Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

boll weevil

(Encyclopedia)boll weevil or cotton boll weevil bōl [key], cotton-eating weevil, or snout beetle, Anthonomus grandis. Probably of Mexican or Central American origin, it appeared in Texas about 1892 and spread to m...

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...

Capa, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Capa, Robert kăpˈə [key], 1913–54, American war photographer, b. Hungary as Andre Friedmann. He came to Paris in 1933 and from that time on recorded with profound concern the spectacle of humanit...

ultimatum

(Encyclopedia)ultimatum ŭlˌtĭmāˈtəm [key], in international law, final, definitive terms submitted by one disputant nation to the other for immediate acceptance or rejection. Since refusal to accept the terms...

conscientious objector

(Encyclopedia)conscientious objector, person who, on the grounds of conscience, resists the authority of the state to compel military service. Such resistance, emerging in time of war, may be based on membership in...

National Youth Administration

(Encyclopedia)National Youth Administration (NYA), former U.S. government agency established in 1935 within the Works Progress Administration; it was transferred in 1939 to the Federal Security Agency and was place...

Catton, Bruce

(Encyclopedia)Catton, Bruce, 1899–1978, American historian, b. Petoskey, Mich. He studied at Oberlin College and then entered upon a varied career as a journalist (1926–42) and public official (1942–52). His ...

WAC

(Encyclopedia)WAC (Women's Army Corps), U.S. army organization created (1942) during World War II to enlist women as auxiliaries for noncombatant duty in the U.S. army. Before 1943 it was known as the Women's Auxil...

Arizona

(Encyclopedia) CE5 Arizona ârˌəzōˈnə [key], state in the SW United States. It is bordered by Utah (N), New Mexico (E), Mexico (S), and, largely across the Colorado River, Nevada and California (W); it touch...

Baker, Newton Diehl

(Encyclopedia)Baker, Newton Diehl, 1871–1937, U.S. Secretary of War (1916–21), b. Martinsburg, W.Va. He practiced law and politics in Cleveland as a protégé of Tom L. Johnson. As city solicitor (1902–12) he...
 

Browse by Subject