Buchanan \byu-'ka-n9n\, James (b. April 23, 1791, near Mercers- burg, Pa., U.S.—d. June 1, 1868, near Lancaster) 15th president of the U.S. (1857-61). He was admitted to the bar in 1812 and soon established a successful law practice. He was elected to the Pennsylvania legisla¬ ture in 1814 and later served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1821-31), as minister to Russia (1832-34), and in the U.S. Senate (1834-45). He was secretary of state in the cabinet of Pres. James K. Polk (1845-49). As minister to Britain (1853-56), he helped draft the Ostend Manifesto. In 1856 he was elected president as a Democrat, defeating John C. Fremont. Although experienced in government and law, he lacked the courage to deal effec¬ tively with the slavery crisis, and he equivocated on the question of Kan¬ sas’s status as a slaveholding state. The ensuing split within his party allowed Abraham Lincoln to win the election of 1860. He denounced the secession of South Carolina following the election and sent reinforce¬ ments to Fort Sumter but failed to respond further to the mounting crisis. He was the only president never to have married.
Bucharest Vbu-ko-.restV Romanian Bucuresti \,bu-ku-'resht y \ City (pop., 1997: 2,057,512), capital of Romania. Excavations have revealed evidence of prehistoric settlement. The site gained importance when the rulers of Walachia moved there in the 14th century. Vlad III built a for¬ tress there in the 15th century to ward off invading Turks; they eventu¬ ally took it and made it their Ottoman Walachian capital in 1659. In the 19th century civic unrest helped force the union of Walachia and Mold¬ avia, and Bucharest became the capital of the new Romanian state in 1862. Occupied by the Soviet army after World War II, it came under commu¬ nist control. During the 1980s it was the scene of political demonstrations against the government of Nicolae Ceau$escu that resulted in his overthrow and execution.
Bucharest, Treaty of (May 7, 1918) Settlement forced on Romania after it had been defeated by the Central Powers in World War I. Roma¬ nia was required to return southern Dobruja to Bulgaria, give Austria- Hungary control of the passes in the Carpathian Mtns., and lease its oil wells to Germany for 90 years. When the Central Powers collapsed in November 1918, the treaty was nullified.
Buchenwald Vbii-kon-.valtX One of the first and biggest of the German Nazi concentration camps, established in 1937 near Weimar. In World War II it held about 20,000 prisoners, most of whom worked as slave laborers in nearby factories. Though there were no gas chambers, many perished through disease, malnutrition, exhaustion, beatings, and executions. Inmates were used to test the effects of viral infections and vaccines. The commandant’s wife was the infamously sadistic lisa Koch (19067-1967), the “Witch of Buchenwald.” See also Holocaust.
Buchner \'bmk-nor\, Georg (b. Oct. 17, 1813, Goddelau, Hesse- Darmstadt—d. Feb. 19, 1837, Zurich, Switz.) German dramatist. As a medical student, he became involved in revolutionary politics and was forced to flee to Zurich. There he wrote plays marked by vivid imagina¬ tion and unconventional structure, combining extreme naturalism with visionary power; he is regarded as a forerunner of the Expressionist move¬ ment. His first play, Danton’s Death (1835), a drama of the French Revo¬ lution, was followed by Leonce and Lena (1836), a satire on the illusions of Romanticism. His last play, Woyzeck (1836), anticipated the social drama of the 1890s with its compassion for the poor and oppressed; it became the basis of a famous opera by Alban Berg.
Buchner Vbiik-narV Hans (b. Dec. 16, 1850, Munich, Bavaria—d. April 5, 1902, Munich, Ger.) German bacteriologist. He served as a phy¬ sician in the Bavarian army in the 1870s and taught at the University of Munich from 1880 until his death. Buchner was one of the first to note that a substance in blood serum could destroy bacteria. He named the substance alexin; now known as complement, it consists of proteins called gamma globulins and is of great importance in immunology.
James Buchanan, photograph by Mathew Brady.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, WASHINGTON, D.C.
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
288 I Buchwald ► Buddha
Buchwald Vbuk-.woldX, Art(hur) (b. Oct. 20, 1925, Mt. Vernon, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. humour writer and columnist. Buchwald moved to Paris in 1948. His popular original column—reviews of the city’s nightlife for the International Herald Tribune —increasingly included offbeat spoofs and candid comments from celebrities. After moving in 1961 to Washington, D.C., he began poking fun at issues in the news, soon becoming estab¬ lished as one of the sharpest satirists of American politics and modem life. His widely syndicated work won a Pulitzer Prize in 1982. His books include numerous collections of columns and the memoir I’ll Always Have Paris (1996).
Buck, Pearl orig. Pearl Sydenstricker (b. June 26, 1892, Hills¬ boro, W.Va., U.S.—d. March 6, 1973, Danby, Vt.) U.S. author. Buck was reared in China by her missionary parents and later taught in a Chinese university. Her first book to reach a wide audience was The Good Earth (1931, Pulitzer Prize), describing the struggles of a Chinese peasant and his slave wife. Sons (1932) and A House Divided (1935) followed; the trilogy was published as The House of Earth (1935). Among her later works are short stories, novels (including five under the pseudonym John Sedges), and an autobiography. She received the Nobel Prize for Litera¬ ture in 1938.
buckeye Any of about 13 trees and shrubs of the genus Aesculus (fam¬ ily Hippocastanaceae), native to North America, southeastern Europe, and eastern Asia. The name refers to the resemblance of the nut, which has a pale patch on a shiny red ground, to the eye of a deer. Buckeyes are val¬ ued as ornamental trees for their handsome candelabra-like flower clus¬ ters. Both the young foliage and the nuts are poisonous. Among the most notable is the Ohio buckeye (A. glabra ), also called fetid buckeye and American horse chestnut, with twigs and leaves that yield an unpleasant odour when crushed. The sweet, or yellow, buckeye (A. flava , or A. octan- dra) is the largest buckeye, up to 89 ft (27 m) tall, and is naturally abun¬ dant in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, U.S.
Buckingham Palace London residence of the British sovereign. It takes its name from the house built there early in the 18th century for the dukes of Buckingham. Victoria was the first sovereign to live there. John Nash began the reconstruction of Buckingham House as a Neoclassical palace in 1821, but was not allowed to finish. His garden front remains virtually unchanged, but the Mall front was redesigned in 1913 by Sir Aston Webb (1849-1930) as a background for the Queen Victoria Memo¬ rial statue.
Buckingham Vbok-iq-omV, 1 st duke of orig. George Villiers (b.
Aug. 28, 1592, Brooksby, Leicestershire, Eng.—d. Aug. 23, 1628, Ports¬ mouth, Hampshire) English courtier and politician. Charming and hand¬ some, he quickly became a royal favourite of James I and the future Charles I. He became lord high admiral in 1619 and was created a duke in 1623, but his arrogance and abuse of power made him highly unpopular. His erratic foreign policy led to a series of disasters, including failed military expeditions to Spain and France. A bill to impeach him was introduced in Parliament in 1626, prompting Charles to dissolve Parliament. When Buckingham was assassinated by a naval lieutenant, Londoners rejoiced.
Buckingham, 2nd duke of orig. George Villiers (b. Jan. 30, 1628, London, Eng.—d. April 16, 1687, Kirkby Moorside, Yorkshire) English politician. Born eight months before the assassination of his father, the 1st duke of Buckingham, he was brought up with the family of Charles I. He fought for Charles II in the English Civil Wars, and after the Restoration in 1660 Buckingham became a leading member of the king’s inner circle of ministers, known as the Cabal. Parliament had him dis¬ missed from his posts for alleged Catholic sympathies in 1674.