Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Bohlen, Charles Eustis bōˈlən [key], 1904–74, American diplomat, born Clayton, N.Y. He entered (1929) the U.S. Foreign Service and undertook several consular assignments. A specialist in Russian ...

(Encyclopedia) Brain Trust, the group of close advisers to Franklin Delano Roosevelt when he was governor of New York state and during his first years as President. The name was applied to them because the members o...

(Encyclopedia) Alanbrooke, Alan Francis Brooke, 1st Viscount ălˈənbro͝okˌ [key], 1883–1963, British general. He entered the field artillery in 1902 and served with distinction during World War I. In the 1930s...

(Encyclopedia) Cleburne, Patrick Ronayne klēˈbərn [key], 1828–64, Confederate general, b. Co. Cork, Ireland. He emigrated to America in 1849 and was practicing law in Helena, Ark., when the Civil War broke out....

(Encyclopedia) Forrestal, James Vincent fôrˈĭstôlˌ, fŏrˈ– [key], 1892–1949, U.S. secretary of the navy (1944–47) and secretary of defense (1947–49), b. Beacon, N.Y. He was a naval aviator in World War...

(Encyclopedia) Winthrop, Robert Charles, 1809–94, American statesman, b. Boston. He studied law under Daniel Webster, was admitted (1831) to the bar, and was (1835–41) a Whig member of the Massachusetts legislat...

(Encyclopedia) Stegner, Wallace (Wallace Earle Stegner), 1909–93, American writer, b. Lake Mills, Iowa, grad. Univ. of Utah (1930). He wrote perceptively of the American West in short stories, e.g., The Woman on t...

(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...

(Encyclopedia) Quebec Conference, name of two meetings held in Quebec, Canada, in World War II. The first meeting (Aug., 1943) was attended by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt of the United States, Prime Minister...

(Encyclopedia) Ross, Sir John, 1777–1856, British arctic explorer and rear admiral. In 1818 he went in search of the Northwest Passage but turned back after exploring Baffin Bay. Financed by Sir Felix Booth, he co...