Today in History

Today is Wednesday, Nov. 23, the 327th day of 2011. There are 38 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Nov. 23, 1936, Life, the photojournalism magazine created by Henry R. Luce (loos), was first published.

On this date:

In 1765, Frederick County in Maryland became the first colonial entity to repudiate the British Stamp Act.

In 1804, the 14th president of the United States, Franklin Pierce, was born in Hillsboro, N.H.

In 1889, the first jukebox made its debut in San Francisco, at the Palais Royale Saloon.

In 1903, Enrico Caruso made his American debut at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, appearing in "Rigoletto."

In 1910, American-born physician Hawley Harvey Crippen was hanged at Pentonville Prison in London for murdering his wife, Cora. (Crippen's mistress, Ethel Le Neve, was acquitted in a separate trial of being an accessory.)

In 1943, during World War II, U.S. forces seized control of Tarawa and Makin atolls from the Japanese.

In 1959, the musical "Fiorello!," starring Tom Bosley as legendary New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, opened on Broadway.

In 1971, the People's Republic of China was seated in the U.N. Security Council.

In 1980, some 2,600 people were killed by a series of earthquakes that devastated southern Italy.

In 1996, a commandeered Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 767 crashed into the water off the Comoros Islands, killing 125 of the 175 people on board, including all three hijackers.

Ten years ago: The U.N. war crimes tribunal said it would try former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic for genocide in Bosnia, linking him for the first time in court to the murders of thousands of non-Serbs and the displacement of a quarter million people. (Milosevic died in March 2006 while his trial was in progress.) An Israeli helicopter fired two missiles at a van in the West Bank, killing Mahmoud Abu Hanoud, a leading member of the Islamic militant Hamas group.

Five years ago: Car bombs and mortar rounds struck a Shiite slum in Baghdad, killing 215 people. Former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko died in London from radiation poisoning after making a deathbed statement blaming Russian President Vladimir Putin. Death claimed Broadway librettist Betty Comden at age 89; jazz vocalist Anita O'Day at age 87; and French actor Philippe Noiret at age 76.

One year ago: North Korea bombarded South Korea's Yeonpyeong Island with artillery fire, killing four people and raising tensions between the two countries. Texas outfielder Josh Hamilton was a runaway winner of the American League's Most Valuable Player award. Actress Ingrid Pitt, who'd survived a Nazi concentration camp and dodged Communist police to become one of Britain's best known horror stars, died in London at 73.

Today's Birthdays: Former Labor Secretary William E. Brock is 81. Actress Elmarie Wendel is 79. Actor Franco Nero is 70. Actress Susan Anspach is 69. Screenwriter Joe Eszterhas is 67. Actor-comedy writer Bruce Vilanch is 64. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is 61. Singer Bruce Hornsby is 57. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., is 56. Actor Maxwell Caulfield is 52. Actor John Henton is 51. TV personality Robin Roberts ("Good Morning America") is 51. Rock singer-musician Ken Block (Sister Hazel) is 45. Rock musician Charlie Grover is 45. Actress Salli Richardson-Whitfield is 44. Actor Oded Fehr is 41. Rapper-actor Kurupt (Tha Dogg Pound) is 39. Actor Page Kennedy is 35. Actress Kelly Brook is 32. Actor Lucas Grabeel is 27. Actress-singer Miley Cyrus (TV: "Hannah Montana") is 19. Actor Austin Majors is 16.

Thought for Today: "It is better to debate an important matter without settling it than to settle it without debating it." -- Anonymous.

Copyright 2011, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.