWA), in U.S. history, New Deal government agency established (1933) by the Congress as the Federal Administration of Public Works, pursuant to the National Industrial Rec...

whistle-blowing

(Encyclopedia)whistle-blowing, exposure of fraud and abuse by an employee. The federal law that legitimated the concept of the whistle-blower, the False Claims Act (1863, revised 1986), was created to combat fraud ...

Open Door

(Encyclopedia)Open Door, maintenance in a certain territory of equal commercial and industrial rights for the nationals of all countries. As a specific policy, it was first advanced by the United States, but it was...

Hilprecht, Hermann Volrath

(Encyclopedia)Hilprecht, Hermann Volrath hĕrˈmän fôlˈrät hĭlˈprĕkht [key], 1859–1925, American Assyriologist, b. Germany; Ph.D. Univ. of Leipzig, 1883. He is noted as an authority on cuneiform writing. H...

chamber of commerce

(Encyclopedia)chamber of commerce, local association of business people organized to promote the welfare of their community, especially its commercial interests. Each chamber of commerce usually has an elected boar...

Romulo, Carlos Peña

(Encyclopedia)Romulo, Carlos Peña kärˈlōs pāˈnä rōˈmo͞olō [key], 1899–1986, Philippine statesman and writer. With war between the United States and Japan approaching, Romulo toured (1941) East Asia and...
 

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