Columbia Encyclopedia

(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...

(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...

(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 ...

(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...

(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...

(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...

(Encyclopedia) Tojo, Hideki hēdāˈkē tōˈjō [key], 1884–1948, Japanese general and statesman. He became prime minister after he forced Konoye's resignation in Oct., 1941. His accession marked the final triump...

(Encyclopedia) Blunden, Edmund Charles, 1896–1974, English author. Beginning his career as a poet of nature, Blunden became a cosmopolitan teacher and writer. His prose works include Undertones of War (1928), an a...

(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 ...

(Encyclopedia) White, Robert Michael, 1924–2010, American aviator, b. New York City. A fighter pilot during World War II, he was shot down over Germany and held in a prisoner-of-war camp (Feb.–Apr, 1945); he was...