NEA DATEBOOK

Today is the 77th day of 2023 and the 88th day of winter.

TODAY’S HISTORY: In 1850, the American Express Company was founded.

In 1965, Russian cosmonaut Alexei Leonov made the first spacewalk.

In 1974, members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) ended a five-month oil embargo against the United States, Europe and Japan.

In 1990, two men stole 13 pieces of art valued at $300 million from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, the largest art theft in U.S. history.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Grover Cleveland (1837-1908), 22nd and 24th U.S. president; Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (18441908), composer; Peter Graves (1926-2010), actor; George Plimpton (1927-2003), author/ actor; John Updike (1932-2009), author/ critic; Charley Pride (1934-2020), singersongwriter; Bonnie Blair (1964- ), Olympic speed-skater; Queen Latifah (1970- ), actress/ singer; Dane Cook (1972- ), comedian/actor; Adam Levine (1979- ), singer-songwriter/TV personality.

TODAY’S FACT: Among the 13 works stolen in Boston’s Gardner Museum art theft in 1990 was “The Concert,” a painting by Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer. It is considered the most valuable unrecovered stolen painting in the world, with an estimated value of $250 million.

TODAY’S SPORTS: In 1991, the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers retired Wilt Chamberlain’s No. 13 jersey.

TODAY’S QUOTE: “A leader is one who, out of madness or goodness, volunteers to take upon himself the woe of the people. There are few men so foolish, hence the erratic quality of leadership in the world.” — John Updike

TODAY’S NUMBER: 3 — number of NATO member countries that possess nuclear weapons: the United States, France and the United Kingdom.