National Symphony Orchestra (NSO), American symphony orchestra based in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1931 by Hans Kindler, who served as its first music director (1931–49). Subsequent directors have been Howard Mitchell (1949–69), Hungarian-born American Antal Dorati (1970–77), distinguished

Mexico: Cultural institutions: …are the programs of the National Symphony Orchestra, the Ballet Folklorico, and the Modern and Classical Ballet, all of which perform nationally and internationally to promote Mexican culture. Folk and popular culture also receive support through government bodies, among them the Native Institute, which seeks to preserve and stimulate traditional…

Mozambique: Education of Mozambique: The National System of Education, implemented in the early 1980s, created programs for people of all ages, part-time as well as full-time students, to improve both literacy and technical education. Private and parochial school facilities were nationalized to facilitate the reorganization and unification of the educational…

Interstate Highway System, a network of public highways established across the United States by federal law. Though highways existed in the United States before the creation of the Interstate Highway System, the passage of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 funded the construction of more than

Interstate Highway System, a network of public highways established across the United States by federal law. Though highways existed in the United States before the creation of the Interstate Highway System, the passage of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 funded the construction of more than

Friedrich List: …wrote his most remembered book, The National System of Political Economy (1841). List was perennially plagued with financial difficulties, which, coupled with other problems, drove him to suicide.

Toyo Ito: …Ito’s most ambitious projects, the National Taichung Theater, Taiwan, which was under construction when he received the Pritzker in 2013, was likened by some to an enormous sponge, featuring a labyrinthine network of tunnels, curved walls, and cavernous spaces. It was completed in 2016.

television: Colour television: In 1952 the National Television Systems Committee (NTSC) was reformed, this time with the purpose of creating an “industry color system.” The NTSC system that was demonstrated to the press in August 1952 and that would serve into the 21st century was virtually the RCA system. The first…

tennis: Professional and open tennis: …professional groups were formed: the National Tennis League, organized by former U.S. Davis Cup captain George MacCall, and World Championship Tennis (WCT), founded by New Orleans promoter Dave Dixon and funded by Dallas oil and football tycoon Lamar Hunt. Between them they signed a significant number of the world’s top…

National Terrorism Advisory System, two-tiered indicator system that communicates the likelihood of a forthcoming terrorist attack on the United States or its citizens and interests abroad. Two threat-advisory (or threat-alert) levels—“Elevated Threat Alert” and “Imminent Threat Alert”—alert U.S.

Kabuki: Subject, purpose, and conventions: …performances are held at the National Theatre in Tokyo. The city was also home to the Kabuki Theatre (Kabuki-za), which closed in 2010. An office tower—which includes the theatre—was opened on the site in 2013. Other theatres have occasional performances. Troupes of Kabuki actors also perform outside Tokyo. There are…

Ferenc Erkel: …of Pest (from 1840 the National Theatre). There he worked to develop Hungarian-language operatic performance with the intention of creating an opera company capable of competing with the German Theatre of Pest. In addition to staging works by Gioachino Rossini, Vincenzo Bellini, Daniel-François-Esprit Auber, and Carl Maria von Weber, he…

Mannheim: …that same year Germany’s first National Theatre opened in Mannheim, and in 1782 it gave the first performance of Friedrich Schiller’s play Die Räuber (The Robbers). Mannheim was destroyed again in 1795, and administrative control was transferred to the state of Baden in 1802. The city was rebuilt and became…

Iceland: Cultural institutions: The National Theatre began operation in 1950. It performs Icelandic as well as foreign classical and modern plays, operas, ballets, and musicals. The Reykjavík Theatre is the other full-time professional repertory theatre. Several theatre groups present numerous plays and musicals, both in Reykjavík and the countryside.

