March 23

March 23 is the 82nd day of the year (83rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 283 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

• 1400 – The Tran Dynasty of Vietnam is deposed after one hundred and seventy-five years of rule by Ho Quy Ly, a court official.
• 1708 – James Francis Edward Stuart lands at the Firth of Forth.
• 1775 – American Revolutionary War: Patrick Henry delivers his speech – "Give me Liberty, or give me Death!" – at St. John's Church in Richmond, Virginia.
• 1801 – Tsar Paul I of Russia is struck with a sword, then strangled, and finally trampled to death in his bedroom at St. Michael's Castle.
• 1806 – After traveling through the Louisiana Purchase and reaching the Pacific Ocean, explorers Lewis and Clark and their "Corps of Discovery" begin their arduous journey home.
• 1821 – Greek War of Independence: Battle and fall of city of Kalamata.
• 1848 – The ship John Wickliffe arrives at Port Chalmers carrying the first Scottish settlers for Dunedin, New Zealand. Otago province is founded.
• 1857 – Elisha Otis's first elevator is installed at 488 Broadway New York City.
• 1862 – The First Battle of Kernstown, Virginia, marks the start of Stonewall Jackson's Valley Campaign. Though a Confederate defeat, the engagement distracts Federal efforts to capture Richmond.
• 1868 – The University of California is founded in Oakland, California when the Organic Act is signed into law.
• 1879 – War of the Pacific: The Battle of Topáter, the first battle of the war is fought between Chile and the joint forces of Bolivia and Peru.
• 1889 – The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is established by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in Qadian India.
• 1905 – Eleftherios Venizelos calls for Crete's union with Greece, and begins what is to be known as the Theriso revolt.
• 1908 – American diplomat Durham Stevens is attacked by Korean assassins Jeon Myeong-un and Jang In-hwan, leading to his death in a hospital two days later.
• 1909 – Theodore Roosevelt leaves New York for a post-presidency safari in Africa. The trip is sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution and National Geographic Society.
• 1919 – In Milan, Italy, Benito Mussolini founds his Fascist political movement.
• 1931 – Bhagat Singh, Shivaram Rajguru and Sukhdev Thapar are hanged for murder during the Indian struggle for independence.
• 1933 – The Reichstag passes the Enabling Act of 1933, making Adolf Hitler dictator of Germany.
• 1935 – Signing of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of the Philippines.
• 1939 – The Hungarian air force attacks the headquarters of Slovak air force in the city of Spišská Nová Ves, kills 13 people and began the Slovak–Hungarian War.
• 1940 – The Lahore Resolution (Qarardad-e-Pakistan or the then Qarardad-e-Lahore) is put forward at the Annual General Convention of the All India Muslim League.
• 1942 – World War II: In the Indian Ocean, Japanese forces capture the Andaman Islands.
• 1956 – Pakistan becomes the first Islamic republic in the world. (Republic Day in Pakistan)
• 1962 – NS Savannah, the first nuclear-powered cargo-passenger ship, is launched as a showcase for Dwight D. Eisenhower's Atoms for Peace initiative.
• 1965 – NASA launches Gemini 3, the United States' first two-man space flight (crew: Gus Grissom and John Young).
• 1978 – The first UNIFIL troops arrived in Lebanon for peacekeeping mission along the Blue Line.
• 1980 – Archbishop Óscar Romero of El Salvador gives his famous speech appealing to men of the El Salvadoran armed forces to stop killing the Salvadorans.
• 1982 – Guatemala's government, headed by Fernando Romeo Lucas García is overthrown in a military coup by right-wing General Efraín Ríos Montt.
• 1983 – Strategic Defense Initiative: President Ronald Reagan makes his initial proposal to develop technology to intercept enemy missiles.
• 1989 – Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann announce their discovery of cold fusion at the University of Utah.
