March 23
1775 - Patrick Henry called for America's independence from Britain, telling the Virginia Provincial Convention, "Give me liberty, or give me death!"
1806 - Meriwether Lewis and William Clark began their return journey home from the Pacific Ocean after exploring the Louisiana Purchase.
1877 - The first Easter egg roll was held on the White House lawn.
1919 - Benito Mussolini founded his own party in Italy, the Fasci di Combattimento.
1933 - The German Reichstag adopted the Enabling Act, which effectively granted Adolf Hitler dictatorial legislative powers.
1942 - The first Japanese-Americans were evacuated by the U.S. Army during World War II arrived at the internment camp in Manzanar, California.
1956 - Pakistan became an Islamic republic.
1965 - America's first two-person space mission took place as Gemini 3 blasted off with astronauts Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom and John W. Young aboard for a nearly five-hour flight.
1973 - Before sentencing a group of Watergate break-in defendants, Chief U.S. District Judge John J. Sirica read aloud a letter he had received from James W. McCord Jr. which said there was "political pressure" to "plead guilty and remain silent."
1981 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states could require, with some exceptions, parental notification when teenage girls seek abortions.
1983 - President Ronald Reagan proposed a space-based missile defense system called the Strategic Defense Initiative, or "Star Wars".
1993 - Scientists announced they had found the renegade gene that causes Huntington's disease.
1998 - The motion picture "Titanic" won 11 Oscars at the 70th annual Academy Awards, tying it with "Ben-Hur" for the most awards ever won. (The record was tied again by "Lord of the Rings: Return of the King" in 2003.)
2001 - Russia's Mir space station ended its 15-year orbit of the Earth with a fiery splash down in the South Pacific.
2003 - A U.S. Army convoy was ambushed in Iraq with 11 killed and seven captured, including Pfc. Jessica Lynch. (Lynch was rescued on April 1, 2003.)
2004 - A federal commission concluded that Clinton and Bush administration officials had engaged in lengthy, ultimately fruitless diplomatic efforts instead of military action to try to get Osama bin Laden before the 9/11 attacks; top Bush officials countered that the terror attacks would have occurred even if the United States had killed the al-Qaida leader.
2008 - A roadside bomb killed four U.S. soldiers in Baghdad, pushing the overall American death toll in the five-year war to at least 4,000.
2010 - President Barack Obama signed the $938 billion Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law, the most sweeping piece of federal legislation since Medicare was passed in 1965.
2011 - Actress Elizabeth Taylor died at age 79.
2011 - NATO ships began patrolling off Libya’s coast as airstrikes, missiles and energized rebels forced Moammar Gadhafi’s tanks to roll back from two key western cities.
2012 - The U.S. Army formally charged Staff Sgt. Robert Bales with 17 counts of premeditated murder in the deaths of 17 villagers, more than half of them children, during a shooting rampage in southern Afghanistan.
2020 - President Donald Trump said he wanted to reopen the country for business in weeks, not months; he asserted that continued closures could result in more deaths than the coronavirus itself. Britain became the latest European country to go into effective lockdown, as Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered the closure of most retail stores and banned public gatherings. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced plans to convert a New York City convention center into a hospital with 1,000 beds.
Birthdays
22 - Olivia Stuck (actress)
26 - Victoria Pedretti (actress)
28 - Kyra Santoro (model)
29 - Kyrie Irving (basketball player)
29 - Vanessa Morgan (actress)
31 - Gordon Hayward (basketball player)
32 - Ayesha Curry (TV host)
34 - Jessica Marie Garcia (actress)
35 - Ben Rappaport (actor)
38 - Mo Farah (runner)
39 - Nicolas Wright (actor)
40 - Brett Young (country singer)
43 - Brandon Dirden (actor)
43 - Nicholle Tom (actress)
43 - Perez Hilton (reality star)
43 - Anastasia Griffith (actress)
45 - Keri Russell (actress)
45 - Michelle Monaghan (actress)
47 - Randall Park (actor)
51 - Melissa Errico (actress/singer)
52 - Kelly Perine (actress)
56 - Richard Grieco (actor)
57 - Hope Davis (actress)
62 - Catherine Keener (actress)
64 - Amanda Plummer (actress)
68 - Chaka Khan (singer)
=====================================
Today in Sports History - March 23
1946 - Oklahoma State defeats North Carolina 43-40 to win a second consecutive NCAA Tournament.
1948 - Kentucky defeats Baylor 58-42 to win their first NCAA Tournament.
1952 - Bill Mosienko (Chicago Black Hawks) scored the fastest hat trick in NHL history. He scored 3 goals in 21 seconds.
1957 - North Carolina defeats Kansas 54-53 in triple overtime to win the NCAA Tournament.
1963 - Loyola Chicago defeats Cincinnati 60-58 in overtime to win the NCAA Tournament.
1968 - UCLA defeats North Carolina 78-55 to win the NCAA Tournament.
1971 - The Boston Patriots announced they were changing their name to the New England Patriots.
1972 - Evil Knievel broke 93 bones after successfully jumping 35 cars.
1991 - In the inaugural game of the World League of American Football, the London Monarchs defeated the Frankfurt Galaxy 24-11.
1994 - Wayne Gretzky of the Los Angeles Kings broke Gordie Howe's NHL career record with his 802nd goal.
1995 - Jaromir Jagr (Pittsburgh Penguins) became the first European player to lead the NHL in scoring.
1997 - WrestleMania 13 is held in Rosemont, Illinois with the main event featuring The Undertaker defeating Sycho Sid for the WWF Championship.
2002 - Keith Tkachuk (St. Louis Blues) slashed Lyle Odelein (Chicago Blackhawks) during a game. On March 25, 2002, Tkachuk was suspended for one game without pay for the incident.