Korean performing arts: After World War II: A new National Theatre was established in Seoul just before the Korean War began; national support included subsidies for performances. In both North and South Korea virtually all theatres were destroyed by the war. Excellent theatres were constructed in the 1970s and ’80s, however, and performances were…

Royal National Theatre, a partly subsidized complex of British theatre companies that was formed in 1962. It was given a permanent home at the South Bank arts complex in the Greater London borough of Lambeth in 1976. In 1988 Queen Elizabeth II gave permission for the company to add “Royal” to its

Katina Paxinou: …company of the newly formed National Theatre of Athens, she had abandoned singing roles entirely. Tours of the United States, Germany, and England followed, culminating in her acclaimed London debut in the title role of Sophocles’ Electra (1939). The war years restricted her activities to the United States, where she…

Lisbon: Cultural life: Charles and the National Theatre of Dona Maria II are Lisbon’s two principal theatres. The former, which was constructed in the late 18th century, has a beautiful elliptical interior, and the latter, which was built about 1845, displays a facade of six giant columns saved from the convent…

National Theatre of the Deaf (NTD), American theatre, established in 1965 and based in Waterford, Connecticut, that was the world’s first professional deaf-theatre company and was in the early 21st century the oldest continually producing touring-theatre company in the United States. The National

National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act, U.S. legislation that required automobile manufacturers to institute safety standards to protect the public from unreasonable risk of accidents occurring as a result of the design, construction, or operation of automobiles. A closely related

railroad: Canadian railroads: From there, the National Transcontinental Railway crossed the Canadian Shield to Winnipeg. There the project was joined to a line of the Grand Trunk. The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway beginning at Winnipeg passed through the fertile belt of the prairies to Edmonton, continuing thence to Yellowhead Pass and…

Guinea: Constitutional framework: The National Transitional Council (Conseil National de Transition; CNT), a legislative-like body, was formed in February 2010. One of the duties of the CNT was drafting a new constitution, which was promulgated in May 2010. It was succeeded by a new constitution that was passed by…

Liberia: Constitutional framework: …the fighting and created a National Transitional Government (NTG). The NTG, supported by United Nations peacekeeping troops, replaced the government under the 1986 constitution and ruled until a democratically elected administration was installed in 2006.

Jerry Bruckheimer: …Black Hawk Down (2001), and National Treasure (2004).

Nicolas Cage: …Treasure (2004) and its sequel National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007), which featured Cage as a treasure hunter searching for historical artifacts.

Catherine Zeta-Jones: In the TV series National Treasure: Edge of History (2022– ), Zeta-Jones was cast as a villainous antiquities dealer.

trade agreement: A “national treatment of nontariff restrictions” clause is necessary because most of the properties of tariffs can be easily duplicated with an appropriately designed set of nontariff restrictions. These can include discriminatory regulations, selective excise or sales taxes, special “health” requirements, quotas, “voluntary” restraints on importing,…

National Trust, British organization founded in 1895 and incorporated by the National Trust Act (1907) for the purpose of promoting the preservation of—and public access to—buildings of historic or architectural interest and land of natural beauty. (The powers and privileges of the Trust were

art conservation and restoration: Role of law: In the United States the National Trust for Historic Preservation operates in a similar way.

National Trust, British organization founded in 1895 and incorporated by the National Trust Act (1907) for the purpose of promoting the preservation of—and public access to—buildings of historic or architectural interest and land of natural beauty. (The powers and privileges of the Trust were

St. Kilda: …under the authority of the National Trust for Scotland, and they were designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1986.

New South Wales: Cultural institutions: …preservation, served by the private National Trust of Australia (NSW) and by the state Heritage Council, which has sweeping powers to prevent demolition or alteration of buildings identified as having historical value.

organized labour: Origins of craft unionism: …renaming in 1869 as the International Typographical Union—a designation that became common in North American unionism.