• 1991 – The Revolutionary United Front, with support from the special forces of Charles Taylor’s National Patriotic Front of Liberia, invades Sierra Leone in an attempt to overthrow Joseph Saidu Momoh, sparking a gruesome 11-year Sierra Leone Civil War.
• 1994 – At an election rally in Tijuana, Mexican presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio is assassinated by Mario Aburto Martínez.
• 1994 – Aeroflot Flight 593 crashes in Siberia when the pilot's fifteen-year old son accidentally disengages the autopilot, killing all 75 people on board.
• 1994 – A United States Air Force (USAF) F-16 aircraft collides with a USAF C-130 at Pope Air Force Base and then crashes, killing 24 United States Army soldiers on the ground. This later became known as the Green Ramp disaster.
• 1996 – Taiwan holds its first direct elections and chooses Lee Teng-hui as President.
• 1999 – Gunmen assassinate Paraguay's Vice President Luis María Argaña.
• 2001 – The Russian Mir space station is disposed of, breaking up in the atmosphere before falling into the southern Pacific Ocean near Fiji.
• 2003 – In Nasiriyah, Iraq, 11 soldiers of the 507th Maintenance Company as well as 18 U.S. Marines are killed during the first major conflict of Operation Iraqi Freedom. 654 Iraqi combatants are also killed.
• 2005 – Texas City Refinery explosion: During a test on a distillation tower liquid waste builds up and flows out of a blowout tower. Waste fumes ignite and explode killing 15 workers.
• 2009 – FedEx Express Flight 80: A McDonnell Douglas MD-11 flying from Guangzhou, China crashes at Tokyo Narita International Airport, Japan, killing both the captain and the co-pilot.

Births

• 1430 – Margaret of Anjou, queen consort of Henry VI of England (d. 1482)
• 1599 – Thomas Selle, German baroque composer (d. 1663)
• 1638 – Frederik Ruysch, Dutch physician and anatomist (d. 1731)
• 1699 – John Bartram, American botanist (d. 1777)
• 1732 – Marie Adélaïde of France, daughter of Louis XV (d. 1800)
• 1749 – Pierre-Simon Laplace, French mathematician and astronomer (d. 1827)
• 1750 – Johannes Matthias Sperger, Austrian contrabassist and composer (d. 1812)
• 1754 – Baron Jurij Vega, Slovenian mathematician, physicist, and artillery officer (d. 1802)
• 1769 – William Smith, English geologist and cartographer (d. 1839)
• 1769 – Augustin Daniel Belliard, French general (d. 1832)
• 1823 – Schuyler Colfax, American politician, 17th Vice President of the United States (d. 1885)
• 1826 – Léon Minkus, German/Czech composer and violinist (d. 1917)
• 1831 – Eduard Schlagintweit, German writer (d. 1866)
• 1834 – Julius Reubke, German composer (d. 1858)
• 1858 – Ludwig Quidde, German pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1941)
• 1862 – Nathaniel Reed, American outlaw turned evangelist (d. 1950)
• 1868 – Dietrich Eckart, German journalist and politician, early supporter of Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party and member of Thule Society (d. 1923)
• 1869 – Calouste Gulbenkian, Armenian businessman and philanthropist (d. 1955)
• 1871 – Heinrich Schroth, German actor (d. 1945)
• 1874 – J. C. Leyendecker, German American illustrator (d. 1951)
• 1878 – Franz Schreker, Austrian composer (d. 1934)
• 1880 – Heikki Ritavuori, Finnish politician (d. 1922)
• 1881 – Roger Martin du Gard, French writer, Nobel laureate (d. 1958)
