May 23
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Events on This Day
1788 - South Carolina, the colony originally named in honor of Charles I of England, became one of the United States on this day. The eighth state also has the dubious honor of being the first state to secede at the start of the Civil War in 1861. Its capital city is Columbia. The state bird is, appropriately, the Carolina wren. When a state has so many palmetto palms and beautiful jasmine flowers, what do you do? You choose the yellow jessamine (jasmine) as the state flower and call South Carolina the Palmetto State. Equal opportunity for the plants.1879 - Iowa State College, located in Ames, IA, established the first state veterinary college in the U.S.
1922 - Abie’s Irish Rose opened at the the Fulton Theatre in New York City. The play continued for 2,327 performances and numerous revivals as well. It is estimated that some 50,000,000 people have seen the play performed somewhere in the world.
1922 - The first debate to be heard on radio was broadcast on WJH in Washington, DC. The two debaters argued about the topic of Daylight Saving Time with the audience acting as the judge.
1934 - Notorious bank robbers Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were shot to death in a police ambush as they were driving along a road near Sailes, Bienville Parish, Louisiana. Barrow was suspected of numerous killings and was wanted for murder, robbery, and state charges of kidnaping.
1938 - LIFE magazine’s cover pictured actor Errol Flynn as ‘glamor boy’.
1938 - Singer Ray Eberle signed on as vocalist with the Glenn Miller Orchestra for $35 a week. Eberle’s first session with Miller included, Don’t Wake Up My Heart, for Brunswick Records.
1939 - The U.S. Navy submarine Squalus went down off New Hampshire in 240 feet of water. 33 of the 59 men aboard were saved in a daring rescue with a diving bell.
1940 - Frank Sinatra The Pied Pipers (with Jo Stafford) and the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra recorded the sentimental classic, I’ll Never Smile Again, for Victor Records. The tune remains one of Sinatra’s best-remembered performances.
1941 - Buddy Baer was disqualified at the beginning of the seventh round as Joe Louis defended his heavyweight boxing title for the 17th time. Baer’s manager refused to leave the ring when the round was ready to begin.
1946 - Railroad workers ignored a seizure order (by U.S. President Harry S Truman) and walked off the job. President Truman had seized control of U.S. railroads, delaying the strike by engineers and trainmen since May 17.
1958 - Mao Tse Tung started his Great leap forward movement in China. It turned out to be more of a Great leap backward...
1960 - Don and Phil, the Everly Brothers enjoyed the day as their recording of Cathy’s Clown made it to number one on the hit music charts. The song stayed at number one for 5 weeks -- a big hit for the duo.
1962 - The National Basketball Association agreed to plans to transfer the Philadelphia Warriors to San Francisco, CA. The team became the San Francisco Warriors (now the Golden State Warriors).
1962 - Joe Pepitone of the New York Yankees hit two home runs in one inning. The rare feat lifted the Yankees past the Kansas City Athletics by a score of 13-7.
1963 - Singer, musician, bandleader Eddy Howard died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Palm Desert, California. He was 48. Howard is remembered for his hits, To Each His Own, Sin (It’s No Sin), (I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons, My Adobe Hacienda, I Wonder, I Wonder, I Wonder, Room Full of Roses and Auf Weidersehn Sweetheart. His Happy Birthday and The Anniversary Waltz were popular on juke boxes for many years.
1969 - The Who released their rock opera Tommy. The album was mostly composed by guitarist Pete Townshend and tells the story about a deaf, dumb and blind boy, including his experiences with life and his relationship with his family.
1973 - The newly completed Times-Mirror Building in Los Angeles was formally dedicated by publisher Otis Chandler following the annual shareholders meeting. (In 2018 the Los Angeles City Council designated the downtown campus that housed the Los Angeles Times for more than eight decades as a city landmark.)
1975 - Singer B.J. Thomas received a gold record for the single with the extremely long title, (Hey, Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song.
1984 - U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop announced that cigarette smoking cost the country $40 billion a year in health expenses and lost productivity.
