Aiken

Aiken city (1990 pop. 19,872), seat of Aiken co., W S.C.; inc. 1835. A resort and polo center and a training area for Thoroughbreds, Aiken has apparel, printing and publishing, drug, and chemical industries. Agricultural products include poultry, livestock, grain, peanuts, cotton, and peaches. Kaolin mines are nearby. A branch of the Univ. of South Carolina is in the city. Nearby is the U.S. Department of Energy's Savannah River Plant, which long manufactured nuclear weapons and is now the site of a controversial plant processing nuclear wastes.

Aiken, Frank (1898–1983). An IRA commander during the Anglo‐Irish War, Aiken was one of the more politically minded opponents of the Anglo‐Irish treaty. After succeeding Liam Lynch as IRA chief of staff (Apr. 1923) he took immediate steps to end the Civil War. A founder member of Fianna Fáil, he became minister of defence (1932–9) and then minister for co‐ordination of defensive measures (1939–45), giving him a key position in the management of wartime neutrality.

Aiken was minister for external affairs 1951–4 and 1957–69. In the latter period he developed Ireland's notably activist foreign policy at the United Nations. His approach confirmed a distinct Fianna Fáil ‘style’ in foreign policy, echoing de Valera's assertion of ‘small power’ rights and responsibilities at the League of Nations in the 1930s.

Norrie MacQueen

Aiken, George L. (1830–76), actor, and author of many plays, who dramatized Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin and acted in its first performance at Troy, N.Y. (Sept. 27, 1852), where it ran for 100 nights.