• 1881 – Hermann Staudinger, German chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1965)
• 1882 – Amalie Emmy Noether, German mathematician (d. 1935)
• 1887 – Josef Čapek, Czech writer (d. 1945)
• 1887 – Juan Gris, Spanish artist (d. 1927)
• 1887 – Sidney Hillman, American labor leader (d. 11946)
• 1887 – Prince Felix Yusupov, Russian assassin of Rasputin (d. 1967)
• 1893 – Cedric Gibbons, American art director (d. 1960)
• 1893 – G. D. Naidu, Indian inventor and engineer (d. 1974)
• 1895 – Encarnacion Alzona, Filipino historian (d. 2001)
• 1895 – Dane Rudhyar, French author, composer, astrologer (d. 1985)
• 1899 – Dora Gerson, German actress and singer (d. 1943)
• 1900 – Erich Fromm, German psychoanalyst (d. 1980)
• 1904 – H. Beam Piper, American author (d. 1964)
• 1905 – Lale Andersen, German singer-songwriter (d. 1972)
• 1905 – Joan Crawford, American actress (d. 1977)
• 1907 – Daniel Bovet, Swiss-born scientist, Nobel laureate (d. 1992)
• 1910 – Akira Kurosawa, Japanese film director (d. 1998)
• 1912 – Wernher von Braun, German physicist and engineer (d. 1977)
• 1914 – Milbourne Christopher, American illusionist (d. 1984)
• 1915 – Thomas Pashby, Canadian ophthalmologist and advocate of safety in ice hockey (d. 2005)
• 1915 – Vasily Zaitsev, Soviet World War II figure (d. 1991)
• 1919 – Carl Graffunder, American architect
• 1920 – Neal Smith, American Congressman
• 1920 – Tetsuharu Kawakami, Japanese baseball player and coach
• 1921 – Donald Campbell, British car and motorboat racer (d. 1967)
• 1922 – Marty Allen, American comedian and actor
• 1922 – Ugo Tognazzi, Italian actor, director and screenwriter (d. 1990)
• 1924 – Bette Nesmith Graham, American inventor (d. 1980)
• 1925 – David Watkin, English cinematographer (d. 2008)
• 1927 – Mato Damjanović, Croatian chess grandmaster (d. 2011)
• 1929 – Sir Roger Bannister, English runner
• 1931 – Yevgenij Grishin, Russian speed skater (d. 2005)
• 1931 – Viktor Korchnoi, Russian chess player
• 1932 – Don Marshall, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1933 – Philip Zimbardo, American psychologist
• 1934 – Ludvig Faddeev, Russian mathematician
• 1934 – Fernand Gignac, Canadian singer and actor (d. 2006)
• 1934 – Mark Rydell, American director
• 1935 – Barry Cryer, British writer and comedian
• 1937 – Craig Breedlove, American land speed record holder
• 1937 – Robert Gallo, American physician
• 1938 – Dave Pike, American jazz musician
• 1941 – Jim Trelease, American educator and author
• 1942 – Michael Haneke, Austrian filmmaker and author
• 1942 – Walter Rodney, Guyanese historian and political figure (d. 1980)
• 1943 – George P. Lee, American general authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (d. 2010)
• 1943 – Lee May, American baseball player
• 1943 – Nils-Aslak Valkeapää, Finnish writer (d. 2001)
• 1944 – Tony McPhee, English singer and guitarist (The Groundhogs)
• 1944 – Michael Nyman, British minimalist composer
• 1945 – Franco Battiato, Italian singer, songwriter and filmmaker
• 1945 – David Grisman, American bluegrass musician (Even Dozen Jug Band, Old and in the Way, and David Grisman Quintet)
• 1946 – Pepe Lienhard, Swiss band leader and musician
• 1947 – Barbara Rhoades, American actress
• 1948 – Marie Malavoy, Canadian teacher and politician
• 1948 – David Olney, American singer-songwriter
• 1949 – Ric Ocasek, American musician (The Cars)
