Almanac - February 23

William Edward Burghardt Du Bois 1868-1963

Events

• 303 – Roman Emperor Diocletian orders the destruction of the Christian church in Nicomedia, beginning eight years of Diocletianic Persecution.
• 1455 – Traditional date for the publication of the Gutenberg Bible, the first Western book printed with movable type.
• 1739 – Richard Palmer is identified at York Castle, by his former schoolteacher, as the outlaw Dick Turpin.
• 1778 – American Revolution: Baron von Steuben arrives at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania to help to train the Continental Army.
• 1820 – Cato Street Conspiracy: A plot to murder all the British cabinet ministers is exposed.
• 1821 – Alexander Ypsilantis starts the Greek War of Independence in Ia?i, Wallachia, modern-day Romania.
• 1836 – The Battle of the Alamo begins in San Antonio, Texas.
• 1847 – Mexican-American War: Battle of Buena Vista – In Mexico, American troops under General Zachary Taylor defeat Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna.
• 1854 – The official independence of the Orange Free State is declared.
• 1861 – President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrives secretly in Washington, D.C., after the thwarting of an alleged assassination plot in Baltimore, Maryland.
• 1870 – In the United States, post-Civil War military control of Mississippi ends and it is readmitted to the Union.
• 1883 – Alabama becomes the first U.S. state to enact an antitrust law.
• 1886 – Charles Martin Hall produced the first samples of man-made aluminum, after several years of intensive work. He was assisted in this project by his older sister Julia Brainerd Hall.
• 1887 – The French Riviera is hit by a large earthquake, killing around 2,000.
• 1896 – The Tootsie Roll is invented.
• 1898 – Émile Zola is imprisoned in France after writing "J'accuse", a letter accusing the French government of anti-Semitism and wrongfully imprisoning Captain Alfred Dreyfus.
• 1900 – In South Africa, Boers and British troops fight in the Battle of Hart's Hill.
• 1903 – Cuba leases Guantánamo Bay to the United States "in perpetuity".
• 1905 – Chicago attorney Paul Harris and three other businessmen meet for lunch to form the Rotary Club, the world's first service club.
• 1909 – The AEA Silver Dart makes the first powered flight in Canada and the British Empire.
• 1917 – First demonstrations in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The beginning of the February Revolution.
• 1918 – First victory of Red Army over the Kaiser's German troops near Narva and Pskov. In honor of this victory, the date is celebrated from 1923 onward as "Red Army Day"; it is renamed Defender of the Fatherland Day after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, and is colloquially known as "Men's Day".
• 1927 – President Calvin Coolidge signs a bill by Congress establishing the Federal Radio Commission (later replaced by the Federal Communications Commission) which was to regulate the use of radio frequencies in the United States.
• 1927 – German theoretical physicist Werner Heisenberg writes a letter to fellow physicist Wolfgang Pauli, in which he describes his uncertainty principle for the first time.
• 1934 – Leopold III becomes King of Belgium.
• 1941 – Plutonium is first produced and isolated by Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg.
• 1942 – World War II: Japanese submarines fire artillery shells at the California coastline near Santa Barbara.
