January 23 ...

In 1556 the Shaanxi earthquake, the deadliest earthquake in history, hit Shaanxi province, China. The death toll may have been as high as 830,000. In 1783 the writer Stendhal (Marie-Henri Beyle) was born in Grenoble, France. In 1832 painter Edouard Manet was born in Paris. In 1845 Congress decided all national elections would be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. In 1907 Sen. Charles Curtis (R-KS) became the first American Indian to serve in the US Senate; he went on to become Senate Majority Leader and later became vice president under President Herbert Hoover. In 1920 the Dutch government refused demands from the victorious Allies to hand over the ex-kaiser of Germany. In 1930 American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh photographed the planet Pluto. In 1932 New York Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination. In 1941 Charles Lindbergh testified before Congress and recommended that the US negotiate a neutrality pact with Adolf Hitler. In 1943 the British captured Tripoli from the Germans; also on this day, Duke Ellington played at New York's Carnegie Hall for the first time. In 1964 ratification of the 24th Amendment to the US Constitution, eliminating the poll tax in federal elections, was completed; also on this day, the Milwaukee Braves' Warren Spahn signed a contract worth $85,000, making him the highest paid pitcher in baseball. In 1968 North Korea seized the US Navy ship Pueblo, charging it had intruded into the nation's territorial waters on a spying mission. The crew was released 11 months later. In 1969 NASA unveiled its moon-landing craft. In 1973 President Nixon announced an accord had been reached to end the Vietnam War. In 1976 Paul Robeson died in Philadelphia. In 1977 the first segment of the mini-series Roots aired on ABC. In 1985 debate in Britain's House of Lords was carried on live television for the first time. In 1989 surrealist artist Salvador Dali died in his native Spain at age 84. In 2002 American born Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh was returned to the US to face criminal charges that he had conspired to kill fellow Americans; also on this date, Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped in Karachi, Pakistan. In 2005 former Tonight Show host Johnny Carson died in Malibu, CA, at age 79.