May 23 is the 143rd day of the year in the
Gregorian calendar (144th in
leap years). There are 222 days remaining.
- 1430 - Joan of Arc is captured by Burgundians at Compiegne[?] and is later sold to the English.
- 1533 - The marriage of King Henry VIII of England to Catharine of Aragon is declared null and void.
- 1541 - Jacques Cartier departs St-Malo[?] France on his third voyage.
- 1555 - Paul IV becomes Pope.
- 1609 - Official ratification of the Second Charter of Virginia.
- 1618 - The Second Defenstration of Prague precipitates the Thirty Years' War.
- 1701 - After being convicted of murdering William Moore[?] and for piracy, Captain William Kidd is hanged in London.
- 1788 - South Carolina becomes the 8th U.S. state to ratify the United States Constitution.
- 1865 - Parade down Pennsylvania Ave in Washington, DC to celebrate the ending of the American Civil War.
- 1873 - The Canadian Parliament establishes the North West Mounted Police (which will be renamed the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in 1920).
- 1900 - Sergeant William Harvey Carney becomes the first African American to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor (awarded for heroism in the Battle of Fort Wagner[?] during the American Civil War).
- 1911 - Dedication ceremony for the New York Public Library.
- 1915 - World War I: Italy joins the Allies after they declare war on Austria-Hungary.
- 1934 - Near their hide-out in Black Lake, Louisiana[?], bank robbers Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow are ambushed and shot dead by Texas Rangers.
- 1945 - World War II: Heinrich Himmler, the head of the Gestapo, commits suicide while in Allied custody.
- 1949 - The Federal Republic of Germany is established.
- 1960 - Prime Minister of Israel David Ben-Gurion announces that Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann has been captured.
- 1962 - Drilling for new Montreal, Quebec subway commences
- 1985 - Thomas Patrick Cavanagh[?] is sentenced to life in prison for attempting to sell stealth bomber[?] secrets to the Soviet Union.
- 1995 - Official announcement of the Java programming language.
- 1995 - Oklahoma City bombing: In Oklahoma City the remains of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building[?] is imploded.
- 1998 - Explorer I ceases transmission.
- 1999 - In Kansas City, Missouri, Owen Hart (Blue Blazer) falls 90 feet to his death while being lowered into a World Wrestling Federation ring.
- 2003 - Mountain climbing: 25-year-old Nepalese Sherpa, Pemba Dorjie Sherpa[?], makes world's fastest ever ascent of Mount Everest, in 12 hours 45 minutes.
- 1707 - Carolus Linnaeus, Swedish botanist (+ 1778)
- 1790 - Jules Dumont d'Urville, explorer (+ 1842)
- 1810 - Margaret Fuller[?], journalist, feminist (+ 1850)
- 1824 - Ambrose Burnside, American Civil War general (+ 1881)
- 1848 - Otto Lilienthal[?], engineer (+ 1896)
- 1883 - Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., actor, cofounder of United Artists (+ 1939)
- 1888 - Zack Wheat[?], Baseball Hall of Famer (+ 1972)
- 1890 - Herbert Marshall[?], actor (+ 1966)
- 1898 - Scott O'Dell[?], author (+ 1989)
- 1908 - John Bardeen, physicist (+ 1991)
- 1910 - Scatman Crothers, actor, musician (+ 1986)
- 1910 - Artie Shaw, clarinetist, bandleader
- 1912 - John Payne[?], actor (+ 1989)
- 1919 - Betty Garrett[?], actress, dancer
- 1920 - Helen O'Connell[?], singer
- 1921 - James Blish, science fiction author (+ 1975)
- 1927 - Dieter Hildebrandt[?], cabaret artiste
- 1928 - Nigel Davenport[?], actor
- 1928 - Rosemary Clooney, singer, actress (+ 2002)
- 1929 - Julian Euell[?], jazz musician
- 1933 - Joan Collins, actress
- 1934 - Dr. Robert Moog, inventor of Moog synthesizer
- 1939 - Reinhard Hauff[?], film director
- 1943 - John Newcombe[?], tennis player
- 1946 - David Graham[?], golf champion
- 1951 - Anatoly Karpov, chess world champion
- 1952 - Marvelous Marvin Hagler, boxer
- 1958 - Drew Carey comedian, actor
- 1975 - Jewel, singer
- 1977 - Ilia Kulik[?], figure skating champion
- 1125 - Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor
- 1701 - Captain Kidd, pirate
- 1841 - Franz Xaver von Baader, philosopher, theologian
- 1855 - Charles Robert Malden explorer
- 1868 - Kit Carson, trapper, scout, Indian agent, soldier, legend
- 1933 - Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker, outlaws
- 1937 - John D. Rockefeller, entrepreneur
- 1945 - Heinrich Himmler, Nazi official
- 1975 - Moms Mabley[?], comedienne
- 1986 - Sterling Hayden[?]
- 1992 - Giovanni Falcone, judge
- 2002 - Sam Snead, golfer
See Also:
May 22 - May 24 - April 23 - June 23 -- listing of all days
January, February, March, April, May, June, July,
August, September, October, November, December