History of the Day for:
March 23
- 1743: George Handel's oratorio "Messiah" had its London premiere.
- 1775: In a speech, Patrick Henry made his famous plea for American independence from Britain, saying, "I know not what course others might take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!"
- 1794: The United States' first patent was granted to Joseph G. Pierson for a riveting machine.
- 1806: Explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark began their return trip back east after reaching the Pacific Coast.
- 1858: Eleazer A. Gardner of Philadelphia patented the first plans for a cable car system.
- 1919: Benito Mussolini founded his Fascist political movement in Milan, Italy.
- 1925: Tennessee enacted legislation making it unlawful to teach children the theory of evolution.
- 1933: The German Reichstag adopted the Enabling Act, which granted Adolf Hitler dictatorial legislative powers.
- 1942: The U.S. government began moving native-born Americans of Japanese ancestry from their West Coast homes to imprisonment in detention centers.
- 1956: Pakistan becomes the first Islamic republic in the world. (Republic Day in Pakistan)
- 1962: NS Savannah, the first nuclear-powered cargo-passenger ship, is launched as a showcase for Dwight D. Eisenhower's Atoms for Peace initiative.
- 1965: America's first two-person space flight began as Gemini III blasted off from Cape Kennedy with astronauts Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom and John W. Young aboard.
- 1973: "Concentration," the longest-running game show in television history, starring Hugh Downs, left the air after 15 years on NBC.
- 1981: CBS announced plans to reduce "Captain Kangaroo" to a 30-minute show.
- 1982: Dr. Barney C. Clark, the first recipient of a permanent artificial heart, died after 112 days with the device.
- 1983: President Ronald Reagan proposed development of technology to intercept enemy missiles, a proposal that came to be known as "Star Wars."
- 1989: Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann announce cold fusion at the University of Utah.
- 1994: At an election rally in Tijuana, Mexican presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio is assassinated by Mario Aburto Martínez.
- 1994: Aeroflot Flight 593 crashes in Siberia when the pilot's fifteen-year old son accidentally disengages the autopilot, killing all 75 people on board.
- 1994: A United States Air Force (USAF) F-16 aircraft collides with a USAF C-130 at Pope Air Force Base and then crashes, killing 24 United States Army soldiers on the ground. This later became known as the Green Ramp disaster.
- 1996: Taiwan holds its first direct elections and chooses Lee Teng-hui as President.
- 1999: Gunmen assassinate Paraguay's Vice President Luis María Argaña.
- 2001: The Russian Mir space station is disposed of, breaking up in the atmosphere before falling into the southern Pacific Ocean near Fiji.
- 2003: In Nasiriyah, Iraq, 11 soldiers of the 507th Maintenance Company as well as 18 U.S. Marines are killed during the first major conflict of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
- 2004: Andhra Pradesh Federation of Trade Unions holds its first conference in Hyderabad, India.
- 2005: The United States 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, refuses to order the reinsertion of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube.
- 2005: A major explosion at the Texas City Refinery kills 15 workers.
- 2006: The Federal Reserve discontinues publishing M3 money supply.
- 2007: Burnley Tunnel catastrophe occurs in Melbourne, Australia.
- 2007: The Iranian Navy seizes Royal Navy personnel in the waters between Iran and Iraq.