TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – MAY 23
1059 Henri I crowns his son compassionate King Philip I of France
1275 King Edward I of England orders cessation of persecution of French Jews
1430 Burgundians capture Joan of Arc and sell her to the English.
1533 Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon is declared null and void.
1618 Second Defenestration of Prague: Two Catholic Lords Regent and their secretary are thrown out of a window and amazingly are not seriously injured by the 70 foot (21m) fall. Triggers the Thirty Years’ War.
1701 Captain William Kidd, the Scottish pirate, is hanged on the banks of the Thames.
1785 Benjamin Franklin announces his invention of bifocals.
1788 South Carolina becomes the eighth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.
1844 Siyyid `Alí Muḥammad Shírází founds Bábism
The Báb, as he called himself, created the religion which was a forerunner of the Bahá’í Faith. His teachings were seen as a threat by the Islamic clergy, and his followers were brutally persecuted by the Persian government.
1861 Virginia citizens vote 3 to 1 in favor of secession
1900 Civil War hero Sgt. William H. Carney becomes the first African American to receive the Medal of Honor, thirty-seven years after the Battle of Fort Wagner.
1928 Bomb attack on Italians embassy in Buenos Aires, 22 die
1934 Gangsters Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow are killed by Texas Rangers.
1945 Heinrich Himmler, the head of the Nazi Gestapo, commits suicide after being captured by Allied forces.
1949 Federal Republic of [West] Germany created out of the American, British and French occupation zones
1951 Delegates of the Dalai Lama sign the Seventeen Point Agreement
The contract affirmed Chinese sovereignty over Tibet. According to Tibetan officials, the document was signed under duress and is, therefore, invalid.
1956 Presbyterian Church begins accepting women ministers
1960 Israel announced capture of Nazi Adolf Eichmann in Argentina
1977 Moluccan extremists hold 105 schoolchildren & 50 others hostage on a hijacked train in Netherlands, children released May 27, siege ends June 11
1977 Supreme Court refuses to hear appeals of Watergate wrong doers H R Halderman, John Ehrlichman & John Mitchell
1983 Radio Moscow announcer Vladimir Danchev praises Afghánistán Muslims standing up to Russia; he is removed from the air
1990 Cost of rescuing savings & loan failures is put at up to $130 billion
1991 US Supreme Court bars subsidized clinics from discussing abortion
1992 President Bush orders Coast Guard to intercept boats with Haitian refugees
1993 A Proposal has been put forward by Washington to create safe havens in Bosnia-Herzegovina , but the Muslim president has said his people are not willing to be put “in Reservations.”
1998 The Good Friday Agreement is accepted in a referendum in Northern Ireland with 75% voting yes.
2013 The Boy Scouts of America’s national council voted to allow openly gay members but have not changed their ban on openly gay adult scout leaders. The move was welcomed as a step in the right direction for inclusion and tolerance. The ban had been in place for twenty-two years.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
