Historical Events and Current Affairs on February 23

1455: Johannes Gutenberg prints 1st book, Bible (estimated date)
1574: France begins 5th holy war against Huguenots
1660: Charles XI becomes king of Sweden
1668: Fire in Wiener Hofburg in Vienna, emperor Leopold I rescued
1672: Joan Blaeus publishers destroyed by fire in Amsterdam
1689: Dutch prince William III proclaimed king of England
1778: Baron von Steuben joins Continental Army at Valley Forge
1792: Humane Society of Massachusetts incorporated (erected life-saving
1792: Joseph Haydn's 94th Symphony in G, premieres
1792: stations for distressed mariners)
1804: Conspirators against Napoleon, for restoration of Louis XVIII
1813: 1st US raw cotton-to-cloth mill founded in Waltham, Mass
1820: Cato Street conspiracy uncovered
1821: College of Apothecaries organized in Phil; 1st US pharmacy college
1822: Boston is incorporated as a city
1836: Alamo besieged by Santa Anna; entire garrison eventually killed
1846: Polish revolutionaries march on Cracow, but are defeated
1847: Battle of Buena Vista M‚xico; Zachary Taylor defeats Mexicans
1854: Great-Britain & Orange Free state sign Convention of Bloemfontein
1861: By popular referendum, Texas becomes 7th state to secede from US
1861: Dutch Premier Floris A van Hall resigns
1861: Pres-elect Lincoln arrives secretly in Wash DC to take office
1869: Louisiana governor signs public accommodations law
1870: Mississippi is readmitted to US
1883: Alabama becomes 1st US state to enact an antitrust law
1883: American Anti-Vivisection Society organized (Phila)
1886: Aluminum manufacturing process developed
1886: London Times publishes world's 1st classified ad
1886: Tsjaikovski's symphony "Manfred," premieres
1887: Congress grants Seal Rocks to SF
1887: French/Italian Riviera struck by Earthquake; 2,000 die
1892: 1st college student govt forms at Bryn Mawr Penn
1894: refuses to travel to Toronto to play
1894: Stanley Cup: Montreal AAA's awarded cup by trustees as Ottawa
1895: Jaap Eden skates world record 10km (17:56)
1895: William Heard, AME minister & educator, named minister to Liberia
1896: Tootsie Roll introduced by Leo Hirshfield
1898: accusing government of anti-Semitism & wrongly jailing Alfred Dreyfus
1898: In France, Emile Zola is imprisoned for writing his "J'accuse" letter
1900: Battle at Hart's Hill, South-Africa (Boers vs British army)
1900: Steamer "Rio de Janeiro" sinks in SF Bay
1903: Cuban state of Guantanamo leased to USA
1904: US acquired control of the Panama Canal Zone for $10 million
1905: Rotary Club International formed by 4 men in Chicago
1906: Tommy Burns beats Marvin Hart in 20 for heavyweight boxing title
1909: Russian tsar Nicolas II dissolves Finnish Diet
1910: 1st radio contest held (Philadelphia)
1910: George Bernard Shaw's "Misalliance," premieres in London
1915: Germany sinks US ships Carib & Evelyn & torpedoes Norwegian ship Regin
1915: Nevada enforces convenient divorce law
1916: Congress authorizes McKinley Memorial $1 gold coin
1916: French artillery kills entire French 72nd division at Samogneux Verdun
1917: February revolution begins in Russia
1919: Fascist Party forms in Italy by Benito Mussolini
1921: 1st US transcontinental air mail flight arrives in NYC from SF
1923: German Republic day with laws against worker
1923: Great Britain lowers import duty on German products from 26% to 5%
1927: Pres Coolidge creates Federal Radio Commission (FCC)
1934: Casey Stengel becomes manager of Brooklyn Dodgers
1934: Coronation of King Leopold III of Belgium
1936: 1st rocket air mail flight, Greenwood Lake, NY