1775 - Patrick Henry called for America's independence from Britain, telling the Virginia Provincial Convention, "Give me liberty, or give me death!"
1806 - Meriwether Lewis and William Clark began their return journey home from the Pacific Ocean after exploring the Louisiana Purchase.
1877 - The first Easter egg roll was held on the White House lawn.
1919 - Benito Mussolini founded his own party in Italy, the Fasci di Combattimento.
1933 - The German Reichstag adopted the Enabling Act, which effectively granted Adolf Hitler dictatorial legislative powers.
1942 - The first Japanese-Americans were evacuated by the U.S. Army during World War II arrived at the internment camp in Manzanar, California.
1956 - Pakistan became an Islamic republic.
1965 - America's first two-person space mission took place as Gemini 3 blasted off with astronauts Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom and John W. Young aboard for a nearly five-hour flight.
1973 - Before sentencing a group of Watergate break-in defendants, Chief U.S. District Judge John J. Sirica read aloud a letter he had received from James W. McCord Jr. which said there was "political pressure" to "plead guilty and remain silent."
1981 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states could require, with some exceptions, parental notification when teenage girls seek abortions.
1983 - President Ronald Reagan proposed a space-based missile defense system called the Strategic Defense Initiative, or "Star Wars".
1993 - Scientists announced they had found the renegade gene that causes Huntington's disease.
1998 - The motion picture "Titanic" won 11 Oscars at the 70th annual Academy Awards, tying it with "Ben-Hur" for the most awards ever won. (The record was tied again by "Lord of the Rings: Return of the King" in 2003.)
2001 - Russia's Mir space station ended its 15-year orbit of the Earth with a fiery splash down in the South Pacific.
2003 - A U.S. Army convoy was ambushed in Iraq with 11 killed and seven captured, including Pfc. Jessica Lynch. (Lynch was rescued on April 1, 2003.)
2004 - A federal commission concluded that Clinton and Bush administration officials had engaged in lengthy, ultimately fruitless diplomatic efforts instead of military action to try to get Osama bin Laden before the 9/11 attacks; top Bush officials countered that the terror attacks would have occurred even if the United States had killed the al-Qaida leader.
2008 - A roadside bomb killed four U.S. soldiers in Baghdad, pushing the overall American death toll in the five-year war to at least 4,000.
2010 - President Barack Obama signed the $938 billion Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law, the most sweeping piece of federal legislation since Medicare was passed in 1965.
2011 - Actress Elizabeth Taylor died at age 79.
2011 - NATO ships began patrolling off Libya’s coast as airstrikes, missiles and energized rebels forced Moammar Gadhafi’s tanks to roll back from two key western cities.
2012 - The U.S. Army formally charged Staff Sgt. Robert Bales with 17 counts of premeditated murder in the deaths of 17 villagers, more than half of them children, during a shooting rampage in southern Afghanistan.
2020 - President Donald Trump said he wanted to reopen the country for business in weeks, not months; he asserted that continued closures could result in more deaths than the coronavirus itself. Britain became the latest European country to go into effective lockdown, as Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered the closure of most retail stores and banned public gatherings. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced plans to convert a New York City convention center into a hospital with 1,000 beds.
Birthdays
22 - Olivia Stuck (actress)
26 - Victoria Pedretti (actress)
28 - Kyra Santoro (model)
29 - Kyrie Irving (basketball player)
29 - Vanessa Morgan (actress)
31 - Gordon Hayward (basketball player)
32 - Ayesha Curry (TV host)
34 - Jessica Marie Garcia (actress)
35 - Ben Rappaport (actor)
38 - Mo Farah (runner)
39 - Nicolas Wright (actor)
40 - Brett Young (country singer)
43 - Brandon Dirden (actor)
43 - Nicholle Tom (actress)
43 - Perez Hilton (reality star)
43 - Anastasia Griffith (actress)
45 - Keri Russell (actress)
45 - Michelle Monaghan (actress)
47 - Randall Park (actor)
51 - Melissa Errico (actress/singer)
52 - Kelly Perine (actress)
56 - Richard Grieco (actor)
57 - Hope Davis (actress)
62 - Catherine Keener (actress)
64 - Amanda Plummer (actress)
68 - Chaka Khan (singer)
=====================================
Today in Sports History - March 23
1946 - Oklahoma State defeats North Carolina 43-40 to win a second consecutive NCAA Tournament.
1948 - Kentucky defeats Baylor 58-42 to win their first NCAA Tournament.
1952 - Bill Mosienko (Chicago Black Hawks) scored the fastest hat trick in NHL history. He scored 3 goals in 21 seconds.
1957 - North Carolina defeats Kansas 54-53 in triple overtime to win the NCAA Tournament.
1963 - Loyola Chicago defeats Cincinnati 60-58 in overtime to win the NCAA Tournament.
1968 - UCLA defeats North Carolina 78-55 to win the NCAA Tournament.
1971 - The Boston Patriots announced they were changing their name to the New England Patriots.
1972 - Evil Knievel broke 93 bones after successfully jumping 35 cars.
1991 - In the inaugural game of the World League of American Football, the London Monarchs defeated the Frankfurt Galaxy 24-11.
1994 - Wayne Gretzky of the Los Angeles Kings broke Gordie Howe's NHL career record with his 802nd goal.
1995 - Jaromir Jagr (Pittsburgh Penguins) became the first European player to lead the NHL in scoring.
1997 - WrestleMania 13 is held in Rosemont, Illinois with the main event featuring The Undertaker defeating Sycho Sid for the WWF Championship.
2002 - Keith Tkachuk (St. Louis Blues) slashed Lyle Odelein (Chicago Blackhawks) during a game. On March 25, 2002, Tkachuk was suspended for one game without pay for the incident.