• 1949 – Roland Lee, American artist
• 1950 – Corinne Cléry, French actress
• 1950 – Anthony De Longis, American actor
• 1951 – Ron Jaworski, American football player and analyst
• 1951 – Phil Keaggy, American guitarist and vocalist (Glass Harp)
• 1952 – Kim Stanley Robinson, American author
• 1953 – Bo Díaz, Venezuelan baseball player (d. 1990)
• 1953 – Chaka Khan, American singer
• 1953 – Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Indian entrepreneur
• 1954 – Geno Auriemma, American basketball coach
• 1954 – Kenneth Cole, American fashion designer
• 1955 – Petrea Burchard, American actress
• 1955 – Moses Malone, American basketball player
• 1956 – José Manuel Barroso, Portuguese politician
• 1957 – Teresa Ganzel, American actress
• 1957 – Lucio Gutierrez, Ecuadorian politician
• 1957 – Robbie James, Welsh footballer (d. 1998)
• 1957 – Amanda Plummer, American actress
• 1958 – Etienne De Wilde, Belgian cyclist
• 1958 – Bengt-Åke Gustafsson, Swedish ice hockey player and coach
• 1958 – Eldon Hoke, American singer and drummer (The Mentors and The Screamers) (d. 1997)
• 1958 – Michael Sorich, American voice actor, writer and director
• 1959 – Catherine Keener, American actress
• 1959 – Epic Soundtracks (Kevin Paul Godfrey), English musician (Swell Maps, Crime and the City Solution, and These Immortal Souls) (d. 1997)
• 1959 – Philippe Volter, Belgian actor (d. 2005)
• 1960 – Nicol Stephen, Scottish politician, Deputy First Minister of Scotland
• 1961 – Steve Holmes, Romanian/German pornographic actor
• 1961 – Helmi Johannes, Indonesian newscaster
• 1962 – Steve Redgrave, British rower
• 1963 – Míchel (José Miguel González Martín del Campo), Spanish footballer
• 1964 – Hope Davis, American actress
• 1964 – John Pinette, American comedian
• 1965 – Sarah G. Buxton, American actress
• 1965 – Richard Grieco, American actor and model
• 1965 – Marti Pellow, Scottish singer (Wet Wet Wet)
• 1965 – Gary Whitehead, American poet
• 1966 – Marin Hinkle, American actress
• 1967 – David Ford, Canadian kayaker
• 1968 – Damon Albarn, English musician (Blur, Gorillaz, and The Good, the Bad & the Queen)
• 1968 – Michael Atherton, English cricketer
• 1968 – Mitch Cullin, American novelist
• 1968 – Fernando Hierro, Spanish footballer
• 1970 – Melissa Errico, American actress and singer
• 1970 – John Humphrey, American musician (The Nixons and Seether)
• 1971 – Yasmeen Ghauri, Canadian model
• 1971 – Karen McDougal, American model
• 1971 – Gail Porter, Scottish television presenter
• 1971 – Alexander Selivanov, Russian ice hockey player
• 1971 – Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Japanese wrestler
• 1972 – Joe Calzaghe, Welsh boxer
• 1972 – Judith Godrèche, French actress and author
• 1973 – Jerzy Dudek, Polish footballer
• 1973 – Wim Eyckmans, Belgian racing driver
• 1973 – Jason Kidd, American basketball player
• 1976 – Jayson Blair, American journalist and author
• 1976 – Chris Hoy, British track cyclist
• 1976 – Dougie Lampkin, English motorcycle trials rider
• 1976 – Michelle Monaghan, American actress
• 1976 – Jeremy Newberry, American football player
• 1976 – Joel Peralta, Dominican baseball player
• 1976 – Keri Russell, American actress
• 1976 – Ricardo Zonta, Brazilian race car driver
• 1977 – Miklos Perlus, Canadian voice actor
• 1978 – Perez Hilton, American blogger
• 1978 – Walter Samuel, Argentine footballer
