Today is Wednesday, Nov. 23, the 327th day of 2005. There are 38 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Nov. 23, 1945, most U.S. wartime rationing of foods, including meat and butter, ended.
On this date:
In 1765, Frederick County, Md., repudiated the British Stamp Act.
In 1804, the 14th president of the United States, Franklin Pierce, was born in Hillsboro, N.H.
In 1903, singer Enrico Caruso made his American debut at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, appearing in “Rigoletto.”
In 1936, Life, the magazine created by Henry R. Luce, was first published.
In 1943, during World War II, U.S. forces seized control of Tarawa and Makin atolls from the Japanese.
In 1959, the musical “Fiorello!,” with music by Jerry Bock and lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, opened on Broadway.
In 1963, President Johnson proclaimed Nov. 25 a day of national mourning following the assassination of President Kennedy.
In 1971, the People’s Republic of China was seated in the U.N. Security Council.
In 1980, some 4,800 people were killed by a series of earthquakes that devastated southern Italy.
In 1985, retired CIA analyst Larry Wu-tai Chin was arrested and accused of spying for China. (He committed suicide a year after his conviction.)
Ten years ago: Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic grudgingly accepted the U.S.-backed peace plan for the former Yugoslavia after meeting with Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic. Free-lance photographer Charles Rathbun was booked in Hermosa Beach, Calif., for investigation of murder in the disappearance of model Linda Sobek. (Rathbun was later convicted of Sobek’s murder.) Movie director Louis Malle died in Beverly Hills, Calif., at age 63.
Five years ago: In a setback for Al Gore, the Florida Supreme Court refused to order Miami-Dade County officials to resume hand-counting its election-day ballots. Meanwhile, Gore’s lawyers argued in a brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court that the high court should stay out of the Florida election controversy.
One year ago: Opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko declared himself the winner of Ukraine’s disputed presidential election and took a symbolic oath of office. (He won a court-ordered revote in December 2004.) Dan Rather announced he would step down as principal anchorman of “The CBS Evening News” in March 2005.
Today’s Birthdays: Actor Michael Gough is 88. Broadway composer Jerry Bock is 77. Former Labor Secretary William E. Brock is 75. Actor Franco Nero is 64. Screenwriter Joe Eszterhas is 61. Actress Susan Anspach is 60. Actor Steve Landesberg is 60. Singer Bruce Hornsby is 51. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., is 50. Actor Maxwell Caulfield is 46. Actor John Henton is 45. TV personality Robin Roberts (“Good Morning America”) is 45. Rock singer-musician Ken Block (Sister Hazel) is 39. Rock musician Charlie Grover is 39. Actress Salli Richardson is 38. Actor Oded Fehr is 35. Rapper Kurupt (Tha Dogg Pound) is 33. Actor Page Kennedy is 29. Actress Kelly Brook is 26. Actor Austin Majors (“NYPD Blue”) is 10.
Thought for Today: “We are incredibly heedless in the formation of our beliefs, but find ourselves filled with an illicit passion for them when anyone proposes to rob us of their companionship.” — James Harvey Robinson, American historian (1863-1936).
