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Peace Corps

(Encyclopedia)Peace Corps, agency of the U.S. government, whose purpose is to assist underdeveloped countries in meeting their needs for trained manpower. The Peace Corps was established in 1961 by executive order ...

Mercer, Johnny

(Encyclopedia)Mercer, Johnny (John Herndon Mercer) mûrˈsər [key], 1909–76, American lyricist and songwriter, b. Savannah, Ga. Mercer, who was one of American popular music's most accomplished wordsmiths, began...

Walker, James John

(Encyclopedia)Walker, James John, 1881–1946, American politician, b. New York City. Dapper and debonair, Jimmy Walker, having tried his hand at song writing, engaged in Democratic politics and in 1909 became a me...

Covington

(Encyclopedia)Covington kŭvˈĭngtən [key], city (2020 pop. 40,181), seat of Kenton co., N central Ky., at the ...

Hampton, Lionel

(Encyclopedia)Hampton, Lionel, 1908?–2002, African-American vibraphonist and bandleader, b. Louisville, Ky. When his family moved to Chicago c.1916, the young Hampton began playing drums in a newsboys' band. He m...

Vance, Cyrus Roberts

(Encyclopedia)Vance, Cyrus Roberts, 1917–2002, U.S. secretary of state (1977–80), b. Clarksburg, W.Va., grad. Yale (B.A., 1939, LL.B., 1942). After seeing action in the Navy during World War II, Vance practiced...

Fort Worth

(Encyclopedia)Fort Worth, city (2020 pop. 918,915), seat of Tarrant co., N Tex., on the Trinity River 30 mi (48 km) W of Dallas; settled 1843, inc. 1873. An army post...

incunabula

(Encyclopedia)incunabula ĭnˌkyo͝onăbˈyo͝olə [key], plural of incunabulum [Late Lat.,=cradle (books); i.e., books of the cradle days of printing], books printed in the 15th cent. The known incunabula represen...

decadents

(Encyclopedia)decadents, in literature, name loosely applied to those 19th-century, fin-de-siècle European authors who sought inspiration, both in their lives and in their writings, in aestheticism and in all the ...

dime novels

(Encyclopedia)dime novels, swift-moving, thrilling novels, mainly about the American Revolution, the frontier period, and the Civil War. The books were first sold in 1860 for 10 cents by the firm of Beadle and Adam...
 

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