Hoover Commission

Formally  Commission on Organization of the U.S. Executive Branch  (1947–49, 1953–55), either of two temporary advisory bodies, both headed by the former president Herbert Hoover. They were appointed to find ways to reduce the number of federal government departments and increase their efficiency in the post-World War II and post-Korean War periods. The commissions were composed equally of Democratic and Republican members. Their recommendations,

Mura

South American Indian people of the Amazon tropical forest of western Brazil. The Mura originally inhabited the right bank of the lower Madeira River near the mouth of the Jamari River. Contact with whites led them to adopt guerrilla tactics; they spread downstream to the Purus River, raiding sedentary farmers along the way. By 1774 the Mura expansion had been countered

Ibn Battutah

The greatest medieval Arab traveller and the author of one of the most famous travel books, the Rihlah (Travels), which describes his extensive travels covering some 75,000 miles (more than 120,000 km) in trips to almost all the Muslim countries and to regions as far as China and Sumatra.

Sinhala Maha Sabha

Political group in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) that was founded in 1937 by S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike. It was a communally oriented group and promoted the interests of the Sinhalese sector of the population and of Buddhism. In 1945 Bandaranaike threw the support of the Sabha behind the newly created United National Party (UNP) of D.S. Senanayake, which was to dominate politics for the first

Amiot, Jean-joseph-marie

Amiot entered the Society of Jesus in 1737 and was sent as a missionary to China in 1750. He soon won the confidence of the emperor Qianlong and spent the remainder of his life at Beijing. Among his achievements was the compilation

Bridgman, Laura Dewey

Bridgman was struck by scarlet fever at the age of two and left without sight or hearing. Her other senses were also affected, but she retained the sense of touch, which she developed sufficiently to learn to sew and knit. In 1837 her case came to the attention

Gaborone

Formerly  (until 1969) Gaberones,   town, capital of Botswana. The seat of government was transferred there from Mafeking (now spelled Mafikeng), South Africa, in 1965, one year before Botswana became independent of Britain. Gaborone is located on the Cape-Zimbabwe railway and is the site of government offices, parliament buildings, health facilities, a thermal power station, and an airport. It is the seat of

Alden, Cynthia May Westover

Cynthia Westover was reared largely by her father, a geologist, in western mining camps, and she could shoot a rifle and ride a horse at an early age. After completing a teaching degree at

Fuchs, Ruth

In 1972, just 35 minutes after Polish athlete Ewa Gryziecka had set a record for the women's javelin throw, Fuchs threw the javelin more than 2.3 m (7 feet 6 inches) farther, a total of 65.06 m (213 feet 5 1/2 inches), her first world record. She went on to set a

Widmann, Joseph Viktor

As literary editor of the Bern daily newspaper Der Bund from 1880 to 1910, Widmann occupied an authoritative position in Swiss letters and promoted many talented writers. He was himself an accomplished though not a strikingly original writer, and he handled such

Wright, Judith

After completing her education at the University of Sydney, Wright worked in an advertising agency and as a secretary at the University of Queensland, where she helped publish Meanjin, a literary