Today in History: April 23

Today is Tuesday, April 23, the 114th day of 2024. There are 252 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On April 23, 2005, the recently created video-sharing website YouTube uploaded its first clip, “Me at the Zoo,” which showed YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim standing in front of an elephant enclosure at the San Diego Zoo.

On this date:

In 1616 (Old Style calendar), William Shakespeare died in Stratford-upon-Avon on what has traditionally been regarded as the 52nd anniversary of his birth in 1564.

In 1898, Spain declared war on the United States, which responded in kind two days later.

In 1940, about 200 people died in the Rhythm Night Club Fire in Natchez, Mississippi.

In 1954, Hank Aaron of the Milwaukee Braves hit the first of his 755 major-league home runs in a game against the St. Louis Cardinals. (The Braves won, 7-5.)

In 1969, Sirhan Sirhan was sentenced to death for assassinating New York Sen. Robert F. Kennedy. (The sentence was later reduced to life imprisonment.)

In 1971, hundreds of Vietnam War veterans opposed to the conflict protested by tossing their medals and ribbons over a wire fence in front of the U.S. Capitol.

In 1988, a federal ban on smoking during domestic airline flights of two hours or less went into effect.

In 1992, McDonald’s opened its first fast-food restaurant in the Chinese capital of Beijing.

In 1993, labor leader Cesar Chavez died in San Luis, Arizona, at age 66.

In 1998, James Earl Ray, who confessed to assassinating the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and then insisted he’d been framed, died at a Nashville, Tennessee, hospital at age 70.

In 2007, Boris Yeltsin, Russia’s first freely elected president, died in Moscow at age 76.

In 2013, France legalized same-sex marriage after a wrenching national debate that exposed deep conservatism in the nation’s heartland and triggered huge demonstrations.

In 2018, a man plowed a rental van into crowds of pedestrians in Toronto, killing 10 people and leaving 16 others hurt; (Alek Minassian was later convicted of 10 counts of murder and sentenced to life in prison.)

In 2020, at a White House briefing, President Donald Trump noted that researchers were looking at the effects of disinfectants on the coronavirus, and wondered aloud whether they could be injected into people.

In 2021, U.S. health officials lifted an 11-day pause on COVID-19 vaccinations using Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose shot, after scientific advisers decided its benefits outweighed a rare risk of blood clot.

Today’s Birthdays: Actor Alan Oppenheimer is 94. Actor Lee Majors is 85. Irish nationalist Bernadette Devlin McAliskey is 77. Actor Blair Brown is 77. Writer-director Paul Brickman is 75. Actor Joyce DeWitt is 75. Actor James Russo is 71. Filmmaker-author Michael Moore is 70. Actor Judy Davis is 69. Actor Valerie Bertinelli is 64. Actor Craig Sheffer is 64. Actor-comedian-talk show host George Lopez is 63. U.S. Olympic gold medal skier Donna Weinbrecht is 59. Actor Melina Kanakaredes is 57. Rock musician Stan Frazier (Sugar Ray) is 56. Actor Scott Bairstow is 54. Actor-writer John Lutz is 51. Actor Barry Watson is 50. Rock musicians Aaron and Bryce Dessner (The National) are 48. Professional wrestler/actor John Cena is 47. Actor-writer-comedian John Oliver is 47. Actor Kal Penn is 47. Retired MLB All-Star Andruw Jones is 47. Actor Jaime King is 45. Pop singer Taio (TY’-oh) Cruz is 41. Actor Aaron Hill is 41. Actor Jesse Lee Soffer is 40. Actor Rachel Skarsten is 39. Rock musician Anthony LaMarca (The War on Drugs) is 37. Singer-songwriter John Fullbright is 36. Actor Dev Patel is 34. Actor Matthew Underwood is 34. Model Gigi Hadid is 29. Rock musicians Jake and Josh Kiszka (Greta Van Fleet) are 28. Actor Charlie Rowe (TV: “Salvation”) is 28. Retired tennis player Ashleigh Barty is 28. U.S. Olympic gold medal snowboarder Chloe Kim is 24.