Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Agent Orange, herbicide used by U.S. forces during the Vietnam War to expose enemy guerrilla forces in forested areas. Agent Orange contains varying amounts of dioxin. Exposure to the defoliant has be...

(Encyclopedia) handball, court, indoor or outdoor game played by striking a ball against a wall or walls with the palm of the hand. Play may be for singles or doubles (four players) on a court with one, three, or fo...

(Encyclopedia) Army, United States Department of the: see Defense, United States Department of. ...

(Encyclopedia) Navy, United States Department of the: see Defense, United States Department of. ...

(Encyclopedia) Salinas, river, c.150 mi (240 km) long, rising in the Santa Lucia Mts., S Calif., and flowing (partly underground) past King City, Paso Robles, and Salinas, NW to Monterey Bay. The irrigated valley is...

(Encyclopedia) Seal of the United States, Great: see United States, Great Seal of the. ...

(Encyclopedia) Great Seal of the United States: see United States, Great Seal of the. ...

(Encyclopedia) United States Naval Academy, at Annapolis, Md.; for training young men and women to be officers of the U.S. navy or marine corps. George Bancroft, Secretary of the Navy, founded and opened (1845) it a...

(Encyclopedia) Organization of American States (OAS), international organization, created Apr. 30, 1948, at Bogotá, Colombia, by agreement of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican R...

(Encyclopedia) Butler, Pierce, 1866–1939, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1923–39), b. Dakota co., Minn. Admitted (1888) to the bar, he practiced in St. Paul, specialized in railroad law, and became...