1988 - Maryland Governor Donald Schaefer signed the first law in the U.S. to ban the manufacture and sale of cheap handguns, known as ‘Saturday Night Specials’.
1989 - An estimated one million people in Beijing and tens of thousands in other Chinese cities marched to demand that Premier Li Peng resign.
1991 - The U.S. Supreme Court upheld regulations barring federally subsidized family planning clinics from discussing abortion with pregnant women. In the decision (Rust v. Sullivan), the clinics were also barred from telling women where they could get abortions.
1992 - The U.S. and four former Soviet republics signed an agreement in Lisbon, Portugal, implementing the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) that had been agreed to by the Soviet Union prior to its dissolution.
1994 - Pulp Fiction, by American director Quentin Tarantino, won the Golden Palm for best film at the 47th Cannes Film Festival.
1994 - Funeral services were held at Arlington National Cemetery for former U.S. first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
1994 - Some 270 Indonesian pilgrims were killed in a stampede in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, as worshippers surged toward a cavern for the symbolic ritual of ‘stoning the devil’.
1995 - Sun Microsystems introduced the Java, and HotJava, programming languages for all platforms at the SunWorld ’95 Expo in San Francisco.
1995 - The nine-story bombed-out shell of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was demolished. The bodies of three remaining victims were recovered during the process.
1997 - These motion pictures opened in U.S. theatres: Addicted to Love, starring Meg Ryan and Matthew Broderick; and The Lost World: Jurassic Park, featuring Jeff Goldblum, Julianne Moore, Pete Postlethwaite, Arliss Howard and Richard Attenborough.
1998 - Mariah Carey was #1 in the U.S. with My All. It was her eighth #1 single of the year.
1999 - The Belgian film Rosetta, by Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, won the Golden Palm Award at the 52nd Cannes Film Festival. The Russian film Molokh won for best screenplay and L Humanité, by Frenchman Bruno Dumont, won the runner-up Grand Jury Prize. The Jury Prize went to La Lettre, by Portuguese director Manoel de Oliveira.
1999 - 33-year-old Owen Hart, a professional wrestler also known as the Blue Blazer, was killed when he fell 50 feet while being lowered into the ring at a World Wrestling Federation show at the Kemper Arena, Kansas City.
2000 - The U.S. Nasdaq market fell 6% to 3,164.55, continuing the plunge from its all-time high of 5,408 reached on March 10, 2000.
2001 - The U.S. Senate passed POTUS George W. Bush’s 11-year, $1.35 trillion tax cut bill.
2001 - U.S. President George Bush (II) banned the import of rough diamonds from Liberia in an effort to deprive rebels in Sierra Leone of a source of funds.
2002 - During visits to Germany and Russia on the same day, U.S. President George Bush (II) told wary European leaders, “we've got to use all means at our disposal to deal with Saddam Hussein,” and he denounced anyone who would appease terrorists or ignore threats to Europe.
2003 - Films debuting in the U.S.: Bruce Almighty, starring Jim Carrey, Jennifer Aniston, Morgan Freeman, Catherine Bell, Lisa Ann Walter, Philip Baker Hall, Steven Carell, Nora Dunn and Sally Kirkland; and The In-Laws, with Michael Douglas, Michael Bodnar, Vladimir Radian, Robin Tunney, Albert Brooks, Boyd Banks, Susan Aceron, Lindsay Sloane, Maria Ricossa, Ryan Reynolds, Chang Tseng, Tamara Gorski, Matt Birman, Russell Andrews, Richard Waugh, Sergio Di Zio, Aaron Abrams and Emmy Laybourne.
2004 - A section of the futuristic, cylindrical passenger terminal at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris collapsed -- killing four people and injuring three more.
2005 - Thousands of British Broadcasting Corp. journalists and technicians began a 24-hour strike over proposed job cuts. The strike severely disrupted radio and TV programs.
2006 - U.S. mortgage giant Fannie Mae agreed to pay about $400 million in penalties under an agreement with two federal agencies to settle charges related to its $10.8 billion accounting scandal. The Securities and Exchange Commission, which polices publicly traded companies, and the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, which regulates Fannie Mae, had charged that Fannie Mae employees had manipulated accounting so that executives could collect millions in bonuses.