1938: E Delporte discovers asteroids #1491 Balduinus & #1722 Goffin
1938: Joe Louis KOs Nathan Mann in 3 for heavyweight boxing title
1939: Lou Thesz beats E Marshall in St Louis, to become wrestling champ
1940: Russian troops conquer Lasi Island
1940: Walt Disney's animated movie "Pinocchio," released
1942: Japanese sub fires on oil refinery in Ellwood, Calif
1943: Gen-Maj Bradley arrives in Dakar & Marrakesh
1943: German troops pull back through Kasserine-pass Tunisia
1945: 2nd Dutch govt of Gerbrandy forms in London
1945: Canadian troops occupy Kalkar
1945: Operation Grenade: Gen Simpsons 9th Army crosses Ruhr
1945: US Marines raise flag on Iwo Jima, famous photo & statue
1947: Gen Eisenhower opens drive to raise $170M in aid for European Jews
1954: 1st mass inoculation with Salk vaccine (Pittsburgh)
1954: Syrian army drives out president Adib el-Shishakli
1955: Edgar Faure forms French government
1956: 20th Congress of CPSU closes in Moscow
1956: Russian party leader Khrushchev attacks memory of Stalin
1957: "Mr Wonderful" closes at Broadway Theater NYC after 383 performances
1958: 5-time world driving champion Juan Fangio kidnapped by Cuban rebels
1958: Arturo Frondizi elected president of Argentina
1958: Last Municipal arc light, Mission & 25th removed (installed in 1913)
1958: USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1959: KVIE TV channel 6 in Sacramento-Stockton, CA (PBS) begins broadcasting
1960: Demolition begins on Brooklyn's Ebbets Field (opened in 1913)
1962: US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1964: Charlie Finley signs a 4 year lease to keep A's in Kansas City
1965: Constance Baker Motley elected Manhattan Borough president
1966: Aldo Moro forms Italian government
1966: Military coup in Syria ends Bitar govt
1966: Premier Obote grabs power in Uganda
1967: 25th amendment (presidential succession) declared ratified
1967: John Herbert's "Fortune & Men's Eyes," premieres in NYC
1967: Ted Workman replaces Senator Keith Davey as CFL commissioner
1967: US troops begin largest offensive of Vietnam War
1968: Wilt Chamberlain becomes 1st NBAer to score 25,000 points
1969: Nayif Hawatimah forms Dem People's Front for Liberation of Palestine
1969: WWVU (now WNPB) TV channel 24 in Morgantown, WV (PBS) 1st broadcast
1970: Guyana becomes a republic (National Day)
1970: Holy Eucharist given by women for 1st time in Roman Catholic service
1971: Boston Bruins begin 13 NHL game win streak
1971: George Harrison is fined & his driving license is suspended for 1 year
1971: Lt Calley confessed & implicates Captain Medina
1973: Gold goes up $10 overnight to record $95 an ounce in London
1974: Patty Hearst, daughter of publisher Randolph Hearst, kidnapped by SLA
1974: Teri Garr appears on Bob Newhart Show in "Confessions of an Orth"
1976: Owners announce spring training won't open without a labor contract
1978: 20th Grammy Awards: Hotel Calif, Fleetwood Mac, Debbie Boone wins
1979: "Sarava" opens at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC for 140 performances
1979: Frank Peterson Jr named 1st black general in Marine Corps
1979: George Harrison releases "George Harrison" album
1980: 13th Winter Olympic games close at Lake Placid, NY
1980: France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island
1980: Oil tanker explosion off Pilos, Greece, causes 37-mil-gallon spill
1981: People mag features drug ordeal of Mackenzie & Papa John Phillips
1981: Spanish coup under lt-col Antonio Tejero Molina fails
1982: Michael Frayn's "Noises Off," premieres in London
