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United States Department of Veterans Affairs
United States Department of Veterans Affairs federal executive department established to operate programs to benefit veterans and their families. The department was established in 1989; its predecessor was an independent agency, the Veterans Administration, which had been created in 1930. The depar...
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Rush-Bagot Convention
Rush-Bagot Convention , 1817, agreement between the United States and Great Britain concerning the Canadian border. It consisted of the exchange of notes signed by Richard Rush , Acting Secretary of State of the United States, and Charles Bagot, British minister in Washington. In 1818 the U.S. Sena...
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Veterans of Foreign Wars
Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), organization created (1899) at Columbus, Ohio, by veterans of the Spanish-American War . It received a charter from Congress in 1936. The organization later admitted veterans who saw action in subsequent wars and U.S. military expeditions. At the close of World War ...
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Veterans' Day
Veterans' Day holiday formerly observed in the United States as Armistice Day in commemoration of the signing of the Armistice ending World War I. Nov. 11 officially became Veterans' Day on May 24, 1954, by act of Congress. The day is set aside in honor of all those who have fought in defense of th...
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William Levitt
William Levitt
William Levitt (1907-1994) gained national attention as the man who mass produced houses at a rate of one every 16 minutes. He was introduced to Americans on the July 3, 1950 cover of Time magazine as the "cocky rambunctious hustler" prone to exaggeration. Levitt touted his communi...
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lend-lease
lend-lease arrangement for the transfer of war supplies, including food, machinery, and services, to nations whose defense was considered vital to the defense of the United States in World War II. The Lend-Lease Act, passed (1941) by the U.S. Congress, gave the President power to sell, transfer, le...
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Three Emperors' League
Three Emperors' League informal alliance among Austria-Hungary, Germany, and Russia, announced officially in 1872 on the occasion of the meeting of emperors Francis Joseph, William I, and Alexander II. The chief architects of the alliance were Julius Andrássy, Otto von Bismarck, and Prince G...
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nuclear disarmament
nuclear disarmament the reduction and limitation of the various nuclear weapons in the military forces of the world's nations. The atomic bombs dropped (1945) on Japan by the United States in World War II demonstrated the overwhelming destructive potential of nuclear weapons and the threat to h...
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American Legion
American Legion national association of male and female war veterans, founded (1919) in Paris. Membership is open to veterans of World Wars I and II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. The preamble to the organization's constitution, adopted at the convention in St. Louis that same year, expresse...
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Gulf War syndrome
Gulf War syndrome popular name for a variety of ailments experienced by veterans after the Persian Gulf War . Symptoms reported include nausea, cramps, rashes, short-term memory loss, fatigue, difficulty in breathing, headaches, joint and muscle pain, and birth defects. Ailments have been reported...
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