• 1943 – A fire breaks out at St. Joseph's Orphanage, County Cavan, Ireland, killing 36 people (35 of whom are children).
• 1944 – The Soviet Union begins the forced deportation of the Chechen and Ingush people from the North Caucasus to Central Asia.
• 1945 – World War II: During the Battle of Iwo Jima, a group of United States Marines and a commonly forgotten U.S. Navy Corpsman, reach the top of Mount Suribachi on the island and are photographed raising the American flag.
• 1945 – World War II: The 11th Airborne Division, with Filipino guerrillas, free the captives of the Los Baños internment camp.
• 1945 – World War II: The capital of the Philippines, Manila, is liberated by combined Filipino and American forces.
• 1945 – World War II: Capitulation of German garrison in Poznan. The city is liberated by Soviet and Polish forces.
• 1945 – World War II: The German town of Pforzheim is completely destroyed in a raid by 379 British bombers.
• 1947 – The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is founded.
• 1954 – The first mass inoculation of children against polio with the Salk vaccine begins in Pittsburgh.
• 1955 – First meeting of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO).
• 1958 – Cuban rebels kidnap 5-time world driving champion Juan Manuel Fangio.
• 1966 – In Syria, Baath party member Salah Jadid leads an intra-party military coup that replaces the previous government of General Amin Hafiz, also a Baathist.
• 1974 – The Symbionese Liberation Army demands $4 million more to release kidnap victim Patty Hearst.
• 1980 – Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini states that Iran's parliament will decide the fate of the American embassy hostages.
• 1981 – In Spain, Antonio Tejero attempts a coup d'état by capturing the Spanish Congress of Deputies.
• 1983 – The United States Environmental Protection Agency announces its intent to buy out and evacuate the dioxin-contaminated community of Times Beach, Missouri.
• 1987 – Supernova 1987a is seen in the Large Magellanic Cloud.
• 1991 – Gulf War: Ground troops cross the Saudi Arabian border and enter Iraq, thus beginning the ground phase of the war.
• 1991 – In Thailand, General Sunthorn Kongsompong leads a bloodless coup d'état, deposing Prime Minister Chatichai Choonhavan.
• 1997 – A small fire occurs in the Russian Space station, Mir.
• 1998 – In the United States, tornadoes in central Florida destroy or damage 2,600 structures and kill 42.
• 1998 – Osama bin Laden publishes a fatwa declaring jihad against all Jews and "Crusaders"; the latter term is commonly interpreted to refer to the people of Europe and the United States.
• 1999 – Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Öcalan is charged with treason in Ankara, Turkey.
• 1999 – An avalanche destroys the Austrian village of Galtür, killing 31.
• 2005 – The controversial French law on colonialism is passed, requiring teachers to teach the "positive values of colonialism". After public outcry, it is repealed at the beginning of 2006.
• 2007 – A train derails on an evening express service near Grayrigg, Cumbria, England, killing one person and injuring 22. This results in hundreds of points being checked over the UK after a few similar accidents.
• 2008 – A United States Air Force B-2 Spirit crashes on Guam. It is the first operational loss of a B-2.
• 2010 – Unknown criminals pour more than 2.5 million liters of diesel oil and other hydrocarbons into the river Lambro, in Northern Italy, causing an environmental disaster.

