February 23
1821
John Keats, English Romantic poet, died.
1836
Mexican general Santa Anna began the siege of the Alamo.
1896
The Tootsie Roll was introduced by Leo Hirshfield.
1898
1898 French novelist Emile Zola was convicted of libel and sentenced to jail for writing his “J’accuse” letter accusing the government of anti-Semitism and wrongly jailing Captain Alfred Dreyfus.
1942
The first Axis shelling of U.S. soil took place near Santa Barbara, Calif.
1945
U.S. Marines raised the American flag on Iwo Jima.
1997
Scottish scientists announced the successful cloning of a sheep, Dolly.
2011
The Obama Administration determines that the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional.
Birthdays
George Frideric Handel
1685–1759, German-English Composer.
Born in Halle, Germany. Handel was one of the greatest masters of baroque music, most widely celebrated for his majestic oratorio The Messiah. Of German descent, he was originally named Georg Friedrich Handel.
Samuel Pepys
diarist (1633)
W. E. B. DuBois
author (1868)
Peter Fonda
actor (1939)
Viktor Yushchenko
politician, president (1954)
Crown Prince Naruhito
heir to the Japanese throne (1960)
Michael Dell
entrepreneur (1965)