Today in History – September 23 in History
What happened on this day in history – September 23 in History around the world
1553 | The Sadians defeat the last of their enemies and establish themselves as rulers of Morocco. | |
1561 | Philip II of Spain gives orders to halt colonizing efforts in Florida. | |
1577 | William of Orange makes his triumphant entry into Brussels, Belgium. | |
1667 | Slaves in Virginia are banned from obtaining their freedom by converting to Christianity. | |
1739 | The Austrians sign the Treaty of Belgrade after having lost the city to the Turks. | |
1779 | The American navy under John Paul Jones, commanding from Bonhomme Richard, defeats and captures the British man-of-war Serapis. | |
1788 | Louis XVI of France declares the Parliament restored. | |
1795 | A national plebiscite approves the new French constitution, but so many voters sustain that the results are suspect. | |
1803 | British Major General Sir Arthur Wellesley defeats the Marathas at Assaye, India. | |
1805 | Lieutenant Zebulon Pike pays $2,000 to buy from the Sioux a 9-square-mile tract at the mouth of the Minnesota River that will be used to establish a military post, Fort Snelling. | |
1806 | The Lewis and Clark Expedition arrives back in St. Louis just over three years after its departure. | |
1864 | Confederate and Union forces clash at Mount Jackson, Front Royal and Woodstock in Virginia during the Valley campaign. | |
1911 | The Second International Aviation Meet opens in New York. | |
1912 | Mack Sennet’s first “Keystone Cop” film debuts, Cohen Collects a Debt. | |
1945 | The first American dies in Vietnam during the fall of Saigon to French forces. | |
1952 | Richard Nixon responds to charges of a secret slush fund during his ‘Checkers Speech.’ | |
1954 | East German police arrest 400 citizens as U.S. spies. | |
1967 | Soviets sign a pact to send more aid to Hanoi. | |
1973 | Juan Peron is re-elected president of Argentina after being overthrown in 1955. | |
1983 | Gerrie Coetzee (Gerhardus Coetzee), boxer from South Africa; first boxer from the African continent to win a world heavyweight tittle (World Boxing Association). | |
1983 | Gulf Air Flight 771 from Karachi, Pakistan, to Abu Dhabi, UAE, bombed; all 117 aboard die. | |
1992 | Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) detonates 3,700-lb. bomb in Belfast, completely destroying the Northern Ireland forensic laboratory, injuring 20 people and damaging 700 houses. | |
2002 | The first public version of Mozilla Firefox browser released; originally called Phoenix 0.1 its name was changed due to trademark issues with Phoenix Technologies. | |
2004 | Hurricane Jeanne causes severe flooding in Haiti; over 1,000 reported dead. | |
Born on September 23 | ||
63 BC | Augustus Caesar, first Roman Emperor, who introduced Pax Romana, the era of peace. | |
1800 | William Holmes McGuffey, educator famous for his book Eclectic Readers. | |
1838 | Victoria Chaflin Woodhull, the first woman presidential candidate (1872) in the United States. | |
1863 | Mary Church Terrell, educator and civil rights advocate. | |
1865 | Emmuska Orczy, baroness and author of The Scarlet Pimpernel. | |
1889 | Walter Lippmann, journalist, one of the founders of The New Republic Magazine in 1914. | |
1889 | Louise Nevelson, sculptor. | |
1915 | Clifford G. Shull, physicist, improved techniques for exploring the atomic structure of matter. | |
1926 | John Coltrane, influential jazz saxaphonist. | |
1930 | Ray Charles, rhythm ‘n’ blues piano player and singer. | |
1934 | Ahmad Shah, Crown Prince of Afghanistan and heir apparent to the throne. | |
1936 | Valentin Corazao, Interim President of Peru (2000-01) after Pres. Alberto Fujimori was removed from office by Congress. | |
1943 | Julio Iglesia, singer, songwriter with more than 2,600 certified gold and platinum records (“To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before,” “Summer Wind”). | |
1947 | Mary Kay Place, Emmy-winning actress (Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman), singer. | |
1949 | Bruce “The Boss” Springsteen, singer, songwriter, musician (“Born to Run,” “Born in the U.S.A”); his multiple awards include 20 Grammys, two Golden Globes, and an Oscar, the latter for “Streets of Philadelphia” (1994). | |
1961 | William “Willie” McCool, American astronaut; among those killed when Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates while reentering Earth’s atmosphere (2003). |