Friday, October 23rd
The 296th day of 2009.
There are 69 days left in the year.
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Today's Highlights in History
On Oct. 23, 1983, a suicide truck-bombing at Beirut International Airport in Lebanon killed 220 U.S. Marines, 18 sailors and 3 Army soldiers; a near-simultaneous attack on French forces killed 58 paratroopers. (Go to article.)
On Oct. 23, 1869, John William Heisman, the coach who revolutionized the game of college football, was born. Following his death on Oct. 3, 1936, his obituary appeared in The Times. (Go to obit. | Other Birthdays)
Editorial Cartoon of the Day
On October 23, 1886, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about Henry George and the New York mayoral race of 1886. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.)
On this date in:
1707 The first Parliament of Great Britain, created by the Acts of Union between England and Scotland, held its first meeting.
1915 Some 25,000 women marched in New York City demanding the right to vote.
1925 Comedian and talk show host Johnny Carson was born in Corning, Iowa.
1942 Britain launched a major offensive against Axis forces at El Alamein in Egypt during World War II.
1956 An anti-Stalinist revolt began in Hungary.
1973 President Richard M. Nixon agreed to turn White House tape recordings requested by the Watergate special prosecutor over to Judge John J. Sirica.
1987 The U.S. Senate rejected the Supreme Court nomination of Robert H. Bork, 58-42.
1989 A white man, Charles Stuart, claimed that he and his pregnant wife had been shot by a black robber in Boston; Carol Stuart and her prematurely delivered baby died. (Charles Stuart was later implicated in the shootings and apparently committed suicide.)
1993 Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Joe Carter became the second player to end a World Series with a home run - a three-run shot that gave Toronto an 8-6 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 6.
1998 Dr. Barnett Slepian, a doctor who performed abortions, was killed at his home in suburban Buffalo, N.Y., when a sniper fired through his kitchen window. (James Kopp was convicted of murder and is serving 25 years to life in prison.)
1998 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat signed a land-for-peace agreement at the White House, following nine days of talks at Wye River, Md.
2002 Gunmen seized a crowded Moscow theater, taking hundreds hostage and threatening to kill them unless the Russian army pulled out of Chechnya.
2003 Madame Chiang Kai-shek, widow of the Chinese nationalist leader, died in New York at age 105.
2006 Former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling was sentenced by a federal judge in Houston to 24 years, four months for his role in the company's collapse.
2008 Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan conceded that the financial meltdown had revealed a flaw in a lifetime of economic thinking and left him in a "state of shocked disbelief."
Current Birthdays
Ang Lee turns 55 years old today.
AP Photo/Peter Kramer Director Ang Lee turns 55 years old today.
78 Jim Bunning
Baseball Hall of Famer, U.S. senator, R-Ky.
73 Philip Kaufman
Director ("Invasion of the Body Snatchers")
69 Pele
Soccer player
66 Barbara Ann Hawkins
R&B singer (The Dixie Cups)
63 Mel Martinez
Former U.S. senator, R-Fla.
58 Michael Rupert
Actor
53 Dianne Reeves
Jazz singer
53 Dwight Yoakam
Country singer
50 Sam Raimi
Director
50 Weird Al Yankovic
Musical parodist
47 Doug Flutie
Football player
45 Robert Trujillo
Rock musician (Metallica)
44 Al Leiter
Baseball player, sportscaster
43 Brian Nevin
Rock musician (Big Head Todd and the Monsters)
43 David Thomas
R&B singer (Take 6)
41 Junior Bryant
Country singer, musician
37 Jimmy Wayne
Country singer
35 Eric Bass
Rock musician (Shinedown)
34 Keith Van Horn
Basketball player
31 John Lackey
Baseball player
24 Masiela Lusha
Actress ("George Lopez")
23 Briana Evigan
Actress
23 Jessica Stroup
Actress ("90210")
Historic Birthdays
John William Heisman
10/23/1869 - 10/3/1936
American collegiate football coach
(Go to obit.)
14 Peter II
10/23/1715 - 1/29/1730
Emperor of Russia (1727-30)
57 Pierre Larousse
10/23/1817 - 1/3/1875
French encyclopaedist
78 Adlai Ewing Stevenson
10/23/1835 - 6/14/1914
American lawyer and U.S. vice president (1893-7)
77 Frederick Lanchester
10/23/1868 - 3/8/1946
English engineer
101 William Coolidge
10/23/1873 - 2/3/1975
American inventor and engineer
77 Felix Bloch
10/23/1905 - 9/10/1983
Swiss-born American physicist
70 Frank Rizzo
10/23/1920 - 7/16/1991
American politician; mayor of Philadelphia (1972-80)
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SOURCE: The Associated Press
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Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
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