2006 - Former U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen died at his home in Houston, TX. He was 85 years old. He was the vice-presidential candidate on the Democratic ticket (with Michael Dukakis) in 1988. Bentsen was Bill Clinton’s first treasury secretary in 1993.
2007 - Jordin Sparks of Glendale, AZ won the American Idol TV show competition. The 17-year-old was the youngest winner in the six-year history of American Idol.
2008 - Mexico’s attorney general, Eduardo Medina Mora, said homicides related to organized crime jumped 47 percent in 2008, in a confirmation of how serious the drug-related violence had become.
2008 - The city of Vallejo, California declared bankruptcy because it was faced with a $16 million deficit and had no money in reserve for the following year.
2009 - U.S. President Barack Obama selected General Charles Bolden, a retired astronaut, to be Administrator of NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration).
2010 - Britain’s Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, said she was very sorry for her lapse of judgment after she was recorded offering to sell access to her former husband, Prince Andrew, for £500,000 ($724,000).
2011 - U.S. President Barack Obama arrived in Ireland to begin a six-day European tour. He took a helicopter from Dublin for a quick visit to Moneygall, the site of a part of his ancestry. Falmouth Kearney, a shoemaker and Obama’s thrice-removed grandfather on his Kansas-born mother’s side, had departed from Moneygall for the U.S. in 1850 at the height of Ireland’s Great Famine. Obama’s roots in the town were discovered during the 2008 presidential campaign.
2012 - Music promoter Bob Skaff died at his home in Cleveland, Ohio. He was 81 years old. Skaff promoted hits by Paul Anka, the O’Jays and many other stars. In 1960, he became East Coast managing promotion director for Liberty Records in New York. Among other duties, he promoted soundtrack recordings for the Road movies of another former Clevelander, Bob Hope. Singer Connie Francis once wrote that Skaff said he tried to sign up the Beatles before Capitol did, but was turned down by a boss.
2012 - Several lightning-sparked fires merged in New Mexico to form one big ‘Gila Wilderness’ blaze. By May 25 it had spread over 85,000 acres, or some 130 square miles. By Jun 1 it had become the largest wildfire in the state’s recorded history.
2014 - Movies opening in the U.S. included, Blended, starring Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore and Wendi McLendon-Covey; X-Men: Days of Future Past, starring Jennifer Lawrence, Peter Dinklage, Michael Fassbender, Nicholas Hoult, Ellen Page and Hugh Jackman; The Angriest Man in Brooklyn, starring Peter Dinklage, Mila Kunis, Robin Williams, James Earl Jones and Melissa Leo; Tracks, with Adam Drive, Mia Wasikowska and Emma Booth; and Words and Pictures, with Juliette Binoche, Clive Owen, and Keegan Connor Tracy.
2014 - China warned Japan to stay out of a growing dispute with its neighbors over the South China Sea. This, as the Philippines implicitly accused Beijing of delaying talks aimed at finding a solution. China has laid claim to nearly the entire South China Sea, rejecting rival claims to parts of it from Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei in one of Asia’s most intractable disputes and a possible flashpoint.
2015 - Nigeria, Africa’s biggest oil producer, was in the grip of a months-long fuel shortage. Nigerian airlines grounded flights and radio stations were silenced. The crisis forced the closings after a strike disrupting fuel deliveries.
2015 - Japan pledged 55 billion yen ($450 million) in aid to Pacific island nations -- Fiji, the Marshall Islands, the Solomon Islands and others -- to help them in their battle against rising sea levels and natural calamities as a result of global warming.
2016 - The 108-year-old Harvard Club of Boston, Massachusetts elected Karen Van Winkle as its first female president.
2017 - POTUS Trump’s $4.1 trillion fiscal 2018 budget plan was released. The budget blueprint called for deep cuts in health care, food stamps, student loans, farm subsidies, and assistance for the disabled, while boosting spending on defense, border security, veterans’ care, and school choice.
