Epic Idiot's what happened
On This Day

July 23

2002
Iraq War: Downing Street memo: A British Prime Minister's meeting discusses the Bush administration's intention for war in Iraq.  According to the memo:

"Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy" and "Bush had made up his mind to take military action, even if the timing was not yet decided. But the case was thin. Saddam was not threatening his neighbours, and his WMD capability was less than that of Libya, North Korea or Iran."

The minutes of this meeting would later be leaked to the press.

1986
Royal Wedding: Prince Andrew marries Sarah "Fergie" Ferguson, the Duchess of York, at London's Westminster Abbey.

1984
First Miss America to resign: Vanessa Williams - the first black Miss America - relinquishes her crown after Penthouse magazine announces it will publish nude photos of her with another woman.

1982
Helicopter crash on the set of Twilight Zone-The Movie kills actor Vic Morrow and two illegally employed Vietnamese children.

1967
12th Street Riot: Race riots begin in Detroit, Michigan, lasting five days. Forty-three people were killed and 2,000 were injured.

1904
The ice cream cone is invented, by Charles E. Minches, St. Louis, Missouri.

1886
A man jumps off the Brooklyn Bridge on a bet and lives.

1851
Sioux Indians relinquish their land in Iowa and Minnesota to the U.S. with the signing of the Treaty of Traverse.

1846
Henry David Thoreau is jailed for refusing to pay his poll tax, prompting him to write Civil Disobedience.

1827
First public swimming pool in the U.S. opens, Boston Massachusetts.

1766
First U.S. medical society is formed, Brunswick, New Jersey.

1973
Monica Lewinsky, American White House intern. She had an illicit affair with Pres. Bill Clinton.

1954
Janet Cooke, American journalist.  As a reporter for the Washington Post, she won the 1981 Pulitzer Prize for her story of an 8-year-old heroin addict. It was later revealed that she made the story up.

1950
Belinda Montgomery, Canadian-born actress. TV: Doogie Howser, M.D (Katherine).

1947
David Essex, British singer. Music: Rock On (1973) and I'm Gonna Make You A Star (1974, #1).

1936     d. 1993
Don Drysdale, American Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher, sportscaster. TV: Monday Night Baseball.

1936
Anthony M. Kennedy, U.S. Supreme Court Justice.

1924
Gloria DeHaven, American actress. TV: Ryan's Hope (Bess Shelby).

1921     d. 2003
Robert Brown, British actor, 'M' in the James Bond movies starting with Octopussy (1983) till License to Kill (1989).

1921
Calvert DeForest, American actor. TV: Late Night with David Letterman (Larry "Bud" Melman).

1917
Gus Arriola, cartoonist, created Gordo (1941).

1891     d. 1958
Harry Cohn, American movie executive, founded (1924) Columbia Pictures.

1649     d. 1721
Clement XI, Italian religious leader, 243rd Pope (1700-21).

1982     b. 1932
Vic Morrow, actor. TV: Combat! (Sgt. Chip Saunders). He was killed while filming Twilight Zone-The Movie.

1973     b. 1890
Eddie Rickenbacker, American aviator and race car driver, called "The Ace of Aces." He was the most decorated pilot of World War I.

1955     b. 1871
Cordell Hull, American statesman, Nobel Peace Prize winner (1945). He served in both houses of Congress and as secretary of state (1933-44). He is noted for his contributions to the establishment of the United Nations.

1951     b. 1884
Robert Joseph Flaherty, American filmmaker, father of the film documentary. Film: Nanook of the North (1922), which was the first commercially successful feature length documentary.

1948     b. 1875
D.W. Griffith, American film producer, director, screenwriter, co-founder of United Artists (1919). Film: The Birth of a Nation (1915).

1930     b. 1878
Glenn Curtiss, American aviation pioneer. He won the Scientific American prize for the first airplane flight of one kilometer (1908), opened the first U.S. flying school (1909), and invented the flying boat (1912).

1885     b. 1822
Ulysses Simpson Grant, 18th U.S. President (1869-77).

1875     b. 1811
Isaac Merrit Singer, American inventor. He invented the continuous-stitch sewing machine (1851).

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