Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) U.S. government agency established (1932) to provide loans to railroads, banks, and busi¬ nesses. The RFC was an attempt by Pres. Herbert Hoover to counter the early effects of the Great Depression by rescuing institutions from default. It was widely used by Pres. Franklin Roosevelt in the New Deal and to finance defense plants in World War II. After the war, the RFC’s powers and functions were gradually transferred to other agencies.
Reconstructionism Movement that originated in U.S. Judaism in the 1920s. It regards Judaism only as a specific human culture, rejects the tradition of a transcendent deity who made a covenant with his chosen people, and does not accept the Bible as the inspired word of God. Its prin¬ ciples, as enunciated by Mordecai Menahem Kaplan, are based on the belief that Jews can live a distinctively Jewish cultural life without being reli¬ giously observant. Reconstructionists today number about 60,000.
record player See phonograph
recorder In music, a cylindrical, usually wooden, wind instrument with fingerholes. As a Apple (duct) flute, its rather soft tones are produced by air blown against the sharp edge of an opening in the tube. The large recorder family includes instruments ranging from the sopranino to the contrabass. The recorder emerged in the 14th century and was widely used in ensembles and orchestras in the late Renaissance and throughout the Baroque era. Displaced by the transverse flute after the mid-18th century, it was revived in the 20th century.
rectum End segment of the large intestine (see digestion) in which feces accumulate just prior to discharge. It is 5-6 in. (13-15 cm) long and lined with mucous membrane. One set of muscles separates it from the anal canal; another shortens it to expel feces. The rectal walls distend as feces enter, which stimulates the urge for defecation.
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1598 I recycling ► Red River Indian War
recycling or materials salvage Recovery and reuse of materials from consumed products. The main motives for recycling have been the increasing scarcity and cost of natural resources (including oil, gas, coal, mineral ores, and trees) and the pollution of air (see air pollution), water (see water pollution), and land by waste materials. There are two types of recycling, internal and external. Internal recycling is the reuse in a manu¬ facturing process of materials that are a waste product of that process, and is common in the metals industry (see scrap metal). External recycling is the reclaiming of materials from a product that is worn out or no longer useful; an example is the collection of old newspapers and magazines for the manufacture of newsprint or other paper products.
Red Army Army of the Soviet Union. Formed in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution of 1917, its first civilian leader was Leon Trotsky, who proved a brilliant strategist and administrator. Formed of workers and peasants, it initially lacked an officers’ corps, and Trotsky was forced to mobilize officers of the former imperial army until a new, politically reli¬ able corps could be trained. The Communist Party placed commissars in all army units to ensure political orthodoxy. Joseph Stalin purged the mili¬ tary leadership in 1937, leaving the army demoralized and unprepared for the German surprise attack in 1941. It recovered sufficiently by 1945 to have forces numbering more than 11 million, surpassed in strength only by the U.S. Army. In 1946 it was renamed the Soviet Army. In 1960 the commissars’ duties were transferred to army officers. See also Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
Red Army Faction See Baader-Meinhof Gang red blood cell See erythrocyte
Red Brigades Italian Brigate Rosse Extreme left-wing terrorist organization in Italy. Its self-proclaimed aim was to undermine the Ital¬ ian state and pave the way for a Marxist upheaval led by a “revolution¬ ary proletariat.” Reputedly founded by Renato Curcio (b. 1945), it began carrying out violent acts with firebombings (1970), escalating to kidnap¬ pings (1971) and murders (1974), most notably that of Aldo Moro (1978). At its height, it probably had 400 to 500 full-time members, perhaps 1,000 sporadic members, and a few thousand supporters. Arrest and imprison¬ ment of many leaders and ordinary members greatly weakened the orga¬ nization in the 1980s. However, a group calling itself the Red Brigades claimed responsibility for several violent attacks in the 1990s and into the 21st century.
Red Cloud orig. Mahpiua Luta (b. 1822, on the Platte River, Nebraska Territory, U.S.—d. Dec. 10, 1909, Pine Ridge Agency, S.D.) American Indian leader. The principal chief of the Oglala Teton Dakota (Sioux), he led the opposition of both the Sioux and the Cheyenne to the U.S. government’s development of the Bozeman Trail to goldfields in the Montana Territory (1865-67). Relentlessly attacking workers along the route from Fort Laramie (in modern Wyoming) to Montana, he refused offers to negotiate until the U.S. agreed to halt the project, whereupon he laid down his arms and allowed himself to be settled on the Red Cloud Agency in Nebraska.
Red Cross officially International Movement of the Red Cross and Red Crescent formerly International Red Cross
Humanitarian agency with national affiliates worldwide. Established for the care of victims of battle, it now aids in the general prevention and relief of human suffering. It arose out of the work of Jean-Henri Dunant, who proposed the formation of voluntary relief societies in all countries, the first of which came into being in 1864. The name Red Crescent, adopted in 1906 at the insistence of the Ottoman Empire, is used in Mus¬ lim countries. In peacetime, the Red Cross aids victims of natural disas¬ ters, maintains blood banks, and provides supplementary health care services. In wartime, it serves as an intermediary between belligerents and visits prisoner-of-war camps to provide relief supplies, deliver mail, and transmit information between prisoners and their relatives. Its operating principles are humanity, impartiality, and neutrality. Its headquarters are in Geneva. Individual national organizations run community programs and coordinate natural-disaster relief efforts. The American Red Cross was founded by Clara Barton in 1881 and first chartered by Congress in 1900; it runs the world’s largest blood-donor service. In 1901 Dunant received the first Nobel Prize for Peace; the Red Cross itself received the prize in 1917, 1944, and 1963.
red deer Species of deer (Cervus elaphus), sometimes called elk, native to Europe, Asia, and North Africa. It is found in woodlands and hunted
for sport and food. Red deer live in sexually segregated herds except in the breeding season, when males (harts) fight for harems of females (hinds). Red deer stand about 4 ft (1.2 m) high at the shoulder. The coat is reddish brown, with lighter underparts and a light rump. The hart has long, regularly branched antlers bearing 10 or more tines. There are sev¬ eral endangered subspecies. See also wapiti.
red elm See slippery elm
Red Eyebrows Chinese peasant band that formed in response to the unrest and civil war following the floods and famines that accompanied disastrous changes in the course of the Huang He (Yellow River) between ad 2 and 11. They painted their faces to look like demons, and their leader spoke through mediums. In ad 23 their forces were involved in the over¬ throw of Wang Mang, the usurper whose reign had interrupted the Han DYNASTY.
red-figure pottery Type of Greek 6th to the late 4th century bc. Devel¬ oped in Athens c. 530 bc, the red- figure pottery quickly overtook the older black-figure pottery as the pre¬ ferred style of vase painting. In red- figure technique, the background was painted black, and the outline details on the figures were also painted (rather than incised) in black, but the rest of each figure was unpainted and so retained the orange-red colour of the natural vase. By comparison with incising, the painting of the details allowed more flexibility in rendering human form, movements, expressions, and perspective. Since most of the orna¬ mentation was narrative, such tech¬ nical advantages were of utmost importance.