Yisrael Beiteinu: Foundation and early history: …Beiteinu joined forces with the National Union, a faction made up of several right-leaning political groups. After Ariel Sharon won the premiership in February 2001, the National Union joined his unity government. Protesting that Sharon was not dealing with the Palestinian Authority strongly enough, it resigned in March 2002. In…

Cecil Rhodes: Policies as prime minister of Cape Colony of Cecil Rhodes: The Uitlanders formed a National Union to support their cause, with Rhodes’s brother Frank among its leaders. Kruger sought the support of Germany, and in 1895 he again closed the drifts across the Vaal. Once more he was forced to withdraw, and by that time a conspiracy against him…

fascism: National fascisms: …led by Ante Pavelić; the National Union (Nasjonal Samling) in Norway, which was in power for only a week—though its leader, Vidkun Quisling, was later made minister president under the German occupation; and the military dictatorship of Admiral Tojo Hideki in Japan.

library: Library of Congress: …printed product was the 754-volume National Union Catalog: Pre-1956 Imprints. In 1983 the library began producing most of the National Union Catalog on microfiche (sheets of microfilm containing rows of microimages of pages of printed matter). It serves as a centralized bureau for information on the acquisition of materials worldwide…

United States: Civil rights legislation: …own political party in the National Union Convention, which met in Philadelphia in August 1866; and in August and September he visited many Northern and Western cities in order to defend his policies and to attack the Republican leaders. At the president’s urging, every Southern state except Tennessee overwhelmingly rejected…

John Stuart Mill: The later years of John Stuart Mill: … society, which developed into the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies, and in 1869 he published The Subjection of Women (written 1861), the classical theoretical statement of the case for women’s suffrage. His last public activity was concerned with the starting of the Land Tenure Reform Association, for which he…

Guatemala: Political process: …early 21st century include the National Unity ofr Hope (Unión Nacional de Esperanza; UNE), the Patriotic Party (Partido Patriota; PP), the Grand National Alliance (Gran Alianza Nacional; GANA), and the Centre of Social Action (Centro de Acción Social; CASA), which represents the interests of Indigenous people. Generally, Guatemalan voters still…

UNITA, Angolan political party that was originally founded to free the nation from Portuguese colonial rule. UNITA was organized in 1966 by elements formerly associated with the National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA) and the Popular Union of Angola, the latter led by Jonas Savimbi, who

Conservative Party, in the United Kingdom, a political party whose guiding principles include the promotion of private property and enterprise, the maintenance of a strong military, and the preservation of traditional cultural values and institutions. Since World War I the Conservative Party and

GMB, one of the largest trade unions in Great Britain and one of the two giant general unions (the other being Unite). The National Union of General and Municipal Workers (NUGMW) was formed in 1924 by the merger of the National Union of Gas and General Workers, the National Amalgamated Union of

South Africa: Labor and taxation: …largest unions, among them the National Union of Mineworkers. Other federations include the Black consciousness-rooted National Council of Trade Unions and the mainly white Federation of South African Labour.

United Kingdom: Economy and society: …won a struggle with the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), who staged a nationwide strike to prevent the closure of 20 coal mines that the government claimed were unproductive. The walkout, which lasted nearly a year and was accompanied by continuing violence, soon became emblematic of the struggle for power…

South Africa: Labor and taxation: …largest unions, among them the National Union of Mineworkers. Other federations include the Black consciousness-rooted National Council of Trade Unions and the mainly white Federation of South African Labour.

Mehdi Ben Barka: …party to found the left-wing National Union of Popular Forces (UNFP). He was widely considered as a likely president for a possible Republic of Morocco. When Morocco and Algeria had a brief war in 1963, Ben Barka sided with Algeria and went into exile. He was subsequently accused of high…

UNISON: …of several unions, including the National Union of Public Employees (formed 1905) and the Confederation of Health Service Employees (formed 1910). It maintains a separate political fund, which supports the activities of the Labour Party.

