TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS THURSDAY, NOV. 23, the 327th day of 2017. There are 38 days left in the year. This is Thanksgiving Day.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date in 1942, during World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a measure establishing the U.S. Women’s Coast Guard Reserve, or SPARS (an abbreviation of the U.S. Coast Guard motto “Semper Paratus” — “Always Ready”).
In 1765, Frederick County, Md., became the first colonial American entity to repudiate the British Stamp Act. In 1804, the 14th president of the United States, Franklin Pierce, was born in Hillsboro, N.H.
In 1889, the first jukebox made its debut in San Francisco, at the Palais Royale Saloon. (The coin-operated device consisted of four listening tubes attached to an Edison phonograph.)
In 1903, Enrico Caruso made his American debut at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, appearing in “Rigoletto.”
In 1910, American-born physician Hawley Harvey Crippen was hanged at Pentonville Prison in London for murdering his wife, Cora. (Crippen’s mistress, Ethel Le Neve, was acquitted in a separate trial of being an accessory.)
In 1936, Life, the photojournalism magazine created by Henry R. Luce, was first published.
In 1945, most U.S. wartime rationing of foods, including meat and butter, was set to expire by day’s end.
In 1959, the musical “Fiorello!,” starring Tom Bosley as legendary New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, opened on Broadway.
In 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson proclaimed Nov. 25 a day of national mourning following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
In 1971, the People’s Republic of China was seated in the U.N. Security Council.
In 1980, some 2,600 people were killed by a series of earthquakes that devastated southern Italy.
In 1996, a commandeered Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 767 crashed into the water off the Comoros Islands, killing 125 of the 175 people on board, including all three hijackers.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Actress Elmarie Wendel is 89. Former Labor Secretary William E. Brock is 87. Actor Franco Nero is 76. Actress Susan Anspach is 75. Screenwriter Joe Eszterhas is 73. Actorcomedy writer Bruce Vilanch is 70. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is 67. Singer Bruce Hornsby is 63. Former Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., is 62. Actor Maxwell Caulfield is 58. Actor John Henton and TV personality Robin Roberts (“Good Morning America”) are 57. Rock singermusician Ken Block (Sister Hazel) and rock musician Charlie Grover are 51. Actress Salli Richardson-Whitfield is 50. Actor Oded Fehr is 47. Rapper-actor Kurupt (Tha Dogg Pound) is 45. Actor Page Kennedy is 41. Actress Kelly Brook is 38. Actor Lucas Grabeel is 33. TV personality Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi is 30. Actress-singer Miley Cyrus is 25. Actor Austin Majors is 22. Actress Olivia Keville (TV: “Splitting Up Together”) is 15.