This day in history

March 23rd, 2025, 10:44 AM

Today is Sunday, March 23, the 82nd day of 2025. There are 283 days left in the year.

►Birthdays: Singer Chaka Khan is 72. Basketball Hall of Fame coach Geno Auriemma is 71. Fashion designer Kenneth Cole is 71. Actor Amanda Plummer is 68. Actor Hope Davis is 61. Musician Damon Albarn is 57. Basketball Hall of Famer Jason Kidd is 52. Actor Randall Park is 51. Actor Michelle Monaghan is 49. Actor Keri Russell is 49. Country singer Brett Young is 44.

In 1775, Patrick Henry delivered an address to the Virginia Provincial Convention in which it is said he declared, “Give me liberty, or give me death!’’

In 1919, Benito Mussolini founded his Fascist political movement in Milan, Italy.

In 1933, the German Reichstag adopted the Enabling Act, which effectively granted Adolf Hitler dictatorial powers.

In 1942, the first Japanese Americans incarcerated by the US Army during World War II arrived at the internment camp at Manzanar, Calif.

In 1965, America’s first two-person space mission took place as Gemini 3 blasted off with astronauts Virgil I. “Gus’’ Grissom and John W. Young aboard for a nearly 5-hour flight orbiting Earth.

In 1998, “Titanic’’ tied an Academy Awards record by winning 11 Oscars, including best picture and best director for James Cameron and best original song for “My Heart Will Go On.’’

In 1993, scientists announced they had identified the gene that causes Huntington’s disease.

In 2010, President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act, a $938 billion health care overhaul.

In 2021, a cargo ship the size of a skyscraper ran aground and became wedged in the Suez Canal. Hundreds of ships would be prevented from passing through the canal until the vessel was freed six days later.