23rd February
February 23 is the 54th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 311 days remaining, 312 in leap years.
Events
- 1455 - Johannes Gutenberg prints the first Bible on a printing press.
- 1574 - The 5th holy war against the Huguenots begins in France.
- 1660 - Charles XI becomes king of Sweden.
- 1778 - American Revolution: Baron von Steuben arrives at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania to help to train the Continental Army.
- 1820 - The Cato Street conspiracy is exposed.
- 1821 - The Philadelphia College of Apothecaries founds the first pharmacy college.
- 1836 - The siege of the Alamo begins in San Antonio, Texas.
- 1847 - Mexican-American War: Battle of Buena Vista - In Mexico, American troops defeat Mexican general Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna.
- 1861 - President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrives secretly in Washington, DC after an assassination attempt in Baltimore, Maryland.
- 1870 - Military control of Mississippi ends and it is readmitted to the Union.
- 1874 - Walter Winfield patents a game called "sphairistike" which is more commonly called lawn tennis.
- 1883 - Alabama becomes the first U.S. state to enact an antitrust law.
- 1887 - The French Riviera is hit by a large earthquake, killing around 2,000.
- 1893 - Rudolf Diesel receives a patent for the diesel engine.
- 1898 - Emile Zola is imprisoned in France after writing "J'accuse" which was a letter accusing the French government of anti-Semitism and wrongfully placing Alfred Dreyfus in jail.
- 1900 - Battle of Hart's Hill: In South Africa the Boers and British troops battle.
- 1903 - Cuba leases Guantanamo Bay to the United States "in perpetuity".
- 1904 - For $10 million the United States gains control of the Panama Canal Zone.
- 1917 - The Russian Revolution begins.
- 1919 - Benito Mussolini forms the Fascist Party in Italy.
- 1927 - The Federal Radio Commission (later renamed the Federal Communications Commission) begins to regulate the use of radio frequencies.
- 1934 - Leopold III becomes King of Belgium.
- 1940 - World War II: Soviet Union troops conquer Lasi Island.
- 1940 - The animated movie Pinocchio is released.
- 1945 - Following the American victory at the Battle of Iwo Jima, a group of United States Marines reach the top of Mount Surabachi on the island and are photographed raising the American flag. The photo will later win a Pulitzer Prize.
- 1945 - World War II: The capital of the Philippines, Manila, is liberated by American forces.
- 1954 - The first mass vaccination of children against polio begins in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
- 1955 - First meeting of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO).
- 1955 - Edgar Faure becomes Prime Minister of France
- 1956 - Nikita Khrushchev attacks the veneration of Joseph Stalin as a "cult of personality".
- 1958 - Cuban rebels kidnap 5-time world driving champion Juan Manuel Fangio.
- 1966 - A military coup in Syria replaces the previous government.
- 1974 - The Symbionese Liberation Army demand $4 million more to release kidnap victim Patty Hearst.
- 1980 - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini states that Iran's parliament would decide the fate of the American embassy hostages.
- 1981 - 23-F: Antonio Tejero, with members of the Guardia Civil enters the Spanish Congress of Deputies, and stops the session, where Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo was going to be named president of the government. The coup d'etat would fail thanks to King Juan Carlos.
- 1982 - The Spanish Socialist goverment of Felipe González and Miguel Boyer nationalizes Rumasa, a holding of José María Ruiz Mateos.
- 1983 - The Environmental Protection Agency announces its intent to buy out and evacuate the dioxin-contaminated community of Times Beach, Missouri.
- 1987 - A supernova is seen in the Large Magellanic Cloud (see Supernova 1987a).
- 1991 - Gulf War: Ground troops cross the Saudi Arabia border and enter Iraq, thus starting the ground-phase of the war.
- 1993 - Gary Coleman wins a $1,280,000 lawsuit against his parents.
- 1998 - Tornadoes in central Florida destroy or damage 2,600 structures and kill 42.
- 1999 - Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan is charged with treason in Ankara, Turkey.
- 1999 - White supremacist John William King is found guilty of kidnapping and killing African American James Byrd Jr by dragging him behind a truck for two miles.
Births
- 1633 - Samuel Pepys, diarist, (d. 1703)
- 1685 - Georg Friederich Händel, composer, (d. 1759)
- 1743 - Mayer Amschel Rothschild, banker, (d. 1812)
- 1883 - Karl Jaspers, philosopher, (d. 1969)
- 1883 - Victor Fleming, director, (d. 1949)
- 1899 - Erich Kästner, lyricist and narrator, (d. 1974)
- 1899 - Elisabeth Langgässer, lyricist, narrator and novelist, (d. 1950)
- 1840 - Carl Menger, economist, (d. 1921)
- 1868 - W.E.B. DuBois, civil rights leader, (d. 1963)
- 1904 - Leopold Trepper, soviet spy in WWII, (d. 1982)
- 1915 - Paul Tibbets, pilot of the "Enola Gay", dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan
- 1928 - Vasili Lazarev, cosmonaut, (d. 1990)
- 1939 - Peter Fonda, actor
- 1939 - Majel Barrett, actress
- 1943 - Fred Biletnikoff, American football star, coach
- 1944 - Johnny Winter, musician
- 1955 - Howard Jones, musician
Deaths
- 1821 - John Keats, English Romantic poet, (b. 1795)
- 1848 - John Quincy Adams, 6th President of the United States, (b. 1767)
- 1855 - Carl Friedrich Gauss, mathematician, astronomer, physicist, (b. 1777)
- 1930 - Horst Wessel, Nazi idelogue, composer
- 1934 - Edward Elgar, composer, (b. 1857)
- 1965 - Stan Laurel, actor, comedian, (b. 1890)
- 1974 - Harry Ruby, composer, writer
- 1979 - W.A.C. Bennett, British Columbia politician, (b. 1900)
- 1990 - Jose Napoleon Duarte, President of El Salvador
- 2003 - Robert K. Merton, sociologist, (b. 1910)
- 2003 - Marcel Prawy, jurist
Holidays and observances
See Also:
February 22 - February 24 - January 23 - March 23 -- listing of all days
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
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