Today is Saturday, April 23, the 113th day of 2011. There are 252 days left in the year.
Today’s highlight:
On April 23, 1616, English poet and dramatist William Shakespeare, 52, died on what has been traditionally regarded as the anniversary of his birth in 1564.
On this date:
In 1789, President-elect George Washington moved into the first executive mansion, the Franklin House, in New York.
In 1791, the 15th president of the United States, James Buchanan, was born in Franklin County, Pa.
In 1896, the Vitascope system for projecting movies onto a screen was publicly demonstrated in New York City.
In 1910, former President Theodore Roosevelt delivered his famous “Man in the Arena” speech at the Sorbonne in Paris.
In 1940, about 200 people died in the Rhythm Night Club Fire in Natchez, Miss.
In 1954, Hank Aaron of the Milwaukee Braves hit the first of his record 755 major-league home runs, in a game against the St. Louis Cardinals. (The Braves won, 7-5.)
In 1961, Judy Garland performed her legendary concert at New York’s Carnegie Hall.
In 1968, student protesters began occupying buildings on the campus of Columbia University in New York; police put down the protests a week later.
In 1969, Sirhan Sirhan was sentenced to death for assassinating New York Sen. Robert F. Kennedy. (The sentence was later reduced to life imprisonment.)
In 1985, the Coca-Cola Co. announced it was changing the secret flavor formula for Coke (negative public reaction forced the company to resume selling the original version).
Ten years ago: USS Greeneville Commander Scott Waddle was given a letter of reprimand as punishment for a submarine collision that killed nine people aboard a Japanese fishing vessel off Hawaii.
Five years ago: Osama bin Laden issued new threats in an audiotape broadcast on Arab television and accused the United States and Europe of supporting a “Zionist” war on Islam by cutting off funds to the Hamas-led Palestinian government.
One year ago: Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed the nation’s toughest illegal immigration law, saying “decades of inaction and misguided policy” had created a “dangerous and unacceptable situation”; opponents said the law would encourage discrimination against Hispanics. The Coast Guard suspended a three-day search for 11 workers missing since an explosion rocked the Deepwater Horizon oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico.
Associated Press
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