GMT

Today in History: March 23

1775 American revolutionary hero Patrick Henry, while addressing the House of Burgesses, declares "give me liberty, or give me death!"

1848 Hungary proclaims its independence of Austria.

1862 Confederate General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson faces his only defeat at the Battle of Kernstown, Va

1880 John Stevens of Neenah, Wis., patents the grain crushing mill. This mill allows flour production to increase by 70 percent.

1903 The Wright brothers obtain an airplane patent.

1909 Theodore Roosevelt begins an African safari sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution and National Geographic Society.

1909 British Lt. Ernest Shackleton finds the magnetic South Pole.

1933 The Reichstag gives Adolf Hitler the power to rule by decree.

1970 Mafia boss Carlo Gambino is arrested for plotting to steal $3 million.

1981 U.S. Supreme Court upholds a law making statutory rape a crime for men but not women.

1983US President Ronald Reagan lays out plans for defensive orbiting lasers capable of intercepting and destroying incoming nuclear weapons. Derided by opponents as 'Star Wars,' the Strategic Defense Initiative will cost the US $30 billion, but it will never be fully developed or deployed.

Born on March 23

1908 Joan Crawford, American actress.


JOTD
My girlfriend accused me of cheating

I told her she was starting to sound like my wife.