This Day in History

today in history archives

time capsule

On April 23
1789 U.S. President George Washington moved into Franklin House, New York. It was the first executive mansion.
1856 Pro-slavery sheriff Samuel Jones was shot in the back by Free Stater J.N. Mace in Westport, Kansas.
1872 Charlotte E. Ray became the first black woman lawyer.
1908 U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt signed an act creating the U.S. Army Reserve.
1945 The Soviet Army fought its way into Berlin.
1950 Chaing evacuated Hainan, leaving mainland China to Mao and the communists.
1954 Hank Aaron of the Milwaukee Braves hit his first major-league home run on this day.
1963 Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds got his first hit in the major leagues.
1967 The Soyuz 1 was launched by Russia.
1969 Sirhan Sirhan was sentenced to death for killing U.S. Senator Robert Kennedy. The sentence was later reduced to life in prison.
1985 The Coca-Cola Company announced that it was changing its 99-year-old secret formula. New Coke was not successful, which resulted in the resumption of selling the original version.
1996 A New York civil-court jury ordered Bernhard Goetz to pay $43 million to Darrell Cabey. Cabey was paralyzed when he was shot in subway car in 1984.
1998 James Earl Ray died at the age of 70 whiile serving a life sentence for the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Ray had confessed to the crime and then later insisted he had been framed.
1999 In Washington, DC, the heads of state and government of the 19 NATO nations celebrated the organization's 50th anniversary.
2003 U.S. President Bush signed legislation that authorized the design change of the 5-cent coin (nickel) for release in 2004. It was the first change to the coin in 65 years. The change, to commemorate the 200th annivesary of the Louisiana Purchase, was planned to run for only two years before returning to the previous design.

todays history