February 23
February 23 is the 54th day of the year in the
Gregorian Calendar. There are 311 days remaining, 312 in
leap years.
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Events
\n* 1455 - Traditional date for the publication of the Gutenberg Bible, the first Western book printed from movable type.\n* 1574 - The 5th holy war against the Huguenots begins in France.\n* 1660 - Charles XI becomes king of Sweden.\n* 1778 - American Revolution: Baron von Steuben arrives at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania to help to train the Continental Army.\n* 1820 - Cato Street Conspiracy: A plot to murder all the British cabinet ministers is exposed.\n* 1821 - The Philadelphia College of Apothecaries founds the first pharmacy college.\n* 1836 - The Siege of the Alamo begins in San Antonio, Texas.\n* 1847 - Mexican-American War: Battle of Buena Vista - In Mexico, American troops defeat Mexican general Antonio López de Santa Anna.\n* 1861 - President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrives secretly in Washington, DC after an assassination attempt in Baltimore, Maryland.\n* 1870 - Military control of Mississippi ends and it is readmitted to the Union.\n* 1874 - Walter Winfield patents a game called "sphairistike" which is more commonly called lawn tennis.\n* 1883 - Alabama becomes the first U.S. state to enact an antitrust law.\n* 1887 - The French Riviera is hit by a large earthquake, killing around 2,000.\n* 1893 - Rudolf Diesel receives a patent for the diesel engine.\n* 1898 - Émile 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.\n* 1900 - Battle of Hart's Hill: In South Africa the Boers and British troops battle.\n* 1903 - Cuba leases Guantanamo Bay to the United States "in perpetuity".\n* 1904 - For $10 million the United States gains control of the Panama Canal Zone.\n* 1909 - The Silver Dart makes the first powered flight in Canada and the British Empire.\n* 1917 - The Russian Revolution begins.\n* 1919 - Benito Mussolini forms the Fascist Party in Italy. \n* 1927 - The Federal Radio Commission (later renamed the Federal Communications Commission) begins to regulate the use of radio frequencies.\n* 1934 - Leopold III becomes King of Belgium.\n* 1940 - World War II: Soviet Union troops conquer Lasi Island. \n* 1940 - The animated movie Pinocchio is released. \n* 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 would later win a Pulitzer Prize. \n* 1945 - World War II: The capital of the Philippines, Manila, is liberated by American forces. \n* 1954 - The first mass vaccination of children against polio begins in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. \n* 1955 - First meeting of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO).\n* 1955 - Edgar Faure becomes Prime Minister of France\n* 1956 - Nikita Khrushchev attacks the veneration of Joseph Stalin as a "cult of personality".\n* 1958 - Cuban rebels kidnap 5-time world driving champion Juan Manuel Fangio. \n* 1966 - A military coup in Syria replaces the previous government.\n* 1974 - The Symbionese Liberation Army demands $4 million more to release kidnap victim Patty Hearst.\n* 1980 - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini states that Iran's parliament would decide the fate of the American embassy hostages. \n* 1981 - Antonio Tejero attempts a coup d'etat by capturing the Spanish Congress of Deputies. \n* 1982 - The Spanish Socialist government of Felipe González and Miguel Boyer nationalizes Rumasa, a holding of José María Ruiz Mateos.\n* 1983 - The Environmental Protection Agency announces its intent to buy out and evacuate the dioxin-contaminated community of Times Beach, Missouri.\n* 1987 - A supernova is seen in the Large Magellanic Cloud (see Supernova 1987a).\n* 1991 - Gulf War: Ground troops cross the Saudi Arabia border and enter Iraq, thus starting the ground-phase of the war. \n* 1993 - Gary Coleman wins a $1,280,000 lawsuit against his parents. \n* 1998 - Tornadoes in central Florida destroy or damage 2,600 structures and kill 42.\n* 1998 - Osama bin Laden publishes fatwa declaring jihad against all Jews and Crusaders.\n* 1999 - Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan is charged with treason in Ankara, Turkey. \n* 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
\n* 1418 - Pope Paul II (d. 1471)\n* 1633 - Samuel Pepys, diarist (d. 1703)\n* 1685 - Georg Friederich Händel, composer (d. 1759)\n* 1743 - Mayer Amschel Rothschild, banker (d. 1812)\n* 1840 - Carl Menger, economist (d. 1921)\n* 1868 - W.E.B. DuBois, civil rights leader (d. 1963)\n* 1882 (allegedly) - B. Traven, writer (d. 1969)\n* 1883 - Victor Fleming, director (d. 1949)\n* 1883 - Karl Jaspers, philosopher (d. 1969)\n* 1899 - Erich Kästner, lyricist and narrator (d. 1974)\n* 1899 - Elisabeth Langgässer, lyricist, narrator and novelist (d. 1950)\n* 1904 - Leopold Trepper, soviet spy in WWII (d. 1982)\n* 1908 - William McMahon, twentieth Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1988)\n* 1915 - Paul Tibbets, pilot of the "Enola Gay", the plane which dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan\n* 1928 - Vasili Lazarev, cosmonaut (d. 1990)\n* 1932 - Majel Barrett, actress (Star Trek: The Next Generation)\n* 1939 - Peter Fonda, actor\n* 1943 - Fred Biletnikoff, American football star, coach\n* 1944 - Johnny Winter, musician\n* 1955 - Howard Jones, musician\n* 1994 - Dakota Fanning, actress (Man on Fire)
Deaths
\n* 1447 - Pope Eugenius IV (b. 1383)\n* 1730 - Pope Benedict XIII (b. 1649)\n* 1766 - Stanislaw Leszczynski, King of Poland (b. 1677)\n* 1821 - John Keats, English Romantic poet (b. 1795)\n* 1848 - John Quincy Adams, 6th President of the United States (b. 1767)\n* 1855 - Carl Friedrich Gauss, mathematician, astronomer, physicist (b. 1777)\n* 1923 - Théophile Delcassé, French statesman (b. 1852)\n* 1930 - Horst Wessel, Nazi ideologue, composer\n* 1934 - Edward Elgar, composer (b. 1857)\n* 1965 - Stan Laurel, actor, comedian (b. 1890)\n* 1974 - Harry Ruby, composer, writer\n* 1979 - W.A.C. Bennett, British Columbia politician (b. 1900)\n* 1990 - José Napoleón Duarte, President of El Salvador\n* 1995 - James Herriot, writer (b. 1916)\n* 2003 - Robert K. Merton, sociologist (b. 1910)\n* 2003 - Marcel Prawy, jurist\n* 2004 - Vijay Anand, Bollywood film director
Holidays and observances
\n* Roman Empire - Terminalia held in honor of Terminus\n* Catholicism - Feast day of St Polycarp.\n* Guyana - National Day
\nFebruary 22 - February 24 - January 23 - March 23 -- listing of all days
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