TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Thursday, Feb. 23, the 54th day of 2023. There are 311 days left in the year.
Today’s highlight in history
On Feb. 23, 1954, the first mass inoculation of schoolchildren against polio using the Salk vaccine began in Pittsburgh as some 5,000 students were vaccinated.
On this date
In 1685, composer George Frideric Handel was born in present-day Germany.
In 1822, Boston was granted a charter to incorporate as a city.
In 1836, the siege of the Alamo began in San Antonio, Texas.
In 1861, President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrived secretly in Washington to take office, following word of a possible assassination plot in Baltimore.
In 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt signed an agreement with Cuba to lease the area around Guantanamo Bay to the United States.
In 1942, the first shelling of the U.S. mainland during World War II occurred as a Japanese submarine fired on an oil refinery near Santa Barbara, causing little damage.
In 1945, U.S. Marines on Iwo Jima captured Mount Suribachi, where they raised two American flags. (The second flag-raising was captured in the iconic Associated Press photograph.)
In 1998, 42 people were killed, some 2,600 homes and businesses damaged or destroyed, by tornadoes in central Florida.
In 2007, a Mississippi grand jury refused to bring any new charges in the 1955 slaying of Emmett Till, the Black teen who was beaten and shot after being accused of whistling at a White woman, declining to indict the woman, Carolyn Bryant Donham, for manslaughter.
In 2011, in a major policy reversal, the Obama administration said it would no longer defend the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act, a federal law banning recognition of same-sex marriage.
In 2020,
Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man, was fatally shot on a residential Georgia street; a White father and son had armed themselves and pursued him after seeing him running through their neighborhood. (Greg and Travis McMichael and neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan were convicted of murder, aggravated assault and other charges and were sentenced to life in prison.)
In 2021, golfer Tiger Woods was seriously injured when his SUV crashed into a median and rolled over several times on a steep road in suburban Los Angeles.
Ten years ago: Some 30 NASCAR fans were injured when rookie Kyle Larson’s car was propelled by a crash into the fence at Daytona International Speedway, and large chunks of debris flew into the grandstands. The Ultimate Fighting Championship held its first women’s bout as Ronda Rousey beat Liz Carmouche on an armbar, her signature move, with 11 seconds left in the first round of their bantamweight title fight at UFC 157 in Anaheim.
Today’s birthdays
Football Hall of Famer Fred Biletnikoff is 80. Author John Sandford is 79. Actor Patricia Richardson is 72. Former NFL player Ed “Too Tall” Jones is 72. Musician Brad Whitford (Aerosmith) is 71. Singer Howard Jones is 68. Actor Kristin Davis is 58. Former tennis player Helena Sukova is 58. Actor Marc Price is 55. TV personality Daymond John (“Shark Tank”) is 54. Actor Niecy Nash is 53. Composer Robert Lopez is 48. Actor Kelly Macdonald is 47. Actor Josh Gad is 42. Actor Emily Blunt is 40. Actor Aziz Ansari is 40. Actor Dakota Fanning is 29.