• 1978 – Nicholle Tom, American actress
• 1978 – David Tom, American actor
• 1979 – Mark Buehrle, American baseball player
• 1979 – Natalia Hadjiloizou, Belarusian Cypriot swimmer
• 1979 – Misty Hyman, American swimmer
• 1979 – Donncha O'Callaghan, Irish rugby player
• 1980 – Russell Howard, English comedian
• 1980 – Itay Tiran, Israeli actor
• 1981 – Erin Crocker, American race car driver
• 1981 – Giuseppe Sculli, Italian footballer
• 1981 – Tony Peña, Jr., Dominican baseball player
• 1982 – José Raúl Contreras, Chilean footballer
• 1982 – Andrea Musacco, Italian footballer
• 1983 – Jerome Thomas, English footballer
• 1985 – Maurice Jones-Drew, American football player
• 1986 – Patrick Bordeleau, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1986 – Andrea Dovizioso, Italian motorcycle racer
• 1986 – Steven Strait, American actor
• 1987 – Alan Toovey, Australian rules footballer
• 1988 – Michal Neuvirth, Czech ice hockey player
• 1990 – Jaime Alguersuari, Spanish racing driver
• 1990 – Princess Eugenie of York
• 1990 – Robert Zickert, German footballer
• 1992 – Tolga Ciğerci, German footballer
• 1992 – Kyrie Irving, Australian-American basketball player
• 1992 – Vanessa Morgan, Canadian actress and singer
• 1995 – Jan Lisiecki, Canadian pianist
• 1997 – Aidan Davis, English dancer

Deaths

• 1103 – Eudes I, Duke of Burgundy (b. 1058)
• 1361 – Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster (b. c. 1310)
• 1369 – King Peter of Castile (b. 1334)
• 1548 – Itagaki Nobukata, retainer of Takeda Shingen (b. 1489)
• 1555 – Pope Julius III (b. 1487)
• 1559 – Emperor Gelawdewos of Ethiopia
• 1596 – Henry Unton, English diplomat
• 1606 – Justus Lipsius, Flemish humanist (b. 1547)
• 1618 – James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Abercorn, Scottish politician
• 1653 – Johan van Galen, Dutch naval officer (b. 1604)
• 1675 – Anthoni van Noordt, Dutch composer and organist (b. 1619)
• 1680 – Nicolas Fouquet, French statesman (b. 1615)
• 1742 – Jean-Baptiste Dubos, French writer (b. 1670)
• 1747 – Claude Alexandre de Bonneval, French soldier (b. 1675)
• 1748 – Johann Gottfried Walther, German music theorist, organist, and composer (b. 1684)
• 1754 – Johann Jakob Wettstein, Swiss theologian (b. 1693)
• 1783 – Charles Carroll, American lawyer and delegate to the Continental Congress (b. 1723)
• 1801 – Paul I of Russia, Russian tsar (b. 1754)
• 1842 – Stendhal, French writer (b. 1783)
• 1914 – Rafqa Pietra Choboq Ar-Rayès (Saint Rebecca) Lebanese saint (b. 1832)
• 1923 – Hovhannes Tumanyan Armenian poet and writer (b. 1869)
• 1927 – Paul César Helleu, French artist (b. 1859)
• 1931 – Bhagat Singh (b. 1907), Rajguru (b. 1908), Sukhdev (b. 1907) Indian freedom fighters
• 1935 – Florence Moore, American actress (b. 1886)
• 1945 – Tadamichi Kuribayashi, Japanese diplomat and General of the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff (b. 1891)
• 1947 – Archduchess Luise of Austria, Princess of Tuscany (b. 1870)
• 1955 – Artur da Silva Bernardes, Brazilian President (b. 1875)
• 1960 – Franklin Pierce Adams, American newspaper columnist (b. 1881)
• 1960 – Said Nursî, Islamic theologian (b. 1878)
• 1964 – Peter Lorre, Hungarian-born actor (b. 1904)
• 1965 – Mae Murray, American actress (b. 1889)
• 1968 – Edwin O'Connor, American novelist and Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winner (b. 1918)
