October 23
Today in America's Present Past
1684 | King Charles II revoked the Massachusetts Bay Colony charter due to repeated violations of the charter’s terms, including trading with other countries and running an illegal mint.
1690 | King William’s War: American forces, led by Sir William Phipps, fail to seize Quebec.
1760 | Civil Rights: The first Jewish prayer books printed in America.
1762 | Inventor Samuel Morey was born.
1790 | Cleric Chauncey Allen Goodrich was born.
1799 | Founder William Paca died.
1805 | Linguist John Russell Bartlett was born.
1819| The first ship sails through the Erie Canal from Rome, New York, to Utica, New York.
1835 | Politician Adlai Stevenson I was born.
1850 | Civil Rights: The first National Women’s Rights convention opens in Brinley Hall, Worcester, Massachusetts.
1864 | Civil War: Battle of Westport, Missouri.
1868 | Entrepreneur Cullen Whipple died.
1869 | Footballer John Heisman was born.
1873 | Physicist William D. Coolidge was born.
1875 | Chemist Gilbert N. Lewis was born.
1892 | Actor Milton “Gummo” Marx was born.
1910 | Blanche Scott became the first woman to fly at a public event in the US at Fort Wayne, Indiana.
1915 | Civil Rights: 25,000 supporters in a women’s suffrage march on New York’s Fifth Ave were led by Anna Howard Shaw and Carrie Chapman Catt.
1923 | A patent is issued to Sebastian Hinton for a playground climbing structure popularly known as “monkey bars.”
1925 | Entertainer Johnny Carson was born.
1932 | Radio: “The Fred Allen Show” debuted.
1935 | The “Chophouse Massacre” occurs in New Jersey.
1938 | Entrepreneur and politician John Heinz was born.
1939 | Author Zane Grey died.
1941 | Film: “Dumbo” debuted.
1942 | Author Michael Crichton was born.
1944 | WWII: The Battle of the Gulf of Leyte begins.
1947 | Civil Rights: The NAACP petition on racism, “An Appeal to the World,” presented to the UN.
1950 | Musician Al Jolson died.
1952 | Film: “Limelight” debuted.
1954 | Film director Ang Lee was born.
1956 | Musician Dwight Yoakam was born.
1958| Author and cleric Michael Eric Dyson was born in Detroit, Michigan.
1959 | Entertainer Weird Al Yankovic was born.
1960 | Computer scientist Randy Pausch was born.
1969 | Neurosurgeon and entertainer Sanjay Gupta was born in Novi, Michigan.
1976 | Actor Ryan Reynolds was born.
1983 | War on Terror: A suicide terrorist truck bomb killed 243 American personnel in Beirut, Lebanon.
1984 | Columnist Meghan McCain was born.
1991 | SCOTUS: Justice Clarence Thomas was sworn in.
1997 | Inventor Luther Simjian died.
1998 | Actress Amandla Stenberg was born.
2001 | Apple released the “iPod.”
2011 | Mathematician Herbert A. Hauptman died.
2012 | Film: “Skyfall” debuted.