2017 - Former CIA Director John Brennan told the House intelligence committee that he personally had warned Russia in the summer of 2016 against interfering in the U.S. presidential campaign. Brennan told the Russians that continued meddling would backfire and prevent any warming of relations after the election.
2018 - Jared Kushner, POTUS Trump’s son-in-law, was granted a permanent security clearance -- after Trump ordered officials to do so.
2018 - National Football League (NFL) owners voted to quell players’ national anthem protests and approved a policy requiring players who are on the field to stand during the anthem.
2019 - The U.S. filed 17 new charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, accusing him of violating the Espionage Act by publishing secret documents containing the names of confidential military and diplomatic sources.
2019 - SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying the first 60 satellites of its Starlink constellation, which is intended to provide internet from space in an array that eventually could contain over 12,000 orbiting transponders.
2020 - Utah police fatally shot 22-year-old Bernardo Palacios-Carbajal. Officers fired 34 shots at him, striking him 13 - 15 times. This, after after they chased him while he ran away carrying a gun and repeatedly dropped it and retrieved it. The shooting triggered protests coinciding with those against the killing of George Floyd.
2020 - COVID-19 news:
1)North Carolina reported its highest one-day increase of confirmed cases, with 1,107. The total number there rose to 22,725 with 737 deaths.
2)Thailand began trials of an experimental coronavirus vaccine using monkeys, one of at least 100 potential vaccines in the works around the world.2021 - Phil Mickelson, at 50 years of age, became the oldest golfer to win a major title when he won the P.G.A. Championship on this day. Mickelson closed with a 1-over 73 to win by 2 shots over Brooks Koepka and Louis Oosthuizen.
2021 - A cable car fell to the ground near the summit of a mountain overlooking the Piedmont, Italy region’s Lake Maggiore. 14 people were killed in the crash. A rescue official said it appeared that a cable had snapped and an emergency brake failed.
2021 - Israel reopened its borders to foreign tourists after a fall in COVID-19 infections but authorities said it would take time to revive the tourism industry. Under an easing of coronavirus restrictions, the government started letting in small groups of tourists from countries using vaccines it has approved.
2022 - New York City removed its last public payphones in Midtown Manhattan. The phones will become part of a museum display.
2022 - President Biden and the U.S., along with India, South Korea and Japan, launched the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework in Tokyo. The economic alliance of Asia-Pacific nations was meant to counter Chinese influence.
and more...
Birthdays on This Day May 23
1734 - Franz Anton Mesmer
physician: used hypnotism and magnetism in treatments; Mesmerism named after him; died March 15, 18151810 - Margaret Fuller
journalist: The Dial, The New York Tribune; author: Women in the Nineteenth Century; feminist; killed [w/husband and two-year-old son] in shipwreck [off Long Island NY] July 19, 18501846 - Arabella Mansfield (Belle Aurelia Babb)
first woman admitted to legal profession in U.S.; died Aug 1, 1911
1883 - Douglas Fairbanks (Douglas Elton Ulman)
actor: The Americano, He Comes Up Smiling, The Mollycoddle, The Mark of Zorro, The Three Musketeers, Robin Hood, The Thief of Bagdad, The Black Pirate, The Gaucho; formed United Artists with D.W. Griffith & Charlie Chaplin; died Dec 12, 19391890 - Herbert Marshall
