Wall Street Journal, The U.S. daily national newspaper, the most influential American business-oriented paper and one of the most respected dailies in the world. Founded in 1889 by Charles H. Dow, founder of Dow Jones & Co., it quickly won success. Beginning in the Great Depression, The Wall Street Journal began to feature more articles, reviews, and opinion on other subjects. Published in New York City and with regional editions printed across the country, it has one of the high¬ est daily circulations of any U.S. newspaper. It is also published in Asian, European, and other special editions.
wallaby Vwa-lo-beX Any of about 25 species of medium-sized kanga¬ roos, found chiefly in Australia. Brush wallabies (11 species) are built like the big kangaroos but differ in dentition. Rock wallabies live among rocks, usually near water. Nail-tailed wallabies, named for a homy growth on the tail tip, rotate their forelimbs while hopping. The small hare wall¬ abies resemble hares in movement and some habits. The small, stocky scrub wallabies, hunted for meat and fur, have short hind limbs and pointy noses. The similar short-tailed scrub wallaby occurs only on two offshore islands of western Australia. Several wallaby species have been extermi¬ nated, and several others are endangered. See photograph opposite.
Wallace, Alfred Russel (b. Jan. 8, 1823, Usk, Monmouthshire, Wales—d. Nov. 7, 1913, Broadstone, Dorset, Eng.) British naturalist. Though trained as a surveyor and architect, he became interested in botany and traveled to the Amazon in 1848 to collect specimens. In 1854-62 he toured the Malay Archipelago, augmenting his collection. His observa¬ tions of the islands led to his developing a theory of the origin of species through natural selection independently of, and simultaneously with, Charles Darwin, though Darwin developed his own theory in much greater detail, provided far more evidence for it, and was mainly responsible for its acceptance. Unlike Darwin, Wallace insisted that the higher mental
capacities of humans could not have arisen by natural selection but that some nonbiological agency must have been responsible. He hypothesized a boundary (Wallace’s line) running between the islands of the Malay Archipelago, between the Oriental and Australasian faunal regions, many animals abundant on one side being absent on the other. In the realm of public policy he supported socialism, pacifism, land nationalization, and women’s suffrage. His works include Contributions to the Theory of Natu¬ ral Selection (1870), Geographical Distribution of Animals (2 vol., 1876), and Darwinism (1889).
Wallace, (William Roy) DeWitt and Lila Acheson Lila Acheson Wallace orig. Lila Bell Acheson (respectively b. Nov. 12, 1889, St. Paul, Minn., U.S.—d. March 30, 1981, Mount Kisco, N.Y.; b. Dec. 25, 1889, Virden, Man., Can.—d. May 8, 1984, Mount Kisco) U.S. publishers and founders of Reader’s Digest magazine. DeWitt Wallace began an index of favourite magazine articles while he was a college stu¬ dent, and he developed the idea of a pocket-sized digest of popular articles while recuperating from wounds suffered in World War I. Lila Acheson, a minister’s daughter, worked in social services during the war. The two were married in 1921. After various publishers rejected the digest idea, they began publishing Reader's Digest themselves on a low budget and had rapid success. DeWitt Wallace served as editor until 1965. They had no heirs but supported numerous philanthropic causes; the Lila Wallace- Reader’s Digest Fund has been a major benefactor of the arts and culture.
Wallace, (Richard Horatio) Edgar (b. April 1, 1875, Greenwich, London, Eng.—d. Feb. 10, 1932, Hollywood, Calif., U.S.) British nov¬ elist, playwright, and journalist. He held odd jobs, served in the army, and was a reporter before producing his first success. The Four Just Men (1905). With works such as Sanders of the River (1911), The Crimson Circle (1922), The Flying Squad (1928), and The Terror (1930), he vir¬ tually invented the modern “thriller”; the plots of his detective and sus¬ pense stories are complex but clearly developed, and they are known for their exciting climaxes. His output (including 175 books) was prodigious and his rate of production so great as to be the subject of humour. His literary reputation has suffered since his death.
Wallace, George C(orley) (b. Aug. 25, 1919, Clio, Ala., U.S.—d. Sept. 13, 1998, Montgomery, Ala.) U.S. politician. He served in the Ala¬ bama state legislature (1947-53). As a circuit court judge (1953-59), he was known for his resistance to federal investigations of racial discrimi¬ nation. Campaigning as a segregationist, he was elected governor in 1963 and kept his pledge “to stand in the schoolhouse door” to prevent enroll¬ ment of African American students at the University of Alabama. He yielded only in the face of the federalized National Guard. Further con¬ frontations made him a nationwide symbol of Southern opposition to racial integration. He formed the American Independent Party and was its presidential candidate in 1968, winning 13% of the popular vote. He again served as governor (1971-79). While campaigning for the 1972 Demo¬ cratic presidential nomination, he was shot in an assassination attempt and left partly paralyzed. In the 1980s he renounced his segregationist views, and he won his last term as governor (1983-87) with support from Afri¬ can American voters.
Bridled nail-tailed wallaby (Onychogalea fraenata).
© MITCH REARDON-NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY COLLECTION/PHOTO RESEARCHERS
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
2024 I Wallace ► walleye
Wallace, Henry A(gard) (b. Oct. 7, 1888, Adair county, Iowa, U.S.—d. Nov. 18, 1965, Danbury, Conn.) U.S. politician. An agricultural expert, he succeeded his father as editor of Wallace’s Farmer (1924-33). In 1932 he helped Franklin D. Roosevelt win Iowa. As U.S. secretary of agriculture (1933-40), he shaped the administration’s farm policy, includ¬ ing the Agricultural Adjustment Administration. He served as vice presi¬ dent during Roosevelt’s third term but was replaced in 1944 by Harry S. Truman. He was later secretary of commerce (1945^46). Very liberal in his views, he helped form the Progressive Party in 1948 and was its can¬ didate against Truman in the presidential election, receiving more than one million votes. He wrote several books, including Sixty Million Jobs
(1945).
Wallace, Lew(is) (b. April 10, 1827, Brookville, Ind., U.S.—d. Feb. 15, 1905, Crawfordsville, Ind.) U.S. writer. The son of Indiana’s gover¬ nor, he served in the Mexican War and in the American Civil War, in which he rose to the rank of major general. Later he returned to law practice, interrupted by two diplo¬ matic postings. His literary reputa¬ tion rests on three historical novels:
The Fair God (1873), on the Spanish conquest of Mexico; The Prince of India (1893), on the Byzantine Empire; and, above all, the enor¬ mously popular Ben-Hur (1880; films, 1925, 1959), a romantic tale set in the Roman Empire during the time of Christ.
Wallace, Mike orig. Myron Leon Wallace (b. May 9, 1918,
Brookline, Mass., U.S.) U.S. television interviewer and reporter. After graduating from the University of Michigan (1939), he worked as an announcer and newscaster on radio, delving into various programs, including talk shows, quiz shows, serials, and the news. He served as a naval communications officer during World War II and was subsequently hired as a radio reporter in Chicago. He began to work on television in the 1950s, hosting several television quiz shows. He joined CBS as a reporter in 1963 and was coeditor of the long-running 60 Minutes from its first program in 1968. Noted for his aggressive, bruising style (which led some of his guests to experience “Mike fright”), he traveled the world interviewing some of the most famous and powerful figures, and he won numerous Emmy Awards.