Steve Biko: …became involved in the multiracial National Union of South African Students (NUSAS), a moderate organization that had long espoused the rights of Blacks. He soon grew disenchanted with NUSAS, believing that, instead of simply allowing Blacks to participate in white South African society, the society itself needed to be restructured…

John Stuart Mill: The later years of John Stuart Mill: … society, which developed into the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies, and in 1869 he published The Subjection of Women (written 1861), the classical theoretical statement of the case for women’s suffrage. His last public activity was concerned with the starting of the Land Tenure Reform Association, for which he…

Sudan: The growth of national consciousness: …faction—remodeled in 1951 as the National Unionist Party (NUP)—and the Ummah-Mahdist group quickly rekindled old suspicions and deep-seated hatreds that soured Sudanese politics for years and eventually strangled parliamentary government. These sectarian religious elites virtually controlled Sudan’s political parties until the last decade of the 20th century, stultifying any attempt…

Cambodia: The 1990s: …Peaceful, and Cooperative Cambodia (Funcinpec), a royalist political faction sponsored by Prince Sihanouk, who had returned home in 1992 after 12 years of residence in China and North Korea. The incumbent Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) and the former prime minister, Hun Sen, refused to accept the results of the…

Turkey: The National Unity Committee: From the outset a clear division existed between the officers who carried out the coup. One group, consisting predominantly of younger officers, believed that, to restore national unity and carry out major social and economic reforms, it would be necessary to retain…

Israel: The national unity government: …Labour and Likud formed a national unity government in September, giving the premiership to Peres for 25 months, at the end of which the premiership would go to Shamir, with the understanding that the other would take the position of deputy prime minister of foreign affairs. Notably, Rabin was to…

Myanmar: Administrative framework: …and the chairman of the Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP), which, under military leadership, was the only official political party from 1964 to 1988. Civil servants, members of the armed forces, workers, and peasants belonged to the BSPP, and senior military officials and civil servants were included in the party’s…

Cyprus: Political process: …the major parties include the National Unity Party (Ulusal Birlik Partisi), the Communal Liberation Party (Toplumcu Kurtuluș Partisi), and the Republican Turkish Party (Cumhuriyetc̦i Türk Partisi).

Mwai Kibaki: …formed a new coalition, the Party of National Unity (PNU), which, surprisingly, included KANU. Several candidates stood in the presidential election, which was one of the closest in Kenya’s history and boasted a record-high voter turnout. After a delay in the release of the final election results, Kibaki was declared…

National University of Ireland, state-supported institution in Dublin, composed of three constituent and five recognized colleges, established in 1908 to foster Irish culture and values. The germ of the university was the Catholic University of Ireland, founded in 1853 with John Henry Newman (later

Ulaanbaatar: …also the site of the National University of Mongolia (1942), several professional and technical schools, and the Academy of Sciences of Mongolia.

Ayacucho: The National University of San Cristóbal de Huamanga (founded 1677, closed 1886, reopened 1959) is located there. The city’s economy is based on agriculture and light manufactures, including textiles, pottery, leather goods, and filigree ware. Ayacucho can be reached by highway from Lima, Huancayo, and Cuzco,…

Main National University of San Marcos of Lima, coeducational state-financed institution of higher learning situated at Lima, the capital of Peru. The university, the oldest in South America, was founded in 1551 by royal decree and confirmed by a papal bull of 1571. At the time the Peruvian

Singapore: Education: The National University of Singapore, founded in 1980 by a merger of the University of Singapore and Nanyang University, is the largest and best-known institute of higher education.

M. Carl Holman: …who, as president of the National Urban Coalition (1971–88), promoted the need for a mutual partnership between industry and government to address the needs of disadvantaged communities.

National Urban League, American service agency founded for the purpose of eliminating racial segregation and discrimination and helping African Americans and other minorities to participate in all phases of American life. By the late 20th century more than 110 local affiliated groups were active

Edward Franklin Albee: …he organized a union, the National Vaudeville Artists, thus gaining a near monopoly on both talent and production in U.S. vaudeville. Albee dominated vaudeville until 1928, when RKO, a film company, absorbed his circuit in order to acquire the theatres. His adopted grandson, and namesake, was an American playwright.

