truffle Edible, underground fungus in the genus Tuber (class Asco- mycetes, division Mycota), prized as a food delicacy since antiquity.
Native mainly to temperate regions, truffles flourish in open woodlands on calcium-rich soil. The different species range from pea-sized to orange-sized. Truffles usually are associated with tree roots and are found up to about 1 ft (30 cm) below the soil surface. Experienced gather¬ ers occasionally detect mature truffles by scent or by the morning and evening presence of hovering columns of small yellow flies, but more often with the help of trained pigs or dogs. The truffle is important in French cookery, and truffle gathering is an important industry in France. Truffles are among the most highly valued foods in the world. False truffles (genus Rhizopogon ) form small, underground, potato-like struc¬ tures under coniferous trees in parts of North America.
Trujillo \tru-'he-y6\ (Molina), Rafael (Leonidas) (b. Oct. 24,1891, San Cristobal, Dom.Rep.—d. May 30, 1961, Ciudad Trujillo, near San Cristobal) Dictator of the Dominican Republic (1930-61). He entered the army in 1918 and rose through the ranks to become a general in 1927. In 1930 he seized power from Pres. Horacio Vasquez, and from then until his assassination he remained in absolute control of the country. Though he introduced a degree of economic modernization, its benefits were dis¬ tributed inequitably, government corruption was rife, and Dominicans suffered the loss of civil and political liberties under his regime.
trullo Circular stone building roofed with a conical construction of dry stone masonry, unique to the region of Puglia in southeastern Italy and especially to the town of Alberobello, where trulli are used as dwellings. Trulli were built by piling circular courses of gray stone to a pinnacle on
in the genus Tuber (class Asco-
English truffle (Tuber aestivum).
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Truman ► trust company I 1943
a whitewashed cylindrical wall. No mortar was used; the stones were held in place by gravity and pressure against one another.
Truman, Harry S. (b. May 8, 1884, Lamar, Mo., U.S.—d. Dec. 26, 1972, Kansas City, Mo.) 33rd president of the U.S. (1945-53). He worked at various jobs before serving with distinction in World War I. He became a partner in a Kansas City haberdashery; when the business failed, he entered Democratic Party politics with the help of Thomas Pendergast. He was elected county judge (1922-24), and he later became presiding judge of the county court (1926-34). His reputation for honesty and good man¬ agement gained him bipartisan support. In the U.S. Senate (1935-45), he led a committee that exposed fraud in defense production. In 1944 he was chosen to replace the incumbent Henry Wallace as the Democratic Party vice presidential nominee, and he won election with Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt. After only 82 days as vice president, he became president on Roosevelt’s death (April 1945). He quickly made final arrangements for the San Francisco charter-writing meeting of the UN, helped arrange Ger¬ many’s unconditional surrender on May 8, which ended World War II in Europe, and in July attended the Potsdam Conference. The Pacific war ended officially on September 2, after he ordered atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki; his justification was a report that 500,000 U.S. troops would be lost in a conventional invasion of Japan. He announced what would become known as the Truman Doctrine, which entailed aid for Greece and Turkey (1947); established the Central Intelligence Agency; and pressed for passage of the Marshall Plan to aid the economic recovery of western Europe. In the 1948 presidential election he defeated Thomas Dewey despite widespread expectation of his own defeat. On July 26, 1948, Truman issued an executive order banning segregation in the armed forces. He initiated a foreign policy of containment to restrict the Soviet Union’s sphere of influence, pursued his Point Four Program, and initi¬ ated the Berlin airlift (see Berlin blockade and airlift) and the NATO pact of 1949. He sent troops under Gen. Douglas MacArthur to fight in the Korean War. Problems of pursuing the war occupied his administration until he retired. Though he was often criticized during his presidency, his reputation grew steadily in later years.
Truman Doctrine Pronouncement by Pres. Harry Truman. On March 12, 1947, he called for immediate economic and military aid to Greece, which was threatened by a communist insurrection, and to Turkey, which was under pressure from Soviet expansion in the Mediterranean. Engaged in the Cold War with the Soviet Union, the U.S. sought to protect those countries from falling under Soviet influence after Britain announced that it could no longer give them aid. In response to Truman’s message, Con¬ gress appropriated $400 million in aid.
Trumbull, John (b. June 6, 1756, Lebanon, Conn.—d. Nov. 10, 1843, New York, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. painter, architect, and author. The son of Gov. Jonathan Trumbull (1710-85), he served as an aide to George Washing¬ ton during the American Revolution and later as secretary to John Jay in London. In 1784 he studied painting in London with Benjamin West, and with West’s encouragement he began the celebrated series of historical paintings and engravings he would work on throughout his life. In 1817 he was commissioned by Congress to paint the four large pictures that decorate the Capitol rotunda (completed 1826); most of the figures in the often-reproduced Declaration of Independence were painted from life.
Trump, Donald J(ohn) (b. 1946, New York, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. real- estate developer. He joined his father’s Trump Organization (1968) and expanded its holdings of rental housing. By the 1990s Trump’s business empire encompassed a number of high-rises (including the Empire State Building), hotels, and condominiums, including Trump Tower; more than 25,000 rental and co-op apartment units in Queens and Brooklyn; and several hotel-casino complexes in the nearby gambling centre of Atlantic City, N.J. An economic slump in the late 1980s forced him to cede par¬ tial control of his properties to creditors, but his fortunes rebounded in the 1990s, and he embarked on a vast building project on New York’s West Side. His political ambitions and enjoyment of publicity combined to keep him in the public eye.
trumpet Brass instrument with tubing twice-folded in an elongated shape. (In its broad sense, trumpet may refer to any lip-vibrated instru¬ ment.) The modern trumpet has a mostly cylindrical bore, three valves, and a cup-shaped mouthpiece, and it is usually a B-flat or C instrument. The trumpet had taken its basic modem shape, with its ovoid loop, by c. 1500. In the 17th—18th centuries it employed crooks (removable lengths of tubing) to enable playing in different keys. The valved trumpet was
developed in the 1820s. The trumpet has been associated with ceremo¬ nial and military uses since the 16th century. It joined the standard orches¬ tra by c. 1700, though it was only selectively used, usually with the timpani. Its brilliant sound has since made it indispensable in a wide vari¬ ety of ensembles. See also cornet; flugelhorn.
trumpeter swan Black-billed species (Cygnus cygnus buccinator) of swan, named for its far-carrying, low-pitched call. About 6 ft (1.8 m) long, with a 10-ft (3-m) wingspan, it is the largest swan, though it weighs less than the mute swan. Once threatened with extinction (fewer than 100 were counted in the U.S. in 1935), it has made a strong comeback; though still listed as vulnerable, its population in western Canada and the northwest¬ ern U.S. now exceeds 5,000.