March 23
is the
82nd day of the year in the
Gregorian Calendar (83rd in
Leap years). There are 283 days remaining.
*
752 -
Stephen is elected
Pope. He died three days later, before being ordained bishop, and is not considered a legitimate pope.
*
1568 -
Peace of Longjumeau ends the
Second War of Religion in
France. Again
Catherine de 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.
*
1821 - Battle and fall of city of
Kalamata,
Greek War of Independence.
*
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.
* 1857 - 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.
* 1889 - The free
Woolwich Ferry officially opens in east
London.
* 1889 - The
Ahmadiyya Muslim Community was established by Hazrat
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in
Qadian India.
*
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,
Rajguru and
Sukhdev 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:
President Ronald Reagan makes his initial proposal to develop technology to intercept enemy missiles.
*1983 - the
Apatosaurus is made the
official state dinosaur of
Guam.
*
1989 -
Stanley Pons and
Martin Fleischmann announce
cold fusion at the
University of Utah.
* 1989 - 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.
*
2003 - In
Nasiriyah,
Iraq, 11 soldiers of the
507th Maintenance Company as well as 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.
*
2006 -
Federal Reserve discontinues publishing
M3 money supply see
Petroeuro.
*
2006 -
Sony Computer Entertainment announced the end of production for the
PlayStation*
1429 -
Margaret of Anjou, wife of
Henry VI of England (d.
1482)
*
1638 -
Frederik Ruysch, Dutch physician and anatomist (d.
1731)
*
1699 -
John Bartram, American botanist (d.
1777)
*
1723 -
Agha Mohammad Khan Ghajar, King of
Iran (d.
1771)
*
1749 -
Pierre Simon de Laplace, French mathematician and astronomer (d.
1827)
*
1754 - Baron
Jurij Vega, Slovenian mathematician, physicist, and artillery officer (d.
1802)
*
1769 -
William Smith, English geologist and cartographer (d.
1839)
* 1769 -
Augustin Daniel Belliard, French general (d.
1832)
*
1823 -
Schuyler Colfax,
Vice President of the United States (d.
1885)
*
1831 -
Eduard Schlagintweit, German writer (d.
1866)
*
1834 -
Julius Reubke, German composer (d.
1858)
*
1858 -
Ludwig Quidde, German pacifist, recipient of the
Nobel Peace Prize (d.
1941)
*
1868 -
Dietrich Eckart, early supporter of
Adolf Hitler's
Nazi Party and member of
Thule Society (d.
1923)
*
1878 -
Franz Schreker, Austrian composer (d.
1934)
*
1881 -
Roger Martin du Gard, French writer,
Nobel Prize laureate (d.
1958)
* 1881 -
Hermann Staudinger, German chemist,
Nobel Prize laureate (d.
1965)
*
1882 -
Emmy Noether, German mathematician (d.
1935)
*
1887 -
Juan Gris, Spanish artist (d.
1927)
* 1887 -
Prince Felix Yussupov, Russian assassin of Rasputin (d.
1967)
*
1899 -
Dora Gerson, German actress and singer (d.
1943)
*
1900 -
Erich Fromm, German-born psychoanalyst (d.
1980)
*
1905 -
Lale Andersen, German singer and cabaretist (d.
1972)
* 1905 -
Joan Crawford, American actress (d.
1977)
*
1907 -
Daniel Bovet, Swiss-born scientist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d.
1992)
*
1910 -
Akira Kurosawa, Japanese film director (d.
1998)
*
1912 -
Betty Astell, British actress (d.
2005)
* 1912 -
Wernher von Braun, German-born physicist and engineer (d.
1977)
*
1915 -
Vasily Zaitsev, Russian World War II hero (d.
1991)
*
1925 -
David Watkin, British cinematographer
*
1929 - Sir
Roger Bannister, British runner
*
1931 -
Viktor Korchnoi, Russian chess player
* 1931 -
Yevgenij Grishin, Russian speed skater (d.
2005)
*
1934 -
Mark Rydell, American film and television director
*
1937 -
Craig Breedlove, American land speed record holder
*
1938 -
Maynard Jackson, American politician (d.
2003)
*
1939 -
Pepe Lienhard, Swiss band leader and entertainer
*
1941 -
Jim Trelease, American educator and children's literature author
*
1942 -
Walter Rodney, Guyanese historian and political figure (d.
1980)
*
1948 -
David Olney, American musician
*
1949 -
Ric Ocasek, American musician (
The Cars)
*
1950 -
Anthony De Longis, American actor
*
1951 -
Corinne Clery, French actress
* 1951 -
Ron Jaworski, American NFL quarterback, ESPN analyst
*
1952 -
Kim Stanley Robinson, American author
*
1953 -
Bo Diaz, Venezuelan baseball player (d.