Clarence Brown: The 1940s and ’50s: …1944, Taylor starred in Brown’s National Velvet, a classic about a young English girl’s quest to have her horse race in the Grand National. Rooney was in rare form as Velvet’s trainer, and Anne Revere won an Oscar for her supporting role as Taylor’s sacrificing mother. Brown was nominated for…

Enid Bagnold: …best-known work is the novel National Velvet (1935), which tells the story of an ambitious 14-year-old girl who rides to victory in Great Britain’s Grand National steeplechase on a horse bought for only £10; a motion picture of the same title was made from the novel in 1944. Two quite…

Bucharest: …highly original ethnographic collection, the Village Museum (1936), is made up of peasant houses brought from various parts of the country.

Smith-Hughes Act, U.S. legislation, adopted in 1917, that provided federal aid to the states for the purpose of promoting precollegiate vocational education in agricultural and industrial trades and in home economics. Although the law helped to expand vocational courses and enrollment, it generally

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), organization founded in 1925 by Keshav Baliram Hedgewar (1889–1940), a physician living in the Maharashtra region of India, as part of the movement against British rule and as a response to rioting between Hindus and Muslims. Hedgewar was heavily influenced by the

United States: Voting and elections: …in 1993 Congress passed the National Voter Registration Act (the so-called “motor-voter law”), which required states to allow citizens to register to vote when they received their driver’s licenses, and in 1998 voters in Oregon approved a referendum that established a mail-in voting system. In addition, some states now allow…

National Defense University: The National War College (NWC), formed in 1946, and the Army Industrial College, which was renamed the Industrial College of the Armed Forces (ICAF) in 1946 (becoming the Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy in 2012), addressed that need.

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier: …opened in 2000 at the National War Memorial in Ottawa, Ontario. The Canadian monument was the site of a terrorist attack in October 2014, when a gunman shot and killed one of its honour guards.

Sea of Galilee: Human imprint: …the starting point of the National Water Carrier (also called Kinneret-Negev Conduit), a canal that conveys water from the Jordan River to Israel’s densely populated coastal region as well as south to the Negev desert. The water is pumped by pipe to the northwest to a height some 800 feet…

National Weather Service (NWS), official weather bureau of the United States, founded on February 9, 1870, and charged with providing weather, hydrologic, and climate forecasts and warnings for the United States, its possessions, and its marine and freshwater approaches. Such weather forecasts and

National Westminster Bank, former British bank holding company with branches and subbranches in the United Kingdom and operations across the world. It was acquired by the Royal Bank of Scotland in 2000. The organization was formed in 1968 as National Westminster Bank Ltd. to merge two banking

Isle Royale: …park became part of the National Wilderness Preservation System in 1976, and it was designated a UNESCO International Biosphere Reserve in 1980.

Lady Bird Johnson: …Wildflower Research Center (now the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center). Although she occasionally made political appearances for her son-in-law, Virginia governor (and later senator) Charles Robb, she dedicated most of her time to the family business and her grandchildren.

Jay Norwood Darling: …first president (1936) of the National Wildlife Federation.

Arrow Cross Party, Hungarian fascist organization that controlled the Hungarian government from October 1944 to April 1945 during World War II. It originated as the Party of National Will founded by Ferenc Szálasi in 1935. Szálasi’s party was quite small and underwent numerous reorganizations; it

Sayyid Zia od-Din Tabatabaʾi: …the pro-British, anticommunist political party Iradah-yi milli (“The National Will”), which was active until 1951, at which time Tabatabaʾi faded from the political scene.

National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA), American organization, founded in 1869 and based in New York City, that was created by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton when the women’s rights movement split into two groups over the issue of suffrage for African American men. Considered the

International Women’s Day: …in 1909 held the first National Woman’s Day, which was highlighted by mass meetings across the United States; the day was observed until 1913. Encouraged by German activist Clara Zetkin, the International Socialist Congress agreed in 1910 to create an international version of the U.S. holiday, and on March 19,…

National Woman’s Party (NWP), American political party that in the early part of the 20th century employed militant methods to fight for an Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Formed in 1913 as the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage, the organization was headed by Alice Paul and

