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VX
VX , nerve gas several times more toxic than sarin but less volatile. It kills within minutes if inhaled or deposited on the skin; protection from VX would require both protective suits and masks. The compound was first prepared in the 1950s during research for new insecticides; its chemical formu...
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Freedom of Information Act
Freedom of Information Act (1966), law requiring that U.S. government agencies release their records to the public on request, unless the information sought falls into a category specifically exempted, such as national security, an individual's right to privacy , or internal agency management. The...
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Emmeline Goulden Pankhurst
Emmeline Goulden Pankhurst , 1858-1928, British woman suffragist. Disappointed in the disinterest in women's suffrage shown by the Liberal party, the Fabian Society, and the Independent Labour party, she founded (1903) her own movement, the Women's Social and Political Union. Using spectacular milit...
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National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America
National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America cooperative agency of 35 Protestant, Orthodox, and Anglican denominations. Formed in 1950, with headquarters in New York City, the National Council of Churches is the chief instrument of the ecumenical movement in the Unit...
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Fronde
Fronde , 1648-53, series of outbreaks during the minority of King Louis XIV, caused by the efforts of the Parlement of Paris (the chief judiciary body) to limit the growing authority of the crown; by the personal ambitions of discontented nobles; and by the grievances of the people against the finan...
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Daniel Ellsberg
Daniel Ellsberg 1931-, American political activist, b. Chicago, grad. Columbia Univ. (B.S., 1952, Ph.D., 1959). After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps, he worked for the Rand Corporation (1959-64; 1967-70), conducting studies on defense policies. Originally a strong supporter of the Vietnam War , ...
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F. W. de Klerk
F. W. de Klerk (Frederik Willem de Klerk) , 1936-, South African statesman, president of South Africa (1989-94). Holding ministerial posts from 1978, he became (1989) acting president when P. W. Botha resigned. Recognizing that black resistance to the white power monopoly would only increase, de...
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Milovan Djilas
Milovan Djilas , 1911-95, Yugoslav political leader and writer, b. Montenegro. A Communist party member from 1932, he helped Josip Broz Tito organize volunteers to fight in the Spanish civil war . He was active in the Yugoslav resistance in World War II and after the war rose to high posts in par...
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William Lyon Mackenzie
William Lyon Mackenzie 1795-1861, Canadian journalist and insurgent leader, b. Scotland; grandfather of William Lyon Mackenzie King . Emigrating to Upper Canada in 1820, he published (1824-34), first at Queenston, then at York (later Toronto), his noted Colonial Advocate. In it he vigorously att...
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Front de Libération du Québec
Front de Libération du Québec (FLQ) , Canadian separatist group formed in the 1960s to bring about the independence of Quebec, which has a French heritage, from the rest of Canada, which has a primarily British tradition. Using public demonstrations and terrorist activities, the FLQ ...
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