May 23

Events

• 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.

Births

• 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

Deaths

• 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

Holidays and Observances

• Bahá'í Faith[?]: Declaration of the Báb

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