National Women’s Hall of Fame, not-for-profit educational institution founded in 1969 to honour the accomplishments of outstanding American women. The Hall of Fame is located in Seneca Falls, New York, the site of the first Women’s Rights Convention, in 1848. It contains information and exhibits

National Women’s History Alliance (NWHA), not-for-profit American organization founded in 1980 as the National Women’s History Project (NWHP) to “promote multicultural women’s history awareness.” The NWHP originated with the Educational Task Force in Sonoma county, California, the association that

National Women’s History Month, honorary observance of the month of March in the United States, as designated in 1987 by the U.S. Congress, in recognition of women’s many accomplishments throughout history. A variety of agencies, schools, and organizations observe the month by focusing on the

National Women’s History Alliance (NWHA), not-for-profit American organization founded in 1980 as the National Women’s History Project (NWHP) to “promote multicultural women’s history awareness.” The NWHP originated with the Educational Task Force in Sonoma county, California, the association that

National Women’s Political Caucus (NWPC), nonpartisan American political organization formed in 1971 to identify, recruit, train, endorse, and support women seeking public office. The organization endeavours to improve the status of women by amplifying the voice of women in government. To help

National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), American women’s professional football (soccer) league that began play in 2013. The first women’s professional league in the United States, the Women’s United Soccer Association, debuted in 2001; this iteration folded after three seasons and was succeeded by

Margaret Dreier Robins: …1922, as head of the National Women’s Trade Union League, Margaret Robins contributed to the expansion of trade unionism for women, promoted the training of women union leaders, and advocated the passage of state and federal labour legislation.

National World War II Memorial, monument in Washington, D.C., dedicated both to the Americans who served in World War II in the armed services—including the more than 400,000 dead—and to those who supported the war effort at home. It is located on a 7.4-acre (3-hectare) site on the east end of the

Vince McMahon: Early life and the WWE: …magnate Ted Turner and renamed World Championship Wrestling [WCW]) experienced a resurgence, and its cable broadcasts soon surpassed those of the WWF in viewership. McMahon responded by hiring new writers to create soap-opera-like story lines. Skimpily clad female wrestlers became prominent, as did “colorful language” (profanity) and “sign language” (obscene…

United States: The second New Deal and the Supreme Court: The National Youth Administration created part-time jobs for millions of college students, high-school students, and other youngsters. Of long-range significance was the Social Security Act of 1935, which provided federal aid for the aged, retirement annuities, unemployment insurance, aid for persons who were blind or crippled,…

Patrick McGorry: …and board member of the National Youth Mental Health Foundation (also known as Headspace), a mental-health initiative of the Australian federal government. The foundation offers information, services, and support in the areas of mental health and social well-being. In addition to his work in the field of early psychosis, McGorry…

National Zoological Gardens of South Africa, zoo near Pretoria, South Africa, that is noted for its wildlife conservation programs. It was opened in 1899 by the State Museum of the South African Republic on a small stretch of land along the Apies River, which flows through Pretoria. In 1913 the zoo

National Zoological Park, zoo in Washington, D.C., that was established under the Smithsonian Institution by acts of the U.S. Congress in 1889 and 1890, when a site in the wooded valley of Rock Creek, a tributary of the Potomac River, was purchased. The Smithsonian was authorized to transfer to the

François Mignet: …and Armand Carrel, he founded Le National in 1830. This newspaper was instrumental in precipitating the July Revolution, which resulted in the accession of Louis-Philippe as French king. Mignet gave up politics and journalism for historical work, and he was appointed keeper of the archives at the Foreign Ministry, holding…

United States: Immigration: …at 150,000) and established the national-origins system, which was to characterize immigration policy for the next 40 years. Under it, quotas were established for each country based on the number of persons of that national origin who were living in the United States in 1920. The quotas reduced drastically the…

Nazi Party, political party of the mass movement known as National Socialism. Under the leadership of Adolf Hitler, the party came to power in Germany in 1933 and governed by totalitarian methods until 1945. Antisemitism was fundamental to the party’s ideology and led to the Holocaust, the