March 23
From the Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can change
March 23 is the 82nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (83rd in leap years). There are 283 days remaining.
[change] Events
- 752 - Stephen II becomes Pope.
- 1568 - Peace of Longjumeau ends the Second War of Religion in France. Again Catherine of Medici and Charles IX of France make substantial concessions to the Huguenots.
- 1708 - James Francis Edward Stuart lands at the Firth of Forth.
- 1775 - American Revolutionary War: Patrick Henry delivers his famous speech - "give me liberty or give me death" at St. John's Church in Richmond, Virginia.
- 1801 - Tsar Paul I of Russia is struck with a sword, then strangled, and finally trampled to death in his bedroom at St. Michael Palace.
- 1806 - After traveling through the Louisiana Purchase and reaching the Pacific Ocean, explorers Lewis and Clark and their "Corps of Discovery" begin their arduous journey home.
- 1839 - First recorded use of "OK" as an abbreviation for "oll korrect" in the Boston Morning Post.
- 1848 - The ship John Wickliffe arrives at Port Chalmers carrying the first Scottish settlers for Dunedin, New Zealand. Otago province is founded.
- 1857 - Elisha Otis's first elevator is installed at 488 Broadway, New York City.
- Death of Emile L'Angelier in Glasgow, Scotland -- possibly by the hand of Madeleine Smith.
- 1868 - The University of California is founded in Oakland, California when the Organic Act is signed into law.
- 1889 - Land run: President Benjamin Harrison opens Oklahoma to white settlement starting on April 22.
- The free Woolwich Ferry officially opens in east London.
- 1903 - The Wright Brothers apply for a patent on their invention of one of the first successful airplanes after much hard work.
- 1909 - Theodore Roosevelt leaves New York for a post-presidency safari in Africa. The trip is sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution and National Geographic Society.
- 1919 - In Milan, Italy, Benito Mussolini founds his Fascist political movement.
- 1931 - Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt embrace the gallows during the Indian struggle for independence. Their request to be shot by a firing squad is refused.
- 1933 - The Reichstag passes the Enabling Act, making Adolf Hitler dictator of Germany.
- 1935 - Signing of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of the Philippines
- 1940 - The Lahore Resolution (Qarardad-e-Pakistan or the then Qarardad-e-Lahore) is put forward at the Annual General Convention of the All India Muslim League.
- 1942 - World War II: In the Indian Ocean, Japanese forces capture the Andaman Islands.
- 1956 - Pakistan becomes the first Islamic republic in the world.
- 1962 - NS Savannah, the first nuclear-powered cargo-passenger ship, was launched as a showcase for Dwight D. Eisenhower's Atoms for Peace initiative.
- 1963 - In London, United Kingdom, Grethe & Jørgen Ingmann win the eighth Eurovision Song Contest for Denmark singing "Dansevise" (Dancing tune).
- 1965 - NASA launches Gemini 3, the United States' first two-man space flight (crew: Gus Grissom and John Young).
- 1978 - The first UNIFIL troops arrived in Lebanon for peacekeeping mission along the Blue Line.
- 1983 - Strategic Defense Initiative: US President Ronald Reagan makes his initial proposal to develop technology to intercept enemy missiles.
- 1989 - Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann announce cold fusion at the University of Utah.
- A 1,000-foot diameter Near-Earth asteroid misses the Earth by 400,000 miles.
- 1994 - At an election rally in Tijuana, Mexican presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio is assassinated by Mario Aburto Martínez.
- 1996 - Taiwan holds its first direct elections and chooses Lee Teng-hui as President
- 1999 - Gunmen assassinate Paraguay's Vice President Luis María Argaña.
- 2001 - The Russian Mir space station is disposed of, breaking up in the atmosphere before falling into the southern Pacific Ocean near Fiji.
- The World Wrestling Federation (WWF) (now World Wrestling Entertainment) purchases rival organization World Championship Wrestling (WCW) for an estimated $5 million.
- 2003 - In Nasiriyah, Iraq, 18 U.S. Marines are killed during the first major conflict of Operation Iraqi Freedom
- 2004 - Andhra Pradesh Federation of Trade Unions holds its first conference in Hyderabad, India.
- 2005 - The United States 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, refuses to order the reinsertion of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube.
[change] Births
- 1900 - Erich Fromm, German-born psychoanalyst (d. 1980)
- 1910 - Akira Kurosawa, Japanese film director (d. 1998)
[change] Deaths
- 1964 - Peter Lorre, Hungarian-born actor (b. 1904)