Births

• 1417 – Pope Paul II (d. 1471)
• 1443 – Matthias Corvinus of Hungary, King of Hungary and Croatia (d. 1490)
• 1583 – Jean-Baptiste Morin, French scientist (d. 1656)
• 1633 – Samuel Pepys, English naval administrator and man of letters, posthumously famous as a diarist (d. 1703)
• 1646 – Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, Japanese shogun (d. 1709)
• 1648 – Arabella Churchill, English mistress of James II of England (d. 1730)
• 1664 – Georg Dietrich Leyding, German composer and organist (d. 1710)
• 1680 – Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, French colonizer and Governor of Louisiana (d. 1767)
• 1685 – George Frideric Handel, German/British Baroque composer (d. 1759)
• 1723 – Richard Price, Welsh philosopher (d. 1791)
• 1729 – Josiah Hornblower, American statesman (d. 1809)
• 1730 – Cristiano Giuseppe Lidarti, Austrian composer (d. c. 1793)
• 1744 – Mayer Amschel Rothschild, German-born banker (d. 1812)
• 1809 – William Sprague, American minister and politician from Michigan (d. 1868)
• 1840 – Frederick Wicks, English author and inventor (d. 1910)
• 1842 – Karl Robert Eduard von Hartmann, German philosopher (d. 1906)
• 1850 – César Ritz, Swiss hotelier (d. 1918)
• 1852 – Emperor Duc Duc (pronounced "dzup-duc"), the fifth emperor of the Vietnamese Nguy?n Dynasty (d. 1883)
• 1868 – W. E. B. Du Bois, American civil rights leader (d. 1963)
• 1868 – Anna Hoffman-Uddgren, Swedish director and actress (d. 1947)
• 1873 – Liang Qichao, Chinese scholar (d. 1929)
• 1874 – Konstantin Päts, Estonian president (d. 1956)
• 1878 – Kazimir Malevich, Ukrainian painter and art theorist (d. 1935)
• 1883 – Karl Jaspers, German philosopher (d. 1969)
• 1889 – Victor Fleming, American director (d. 1949)
• 1889 – Musidora, French actress and director (d. 1957)
• 1889 – John Gilbert Winant, American politician (d. 1947)
• 1891 – Harold Horder, Australian rugby league player (d. 1978)
• 1899 – Erich Kästner, German writer (d. 1974)
• 1899 – Norman Taurog, American film director (d. 1981)
• 1901 – Edgar Ende, German painter (d. 1965)
• 1904 – Terence Fisher, English film director (d. 1980)
• 1904 – William L. Shirer, American historian (d. 1993)
• 1904 – Leopold Trepper, Soviet spy (d. 1982)
• 1908 – William McMahon, twentieth Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1988)
• 1914 – Theofiel Middelkamp, Dutch cyclist (d. 2005)
• 1915 – Jon Hall, American actor (d. 1979)
• 1915 – Paul Tibbets, US Air Force retired Brigadier General and pilot of B-29 "Enola Gay" over Hiroshima (d. 2007)
• 1918 – Richard G. Butler, founder of Aryan Nations (d. 2004)
• 1920 – Paul Gérin-Lajoie, Canadian politician
• 1923 – Miljenko Smoje, Dalmatian writer and journalist (d. 1995)
• 1923 – Rafael Addiego Bruno, Uruguayan politician
• 1923 – Yiannis Grivas, Greek judge, 87th Prime Minister of Greece
• 1923 – Mary Francis Shura, American writer (d. 1991)
• 1924 – Allan McLeod Cormack, South-African born physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1998)
• 1924 – Claude Sautet, French film director (d. 2000)
• 1927 – Régine Crespin, French operatic soprano (d. 2007)
• 1928 – Hans Herrmann, German race car driver
• 1928 – Vasili Lazarev, cosmonaut (d. 1990)
• 1929 – Alexy II of Moscow, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia (d. 2008)
• 1929 – Elston Howard, American baseball player (d. 1980)
• 1931 – Tom Wesselmann, American collage artist (d. 2004)
• 1932 – Majel Barrett, American actress (d. 2008)
• 1933 – Donna J. Stone, American poet (d. 1994)
• 1935 – Gerrianne Raphael, American actress and voice actress
• 1937 – Tom Osborne, American football coach and politician
• 1938 – Paul Morrissey, American film director
• 1938 – Diane Varsi, American actress (d. 1992)
• 1940 – Peter Fonda, American actor
• 1941 – Ron Hunt, baseball player
• 1943 – Fred Biletnikoff, American football player and coach
• 1944 – Bernard Cornwell, English historical novelist
• 1944 – John Sandford, American novelist
• 1944 – Johnny Winter, American musician