• 1970 – Del Lord, Canadian director (b. 1894)
• 1972 – Cristóbal Balenciaga, Spanish fashion designer (b. 1895)
• 1978 – Haim Ernst Wertheimer, Israeli biochemist, recipient of the Israel Prize (b. 1893)
• 1979 – Ted Anderson, English footballer (b. 1911)
• 1980 – Arthur Melvin Okun, American economist (b. 1928)
• 1985 – Richard Beeching, British physicist, engineer, and chairman of British Railways (b. 1913)
• 1985 – Peter Charanis, Greek-American scholar and professor (b. 1908)
• 1985 – Ben Hardwick, Britain's youngest liver transplant patient (b. 1982)
• 1990 – John Dexter, English director (b. 1925)
• 1991 – Parkash Singh, Indian soldier, recipient of the Victoria Cross (b. 1913)
• 1992 – Friedrich Hayek, Austrian economist, Nobel laureate (b. 1899)
• 1992 – Ron Lapointe, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1949)
• 1994 – Luis Donaldo Colosio, Mexican politician (b. 1950)
• 1994 – Giulietta Masina, Italian actress (b. 1921)
• 1994 – Donald Swann, British composer, musician and entertainer (Flanders and Swann) (b. 1923)
• 1995 – Alan Barton, English musician (Black Lace and Smokie) (b. 1953)
• 1995 – Davie Cooper, Scottish footballer (b. 1956)
• 1998 – Gerald Stano, American serial killer (b. 1951)
• 1999 – Luis María Argaña, Paraguayan politician (b. 1932)
• 1999 – Osmond Borradaile, Canadian cameraman and cinematographer (b. 1898)
• 2001 – Rowland Evans, American journalist (b. 1921)
• 2001 – David McTaggart, Canadian environmentalist (b. 1932)
• 2002 – Eileen Farrell, American soprano (b. 1920)
• 2002 – Ben Hollioake, English cricketer (b. 1977)
• 2003 – Fritz Spiegl, Austrian-born journalist (b. 1926)
• 2004 – Rupert Hamer, Australian politician (b. 1916)
• 2006 – David B. Bleak, American soldier and Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1932)
• 2006 – Desmond Doss, American soldier and first conscientious objector Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1919)
• 2006 – Cindy Walker, American singer, songwriter and dancer (b. 1918)
• 2007 – Paul Joseph Cohen, American mathematician, Fields Medal winner (b. 1934)
• 2007 – Eric Medlen, American NHRA drag racer (b. 1973)
• 2008 – Rafael Azcona, Spanish screenwriter (b. 1926)
• 2009 – Ghukas Chubaryan, Armenian sculptor (b. 1923)
• 2009 – Raúl Macías, Mexican boxer (b. 1934)
• 2011 – Elizabeth Taylor, English-American actress (b. 1932)
• 2012 – Eric Lowen, singer-songwriter (Lowen & Navarro) (b. 1952)

Holidays and observances

• Pakistan Day:
• Christian Feast Day:
  • Rafqa Pietra Choboq Ar-Rayès
  • Turibius de Mongrovejo
  • March 23 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Day of Hungarian-Polish Friendship (Hungary and Poland)
• Day of the Sea (Bolivia)
• Earliest day on which Easter Monday can fall, while April 26 is the latest; celebrated on Monday after Easter. It is also the 2nd earliest that Easter Sunday can fall. After March 22. The next March 22 Easter Sunday will take place in 2285. The last March 23 Easter Sunday took place in 2008, and the next will take place in 2160.
  • Family Day (South Africa)
  • Sham el-Nessim (Egypt)
• Lieldienas (Ancient Latvia)
• Republic Day (Pakistan)
• Tubilustrium, the fifth and final day of Quinquatria (Roman Empire)
• World Meteorological Day (International)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: March 23

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada