Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Wayne, John, 1907–79, American movie actor, b. Winterset, Iowa, as Marion Michael Morrison. An enduringly popular movie star from his debut in 1930, Wayne combined the toughness necessary to play we...

(Encyclopedia) Bancroft, Edward, 1744–1821, spy in the American Revolution, b. Westfield, Mass. He studied medicine and natural history, producing a book (1769) on Guiana's flora and fauna, a defense of the coloni...

(Encyclopedia) Grand Rapids. <1> City (2020 pop. 198,917), seat of Kent co., SW central Mich., on the Grand River; inc. 1850. The second largest city in the stat...

(Encyclopedia) Old Pretender: see Stuart, James Francis Edward. ...

(Encyclopedia) Townsend plan: see under Townsend, Francis Everett. ...

(Encyclopedia) Assisi äs-sēˈzē [key], town, Umbria, central Italy. A religious and tourist center, it stands on a hill in the Apennines with an expansive view of the plains below. Al...

(Encyclopedia) Josephine, 1763–1814, empress of the French (1804–9) as the consort of Napoleon I. Born Marie Josèphe Rose Tascher de la Pagerie in Martinique, she was married in 1779 to Alexandre de Beauharnais...

(Encyclopedia) Alençon, François, duc d': see Francis, duke of Alençon and Anjou. ...

(Encyclopedia) Franz Joseph, emperor of Austria and king of Hungary: see Francis Joseph. ...

(Encyclopedia) McNamara, Robert Strange măkˈnəmârˌə [key], 1916–2009, U.S. secretary of defense (1961–68), b. San Francisco, grad Univ. of California, Berkeley (B.A., 1937), Harvard (M.B.A., 1939). He taug...