• 1945 – Allan Boesak, South African activist
• 1946 – Rusty Young, American country-rock guitarist (Poco)
• 1947 – Pia Kjærsgaard, Danish politician
• 1947 – John McWethy, American journalist (d. 2008)
• 1948 – Doug Moench, American comic book writer
• 1949 – Marc Garneau, Canadian astronaut and politician
• 1950 – Maxi, Irish singer and radio personality
• 1951 – Ed Jones, American football player
• 1951 – Patricia Richardson, American actress
• 1952 – Brad Whitford, American musician (Aerosmith)
• 1953 – Kenny Bee,Hong Kong actor,musician and singer
• 1953 – Satoru Nakajima, Japanese racing driver
• 1954 – Viktor Yushchenko, President of Ukraine
• 1955 – Tom Bodett, American voice actor, radio personality, and writer
• 1955 – Howard Jones, British pop singer
• 1955 – Flip Saunders, American basketball coach
• 1957 – Ria Brieffies, Dutch singer (d. 2009)
• 1958 – Tony Barrell, English writer and journalist
• 1958 – David Sylvian, English musician (Japan, Nine Horses)
• 1959 – Clayton Anderson, American astronaut
• 1959 – Richard Dodds, British field hockey player
• 1960 – Ivan Vdovic, also known as VD, Yugoslavian musician (Šarlo Akrobata) (d. 1992)
• 1960 – Alan Griffin, Australian politician
• 1960 – Naruhito, Crown Prince of Japan
• 1962 – Michael Wilton, American musician (Queensrÿche)
• 1962 – John David Brown, American illustrator, cartoonist
• 1963 – Bobby Bonilla, American baseball player
• 1963 – Radoslaw Sikorski, Polish politician
• 1964 – David E. Clemmer, American ion mobility-mass spectrometrist, 2006 recipient of Biemann Medal
• 1965 – Michael Dell, American computer manufacturer
• 1965 – John Norum, Norwegian guitarist (Europe)
• 1965 – Helena Suková, Czech former tennis player
• 1966 – Neal McDonough, American actor
• 1967 – Tamsin Greig, English actress
• 1967 – Chris Vrenna, American musician, producer and sound engineer Nine Inch Nails, Tweaker
• 1968 – Justin Bell, British racing driver
• 1969 – Michael Campbell, New Zealand golfer
• 1969 – Daymond John, American fashion designer
• 1969 – Marc Wauters, Belgian cyclist
• 1970 – Marie-Josée Croze, Canadian actress
• 1970 – Niecy Nash, American actress
• 1971 – Jeong Chan, South Korean actor
• 1971 – Don Maxwell, Canadian cricketer
• 1971 – Melinda Messenger, English television presenter
• 1971 – Joe-Max Moore, American soccer player
• 1972 – Steve Holy, American country singer
• 1972 – Alessandro Sturba, Italian footballer
• 1972 – Rondell White, American baseball player
• 1973 – Jack Case, American artist
• 1973 – Lars-Olof Johansson, Swedish musician (The Cardigans)
• 1974 – Herschelle Gibbs, South African cricketer
• 1974 – Leko, American DJ
• 1975 – Michael Cornacchia, American actor
• 1975 – Robert Lopez, American composer
• 1975 – Maryse Turcotte, Canadian weightlifter
• 1975 – Natalia Verbeke, Argentine actress
• 1976 – Scott Elarton, American baseball player
• 1976 – Kelly Macdonald, British actress
• 1977 – Kristina Šmigun-Vähi, Estonian cross-country skier
• 1978 – Jo Joyner, English actress
• 1978 – René Pérez, Puerto Rican musician (Calle 13)
• 1978 – Dan Snyder, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2003)
• 1979 – S.E. Cupp, American author and political commentator
• 1981 – Gareth Barry, English footballer
• 1981 – Charles Tillman, American football player
• 1982 – Adam Hann-Byrd, American actor
• 1982 – Karan Singh, Indian actor
• 1982 – Malia Metella, French swimmer
• 1983 – Aziz Ansari, Indian-American comedian
• 1983 – Mirco Bergamasco, Italian rugby player
• 1983 – Emily Blunt, British actress
• 1983 – Courtney Culkin, American Playboy Playmate
• 1983 – Mido, Egyptian footballer
• 1986 – Emerson da Conceição, Brazilian footballer
• 1986 – Skylar Grey, American musician
• 1986 – Kazuya Kamenashi, Japanese idol (KAT-TUN)
• 1986 – Jerod Mayo, American football player
• 1986 – Ola Svensson, Swedish pop singer
• 1989 – Evan Bates, American ice dancer
• 1992 – Kyriakos Papadopoulos, Greek footballer
• 1994 – Dakota Fanning, American actress

Deaths

• 155 – Polycarp, Christian bishop of Smyrna (b. 69)
• 943 – Herbert II, Count of Vermandois, (b. 884)
• 1011 – Willigis, Archbishop of Mainz (b. 940)
• 1072 – Peter Damian, theologian and Doctor of the Church (b. 1007)
• 1100 – Emperor Zhezong of China (b. 1076)
• 1270 – Saint Isabel of France, daughter of Louis VIII of France (b. 1225)
• 1447 – Pope Eugene IV (b. 1383)
• 1447 – Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester (b. 1390)
• 1464 – Zhengtong, Emperor of China (b. 1427)
• 1526 – Diego Colón, Spanish Viceroy of the Indies
• 1554 – Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk, English politician and nobelman (b. c.1515)
• 1572 – Pierre Certon, French composer
• 1603 – Andrea Cesalpino, Italian philosopher, physician, and botanist (b. 1519)
• 1669 – Leo Aitzema, Dutch historian and statesman (b. 1600)
• 1704 – Georg Muffat, French composer (b. 1653)
• 1766 – Stanislaw I Leszczynski, King of Poland (b. 1677)
• 1781 – George Taylor, American signatory to the Declaration of Independence (b. c.1716)
• 1792 – Joshua Reynolds, English painter (b. 1723)
• 1800 – Joseph Warton, English literary critic (b. 1722)
• 1821 – John Keats, English poet (b. 1795)
• 1848 – John Quincy Adams, 6th President of the United States (b. 1767)
• 1855 – Carl Friedrich Gauss, German mathematician, astronomer, and physicist (b. 1777)
• 1859 – Zygmunt Krasinski, Polish Romantic poet (b. 1812)
• 1879 – Albrecht Graf von Roon, Prime Minister of Prussia (b. 1803)
• 1897 – Woldemar Bargiel, German composer (b. 1828)
• 1908 – Johannes Friedrich August von Esmarch, German surgeon (b. 1823)
• 1922 – Albert Victor Bäcklund, Swedish physicist (b. 1845)
• 1930 – Horst Wessel, Nazi ideologue and composer (b. 1907)
• 1931 – Dame Nellie Melba, Australian opera soprano (b. 1861)
• 1934 – Edward Elgar, English composer (b. 1857)
• 1944 – Leo Hendrik Baekeland, Flemish-American chemist and inventor of the first synthetic plastic, Bakelite (b. 1863)
• 1946 – Tomoyuki Yamashita, Japanese general (hanged) (b. 1885)
• 1948 – John Robert Gregg, Irish-born publisher and inventor (b. 1866)
• 1955 – Paul Claudel, French poet and playwright (b. 1868)
• 1957 – Marika Ninou, Greek singer (b. 1918)
• 1960 – Arthur Legat, Belgian racing driver (b. 1898)
• 1961 – Davey Crockett, American baseball player (b. 1875)
• 1965 – Stan Laurel, British actor and comedian (b. 1890)
• 1969 – King Saud of Saudi Arabia (b. 1902)
• 1970 – Hirsch Jacobs, American thoroughbred horse trainer and owner (b. 1904)
• 1973 – Dickinson W. Richards, American physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1895)
• 1974 – Harry Ruby, American composer and writer (b. 1895)
• 1976 – L. S. Lowry, English artist (b. 1887)
• 1979 – W.A.C. Bennett, Canadian politician (b. 1900)
• 1983 – Herbert Howells, English composer (b. 1892)
• 1990 – José Napoleón Duarte, President of El Salvador (b. 1925)
• 1992 – Markos Vafiadis, Greek politician (b. 1906)
• 1995 – Melvin Franklin, American singer (The Temptations) (b. 1942)
• 1995 – James Herriot, English writer (b. 1916)
• 1996 – William Bonin, American serial killer and sex offender (b. 1947)
• 1997 – Tony Williams, American jazz drummer (b. 1945)
• 1999 – Carlos Hathcock, USMC sniper (b. 1942)
• 2000 – Ofra Haza, Israeli singer (b. 1957)
• 2000 – Stanley Matthews, English footballer (b. 1915)
• 2001 – Robert Enrico, French film director and screenwriter (b. 1931)
• 2003 – Howie Epstein, American bass guitarist (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers) (b. 1955)
• 2003 – Robert K. Merton, American sociologist (b. 1910)
• 2003 – Titos Vandis, Greek actor (b. 1917)
• 2004 – Vijay Anand, Indian film director (b. 1934)
• 2004 – Carl Anderson, American singer (b. 1945)
• 2004 – Neil Ardley, English jazz pianist and composer (b. 1937)
• 2004 – Sikander Bakht, Governor of Kerala (b. 1918)
• 2004 – Don Cornell, American singer (b. 1919)
• 2004 – Carl Liscombe, Canadian hockey player (b. 1915)
• 2006 – Benno Besson, Swiss actor and film director (b. 1922)
• 2006 – Telmo Zarraonaindía, Spanish footballer (b. 1921)
• 2007 – Donnie Brooks, American singer (b. 1936)
• 2007 – John Ritchie, British footballer (b. 1941)
• 2008 – Janez Drnovšek, Slovenian prime minister and president (b. 1950)
• 2008 – Douglas Fraser, Scottish pilot (b. 1916)
• 2008 – Paul Frère, Belgian race car driver and motorsport journalist (b. 1917)
• 2008 – Denis Lazure, Canadian politician (b. 1925)
• 2010 – Orlando Zapata, Cuba dissident (b. 1967)

Holidays and observances

• Christian Feast Day:
  • Polycarp of Smyrna (Catholic Church)
  • Blessed Isabelle of France
  • Serenus the Gardener
  • February 23 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Mashramani-Republic Day (Guyana)
• National Day (Brunei)
• Red Army Day or Day of Soviet Army and Navy in the former Soviet Union, also held in various former Soviet republics:
  • Defender of the Fatherland Day (Russia)
• Terminalia held in honor of Terminus (Ancient Rome)