History of the Day for:
January 23
- 1668: Holland, Britain and Sweden signed the Alliance of the Hague, known as the Triple Alliance, under which they agreed to aid one another if attacked.
- 1719: The Principality of Liechtenstein was formed by the amalgamation of Vaduz and Schellenberg.
- 1789: Georgetown University was established at the future site of the nation's capital, Washington, D.C.
- 1845: A uniform election day for presidential elections was established by an act of Congress, which decided all national elections would be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.
- 1849: English?born Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman in America to receive a Doctor of Medicine degree, from the Medical Institution of Geneva, N.Y.
- 1898: Russian film director Sergei Eisenstein ("The Battleship Potemkin") was born.
- 1907: The first American Indian senator, Charles Curtis of Kansas, began his term of office.
- 1933: The 20th Amendment was ratified to change the date of presidential inaugurations to Jan. 20.
- 1941: Charles Lindbergh testifies before the U.S. Congress and recommends that the United States negotiate a neutrality pact with Adolf Hitler.
- 1943: World War II: Troops of Montgomery's 8th Army capture Tripoli in Libya from the German-Italian Panzer Army.
- 1943: World War II: Australian and American forces finally defeat the Japanese army in Papua. This turning point in the Pacific War marks the beginning of the end of Japanese aggression.
- 1943: Duke Ellington plays at Carnegie Hall in New York City for the first time.
- 1943: World War II: The Battle of Mount Austen, the Galloping Horse, and the Sea Horse on Guadalcanal during the Guadalcanal campaign ends.
- 1945: World War II: Karl Dönitz launches Operation Hannibal.
- 1948: John Huston's "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" starring Humphrey Bogart and Walter Huston, opened at the Strand.
- 1950: The Israeli Knesset approved a resolution proclaiming Jerusalem the capital of Israel.
- 1960: Crew in the bathyscaphe Trieste reached the bottom of the Mariana Trench, 35,802-ft. down.
- 1961: The Supreme Court ruled that cities and states had a right to censor films before they were released to the public.
- 1964: The 24th Amendment to the Constitution, eliminating the poll tax in federal elections, was ratified.
- 1968: North Korea seized the U.S. Navy ship "Pueblo," charging it had intruded into the communist nation's territorial waters on a spying mission. The crew was released eleven months later.
- 1973: President Richard Nixon announced an agreement with Hanoi intended to bring an end to the Vietnam War.
- 1977: The TV mini-series "Roots," based on the Alex Haley novel, began airing on ABC and became the most watched TV program in history.
- 1983: Bjorn Borg announced his retirement from tennis.
- 1986: The first annual induction ceremony for the Rock 'N' Roll Hall of Fame was held in New York. Among those inducted were Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Fats Domino, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley.
- 1988: The experimental airplane Voyager, piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, completed the first nonstop, round?the?world flight without refueling as it landed safely at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
- 1991: The world's largest oil spill, caused by embattled Iraqi forces in Kuwait, began flowing into the Persian Gulf; "Seinfeld" made its series debut on NBC.
- 1997: Madeleine Albright becomes the first woman to serve as United States Secretary of State.
- 1997: Antonis Daglis, a 23-year-old Greek truck driver is sentenced to thirteen consecutive life sentences, plus 25 years for the serial slayings of three women and the attempted murder of six others.
- 2002: "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh returns to the United States in FBI custody.
- 2002: Reporter Daniel Pearl is kidnapped in Karachi, Pakistan and is subsequently murdered .
- 2003: Final communication between Earth and Pioneer 10.