Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Clifford, Clark McAdams, 1906–98, U.S. government official, b. Fort Scott, Kans. Admitted to the bar in 1928, he engaged in private practice before serving (1944–46) in the U.S. navy. As special a...

(Encyclopedia) Colby, William Egan, 1920–96, American public official, b. St. Paul, Minn., grad. Princeton, 1940. During World War II he served in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and in 1944 was dropped by ...

(Encyclopedia) Morse, Wayne Lyman, 1900–1974, U.S. Senator (1945–69), b. Madison, Wis. He was a professor of law and later dean at the Univ. of Oregon law school (1931–44) and gained a nationwide reputation as...

(Encyclopedia) Pacific, War of the, 1879–84, war between Chile and the allied nations, Peru and Bolivia; also called the Chile–Peruvian War. The trouble began when President Hilarión Daza of Bolivia rescinded (...

(Encyclopedia) Austro-Prussian War or Seven Weeks War, June 15–Aug. 23, 1866, between Prussia, allied with Italy, and Austria, seconded by Bavaria, Württemberg, Saxony, Hanover, Baden, and several smaller German ...

(Encyclopedia) Abrams, Creighton Williams āˈbrəmz [key], 1914–74, U.S. military officer, b. Springfield, Mass. After graduating (1936) from West Point, he served with distinction during World War II, most notab...

(Encyclopedia) Veterans Affairs, United States Department of, federal executive department established to operate programs to benefit veterans and their families. The department was established in 1989; its predeces...

(Encyclopedia) battleship, large, armored warship equipped with the heaviest naval guns. The evolution of the battleship, from the ironclad warship of the mid-19th cent., received great impetus from the Civil War. B...

(Encyclopedia) Great Society, in U.S. history, term for the domestic policies of President Lyndon Johnson. In his first State of the Union message, he called for a war on poverty and the creation of a “Great Socie...

(Encyclopedia) Office of War Information (OWI), U.S. agency created (1942) during World War II to consolidate government information services. The OWI absorbed the functions of the Office of Facts and Figures, the O...