actor: The Little Foxes, The Painted Veil, The Razor’s Edge, The Underworld Story, The Virgin Queen; radio serial: A Man Called X; died Jan 22, 19661908 - Linda Watkins
actress: The Parent Trap [1961], Huckleberry Finn, Bad Ronald, Once Upon a Dead Man, Good Neighbor Sam, Because They’re Young; died Oct 31, 19761910 - Scatman (Benjamin Sherman) Crothers
entertainer, actor: Petrocelli, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Charlie’s Angels, Hill Street Blues, The Sins of Rachel Cade, Hello, Dolly!, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Silver Streak, Bronco Billy, Twilight Zone: The Movie; died Nov 22, 19861910 - Artie Shaw (Arthur Arschawsky)
musician: clarinet: bandleader: Begin The Beguine, Indian Love Call, Frenesi, Summit Ridge Drive, My Little Nest of Heavenly Blue, Back Bay Shuffle, Traffic Jam, Nightmare, The Blues, They Say, Thanks for Ev’rything, Stardust, Dancing in the Dark, Concerto for Clarinet, I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles, Any Old Time; died Dec 30, 20041912 - John Payne
actor: Miracle on 34th Street, The Razor’s Edge, Springtime in the Rockies, Tin Pan Alley, To the Shores of Tripoli; died Dec 6, 19891919 - Betty Garrett
actress: All in the Family, LaVerne & Shirley, My Sister Eileen, On the Town, Take Me Out to the Ball Game; died Feb 12, 20111920 - Helen O’Connell
singer: Green Eyes, Amapola, Tangerine; married to bandleader, Frank DeVol; died Sep 9, 19931922 - Robert ‘Bumps’ Blackwell
music/record producer, executive, arranger, composer; headed band that included Quincy Jones and Ray Charles; credited with helping to turn gospel singer Sam Cooke into a soul great; died Mar 9, 19851925 - Mac Wiseman
musician: guitar, singer: Travelin’ Down This Lonesome Road, Jimmy Brown the Newsboy, The Ballad of Davey Crockett; recorded with many bluegrass bands, including Molly O’Day, Flatt and Scruggs, Bill Monroe, Osborne Brothers; died Feb 24, 20191928 - Jeannie Carson (Jean Shufflebottom)
comedienne: Red Buttons Show; actress: Hey, Jeannie! [1956 TV Series: as Jeannie MacLennan], Rockets Galore!, Little Women [1958 TV], Search for Tomorrow [1951 TV soap: as Marcy Vincente]1928 - Rosemary Clooney
singer: Hey There, Come On-A My House, This Ole House, Bye Bye Blackbird; actress: White Christmas, Deep in My Heart, Red Garters, Mangos, The Rosemary Clooney Show; aunt of actor George Clooney; sister of Nick Clooney, TV news anchor; died June 29, 20021928 - Nigel Davenport
actor: A Man for All Seasons, Chariots of Fire, Nighthawks, Picture of Dorian Gray; died Oct 25, 20131929 - Julian Euell
jazz/studio musician: bass; died Jul 7, 20191931 - Barbara Barrie (Berman)
actress: Lee (Andrew) May Barney Miller, Backstairs at the Whitehouse, Private Benjamin, Two of a Kind1933 - Joan Collins
actress: Dynasty, The Stud; appeared in Playboy at age 50; sister of writer, Jackie Collins1934 - Dr. Robert Moog
electronics inventor: Moog synthesizer; died Aug 21, 20051943 - Lee (Andrew) May
baseball: Cincinnati Reds [all-star: 1969, 1971/World Series: 1970], Houston Astros [all-star:1972], Baltimore Orioles [World Series: 1979], KC Royals; died Jul 29, 20171943 - John Newcombe
tennis champion: Australian Open [1973, 1975], Wimbledon [1967, 1970, 1971], U.S. Open [1967, 1973]1944 - Bob Leduc
hockey: WHA: Ottawa Nationals, Toronto Toros1945 - Lauren Chapin
actress: Father Knows Best1945 - Misty Morgan
singer: group [w/husband Jack Blanchard]: Jack Blanchard & Misty Morgan: Tennessee Bird Walk, Big Black Bird [Spirit of My Love], Poor Jody, You’ve Got Your Troubles [I’ve Got Mine]; died Jan 1, 20211946 - David Graham
Australia golf champ: U.S. Open [1981], PGA [1979]1948 - Reggie (Reginald Leslie) Cleveland
baseball: pitcher: St. Louis Cardinals, Boston Red Sox [World Series: 1975], Texas Rangers, Milwaukee Brewers1951 - Anatoly Karpov