1983: 25th Grammy Awards: Roxanna, Toto IV, Men at Work wins
1983: USFL NJ Generals sign Heisman winner Herschel Walker (3 years-$5 mil)
1984: H Debehogne discovers asteroids #3519, #3919 & #7637
1985: Indiana basketball coach Bobby Knight throws a chair during a game
1985: US Senate confirms Edwin Meese III as attorney general
1986: Despite losing, Red Sox Wade Boggs gets largest arbitration ($1.35M)
1986: Nelli Fiere-Cooman runs world record 60 m indoor (7.00 sec)
1987: Dick Howser retires from managing KC Royals, due to brain tumor
1987: Russian Writers Union accepts Boris Pasternak posthumous as member
1987: Supernova 1987A in LMC 1st seen; 1st naked-eye supernova since 1604
1988: 15th Winter Olympic games opens in Calgary, Alberta
1988: Chicago gives Cubs right to install lights & play up to 18 night games
1988: Yvonne van Gennip skates female record 3k (4:11.94)
1990: Ian Smith 173* NZ v India, 136 balls, world record for no 9 bat
1991: Greg Haugen scores a split decision over Hector "Macho" Camacho
1991: Military coup in Thailand, Premier Choonhaven arrested
1991: NC is 1st NCAA basketball team to win 1,500 games
1991: US insists Iraq publicly announce it is leaving Kuwait by 12 PM EST
1992: 16th Winter Olympic games closes in Albertville, France
1992: Andy Flower scores 115* on ODI debut, Zimbabwe v Sri Lanka
1992: World Cup scoreline Zimbabwe 4-312, Sri Lanka 7-313
1993: Gary Coleman wins $1,280,000 lawsuit against parents for high fees
1993: India complete a 3-0 series drubbing of England
1993: Sacramento Gold Miners admitted as CFL's 9th franchise (1st US team)
1994: Indians owner Richard Jacobs announces he will pay $10 million to
1994: name baseball field (Jacobs Field) at Gateway (becomes official 3/23)
1995: "Uncle Vanya" opens at Circle in Sq Theater NYC for 29 performances
1995: Antoine Nduwayo appointed Premier of Burundi
1995: Dow Jones closes above 4,000 for 1st time (4,003.33)
1996: Mark Waugh scores 130 in World Cup vs Kenya, 207 w/brother Steve
1996: Rajindra Dhanraj takes 9-97 for Trinidad against Leeward Islands
1997: Ali Abu Kamal opens fire in Empire State Building & kills 1
1997: mammal, producing a lamb named "Dolly"
1997: NBC TV shows "Schindler's List," completely uncensored, 65M watch
1997: Scientists in Scotland announced they succeeded in cloning an adult
1998: Howard Stern Radio Show premieres in Charleston SC on WAVF 96.1 FM
1998: Supreme Court lets Megan's Law stand
1998: Tornadoes in Florida kills at least 31
2008: 18 civilians injured as a parcel bomb blasts in a public transport bus in Colombo, Sri Lanka
2008: 35 Kurdish rebels are killed in Northern Iraq according to Turkey Military
2008: India's second largest private Bank HDFC Bank and Centurion Bank of Punjab agrees to merge
2008: Jennifer Lopez gives brith to twins at Long Islands North Shore University Hospital
2008: Kazuyoshi Miura, 60, a Japanese Businessman is arrested by LAPD on charges of murdering his wife in 1981
2008: Lindsay Lohan settles 2005 car crash lawsuit
2008: London-based Newsagency tenders apology to Will Smith for falsely accusing him of calling German dictator Adolf Hitler
2008: MV Rezzak managed by CMR Denizcilik ve Ticaret of Turkey from Russia to Turkey is found missing in the Black Sea
2008: Over 70% cast their vote in Assembly Elections in the hilly state of Tripura, India
2008: Three shops and a pub are evacuated after fire broke in Blackwood high street, South East Wales, UK
2008: UK Government terms maintaining DNA of every UK resident on a national database as impractical

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