1990)
* 1953 -
Chaka Khan, American singer
*
1955 -
Moses Malone, American basketball player
*
1956 -
José Manuel Durão Barroso, Portuguese politician, president of the
European Commission* 1956 -
Thomas Wassberg, Swedish cross-country skier
*
1957 -
Amanda Plummer, American actress
*
1960 -
Nicol Stephen,
Deputy First Minister of Scotland*
1961 -
Helmi Johannes, Indonesian television newscaster
*
1964 -
Hope Davis, American actress
* 1964 -
John Pinette, American comedian
*
1965 -
Richard Grieco, American actor and singer
* 1965 -
Marti Pellow, Scottish singer
* 1965 -
Gary Whitehead, American poet
*
1968 -
Damon Albarn, English musician (
Blur and
Gorillaz)
*
1968 -
Fernando Hierro, Spanish footballer
*
1971 -
Gail Porter, British television presenter
* 1971 -
Karen McDougal, American model
* 1971 -
Yasmeen Ghauri, Canadian supermodel
*
1972 -
Judith Godrèche, French actress and author
*
1973 -
Jason Kidd, American basketball player
* 1973 -
Jerzy Dudek, Polish football goalkeeper
*
1975 -
Alydar, American racehorse (d.
1990)
*
1976 -
Keri Russell, American actress
*
1978 -
Nicholle Tom, American actress
* 1978 -
Walter Samuel, Argentine footballer
*
1979 -
Mark Buehrle, baseball player
* 1979 -
Chad Dittman, American president of the Indoor Football League
* 1979 -
Misty Hyman, American swimmer
*
1982 -
Tomasz Kuszczak, Polish football goalkeeper
*
1983 -
Jerome Thomas, English footballer
*
1985 -
Maurice Drew, American football player
*
1103 -
Eudes I, Duke of Burgundy (b.
1058)
*
1369 - King
Peter I of Castile (b.
1334)
*
1548 -
Itagaki Nobukata, retainer of
Takeda Shingen*
1555 -
Pope Julius III, (b.
1487)
*
1559 - Emperor
Gelawdewos of Ethiopia (killed in battle) (b.
1521/
1522)
*
1596 -
Henry Unton, English diplomat
*
1606 -
Justus Lipsius, Flemish humanist (b.
1547)
*
1618 -
James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Abercorn, Scottish politician
*
1653 -
Johan van Galen, Dutch naval officer (b.
1604)
*
1680 -
Nicolas Fouquet, French statesman (b.
1615)
*
1742 -
Jean-Baptiste Dubos, French writer (b.
1670)
*
1747 -
Claude Alexandre de Bonneval, French soldier (b.
1675)
*
1748 -
Johann Gottfried Walther, German music theorist, organist, and composer (b.
1684)
*
1754 -
Johann Jakob Wettstein, Swiss theologian (b.
1693)
*
1783 -
Charles Caroll, American lawyer and delegate to the Continental Congress (b.
1723)
*
1801 - Tsar
Paul of Russia (b.
1754)
*
1842 -
Stendhal, French writer (b.
1783)
*
1927 -
Paul César Helleu, French artist (b.
1859)
*
1931 -
Bhagat Singh,
Rajguru Sukhdev Indian freedom fighters
*
1955 -
Artur da Silva Bernardes, President of Brazil (b.
1875)
*
1960 -
Franklin Pierce Adams, American newspaper columnist (b. 1881)
*
1964 -
Peter Lorre, Hungarian-born actor (b.
1904)
*
1965 -
Mae Murray, American actress (b.
1889)
*
1968 -
Edwin O'Connor, American novelist and
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winner (b.
1918)
*
1970 -
Del Lord, Canadian director (b.
1894)
*
1972 -
Cristóbal Balenciaga, Spanish fashion designer (b.
1895)
*
1979 -
Orlando Letelier, Chilean ambassador to the United States (b.
1932)
* 1979 -
Ted Anderson, English footballer (b.
1911)
*
1992 -
Friedrich Hayek, Austrian economist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1899)
*
1994 -
Luis Donaldo Colosio, Mexican politician (b.
1950)
*
2002 -
Eileen Farrell, American soprano (b.
1920)
* 2002 -
Ben Hollioake, English cricketer (b.
1977)
*
2003 -
Fritz Spiegl, Austrian-born journalist (b.
1926)
*
2004 -
Rupert Hamer, Australian politician (b.
1916)
*
Roman Empire - The fifth and final day of
Quinquatria, held in honor of
Minerva.
*
Roman Empire -
Tubilustrium was held in honor of
Mars.
*Ancient
Latvia -
Lieldienas held in honor of
Mara and other pagan goddesses.
*
Pakistan -
National Day (
Republic Day).
Liturgical feasts
*
Saint Turibius of Mongrovejo (died 1606)
*
Saint Ethelwald*
Saint Victorian*
Saint Rebecca (d.1914)
*
On this day in Canada*
NY Times: On this day*
BBC: On This Day*
Today in History: March 23March 22 -
March 24 -
February 23 -
April 23 --
listing of all days