world chess champion: International Grandmaster1952 - Butch (Clarence Edward) Metzger
baseball: pitcher: SF Giants [NL Rookie of the Year (w/Pat Zachry): 1976], SD Padres, SL Cardinals, NY Mets1953 - Rick Fenn
musician: guitar; singer: group: 10cc: I‘m Not In Love, Star Power, Johnny Don’t Do It, The Worst Band in the World1954 - Marvelous Marvin Hagler
International Boxing Hall of Famer: middleweight champion [1980-1987]; bouts: 67, won 62, lost 3, drew 2, KOs: 52; changed his legal name to Marvelous Marvin Hagler1956 - Buck Showalter
baseball [manager]: New York Yankees, Arizona Diamondbacks, Texas Rangers1957 - Mark Arnold
actor: Santa Barbara, Guiding Light, The Edge of Night, Rituals, Teen Wolf, Reconciliation, The Last Stop, They Came From Outer Space, Rampage Superstar, Neland Circle, Against the Grain1958 - Drew Carey
comedian, actor, producer, writer: The Drew Carey Show, Whose Line Is It Anyway?; TV game show host: The Price Is Right1960 - Linden Ashby
martial artist, actor: Mortal Kombat, Dead Mule Suitcase, Maid of Honor, A Killer Upstairs, Wild Things 2, The Company You Keep, Facing the Enemy, The Young and the Restless, Days of Our Lives, Wild Things: Diamonds in the Rough, Sub Zero, Prom Night, Impact Point, Teen Wolf, Mean Girls 2, Pretty Little Liars1963 - Wally Dallenbach
NASCAR race car driver1965 - James Hasty
football [cornerback]: Washington State Univ; NFL: New York Jets, Kansas City Chiefs, Oakland Raiders1965 - Melissa McBride
actress: The Walking Dead, A Season in Purgatory, Close to Danger, Any Place But Home, Walker, Texas Ranger, Nathan Dixon, Dawson’s Creek, Living Proof1970 - Ricky Gutierrez
baseball: SD Padres, Houston Astros, Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Indians, Boston Red Sox, NY Mets, Seattle Mariners1971 - Laurel Holloman
actress: The L Word, The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love, Dying to Belong, Stamp and Deliver, Loser Love, Libery, Maine, Alone, Gigantic1972 - Victor Espinoza
horse jockey: jockeyed Triple Crown winner American Pharoah in 2015; received the ESPY Award for Best Jockey in 2014 for his work with California Chrome1974 - Kenneth Wayne Jennings III
TV game-show champ: Jeopardy: won 74-straight times [$3,022,700]1974 - Jewel (Kilcher)
musician: guitar; songwriter, singer: You Were Meant For Me, Foolish Games, Hands, Standing Still, Intuition, Stay Here Forever; she has sold over 27 million albums worldwide; more1974 - Duane Starks
football [cornerback]: Univ of Miami; NFL: Baltimore Ravens, Arizona Cardinals, New England Patriots1976 - Kelly Monaco
actress: General Hospital, Mumford, Late Last Night, Idle Hands, BASEketball1976 - Ramon Ortiz
baseball [pitcher]: Anaheim Angels, Cincinnati Reds, Washington Nationals, Minnesota Twins1980 - Gary Brackett
football [linebacker]: Rutgers Univ; NFL: Indianapolis Colts [Super Bowl XLI champs: 2007]1981 - Jeanette Brox
actress: Art School Confidential, The Shaggy Dog, Rocket Science, The Practice, Judging Amy, The West Wing, ER, Boston Public, Gilmore Girls, CSI, Crossing Jordan, Easier With Practice, Trailer Park of Terror, An American Town1984 - Adam Wylie
actor: Picket Fences, Return to Sleepaway Camp, American Pie Presents Band Camp, Balloon Farm, Under Wraps, Sitting in Limbo, Stepfather III; Broadway: Into the Woods1991 - Aaron Donald
football [defensive tackle]: NFL: St. Louis/Los Angeles Rams [2014– ]: 2022 Super Bowl LVI [56] champs
and still more...
Hit Music on This Day May 23
1951Mockingbird Hill (facts) - Patti Page
On Top of Old Smokey (facts) - The Weavers (vocal: Terry Gilkyson)
1960
1969
1978
1987
1996
2005
2014
and even more...
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they’d never end...
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