Today in History: August 23, Sacco and Vanzetti executed

Today in History

Today is Wednesday, Aug. 23, the 235th day of 2023. There are 130 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Aug 23, 1927, amid worldwide protests, Italian-born anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were executed in Boston for the murders of two men during a 1920 robbery. (On the 50th anniversary of their executions, then-Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis issued a proclamation that Sacco and Vanzetti had been unfairly tried and convicted.)

On this date:

In 1305, Scottish rebel leader Sir William Wallace was executed by the English for treason.

In 1775, Britain’s King George III proclaimed the American colonies to be in a state of “open and avowed rebellion.”

In 1914, Japan declared war against Germany in World War I.

In 1939, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union agreed to a non-aggression treaty, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, in Moscow.

In 2000, A Gulf Air Airbus crashed into the Persian Gulf near Bahrain, killing all 143 people aboard.

In 2003, former priest John Geoghan (GAY’-gun), the convicted child molester whose prosecution sparked the sex abuse scandal that shook the Roman Catholic Church nationwide, died after another inmate attacked him in a Massachusetts prison.

In 2004, President George W. Bush criticized a political commercial accusing Democratic nominee John Kerry of inflating his own Vietnam War record, and said broadcast attacks by outside groups had no place in the race for the White House.

In 2008, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama introduced his choice of running mate, Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, before a crowd outside the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois.

In 2011, a magnitude-5.8 earthquake centered near Mineral, Virginia, the strongest on the East Coast since 1944, caused cracks in the Washington Monument and damaged Washington National Cathedral.

In 2020, a white police officer in Kenosha, Wisconsin, shot a Black man, Jacob Blake, seven times as officers tried to arrest Blake on an outstanding warrant; the shooting left Blake partially paralyzed and triggered several nights of violent protests.

Ten years ago: A military jury convicted Maj. Nidal Hasan in the deadly 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, that claimed 13 lives; the Army psychiatrist was later sentenced to death. Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, the U.S. soldier who’d massacred 16 Afghan civilians, was sentenced at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, to life in prison with no chance of parole. San Diego Mayor Bob Filner, a Democrat, agreed to resign in return for the city’s help defending him against claims he’d groped, kissed and made lewd comments to women.

Five years ago: Mark David Chapman, the killer of former Beatle John Lennon, was denied parole for a 10th time. The long-running rift between President Donald Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions exploded into a public smackdown, with Trump accusing Sessions of failing to take control of the Justice Department and Sessions responding that he “will not be improperly influenced by political considerations.” The United States and China imposed tariff increases on an additional $16 billion of each other’s goods.

One year ago: A jury convicted two men of conspiring to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020, a victory for prosecutors in a plot that was broken up by the FBI and described as a rallying cry for a U.S. civil war by anti-government extremists. Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr. were also found guilty of conspiring to obtain a weapon of mass destruction as part of the plot. The husband of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pleaded guilty to misdemeanor DUI related to a crash in California’s wine country and agreed to spend five days in prison. The Nielsen Co. revealed that the “Game of Thrones” spinoff “House of the Dragon” was the most-watched series premiere ever for HBO.

Today’s Birthdays: Actor Vera Miles is 93. Actor Barbara Eden is 92. Pro Football Hall of Famer Sonny Jurgensen is 89. Actor Richard Sanders is 83. Ballet dancer Patricia McBride is 81. Former Surgeon General Antonia Novello is 79. Country singer Rex Allen Jr. is 76. Actor David Robb is 76. Singer Linda Thompson is 76. Actor Shelley Long is 74. Actor-singer Rick Springfield is 74. Country singer-musician Woody Paul (Riders in the Sky) is 74. Noor al-Hussein (Queen Noor of Jordan) is 72. Actor-producer Mark Hudson is 72. Actor Skipp Sudduth is 67. Rock musician Dean DeLeo (Army of Anyone; Stone Temple Pilots) is 62. Actor Jay Mohr is 53. Actor Ray Park is 49. Actor Scott Caan is 47. Country singer Shelly Fairchild is 46. Figure skater Nicole Bobek (BOH’-bek) is 46. Rock singer Julian Casablancas (The Strokes) is 45. Actor Joanne Froggatt is 43. Actor Jaime Lee Kirchner is 42. Actor Annie Ilonzeh is 40. Dance musician Sky Blu is 37. Actor Kimberly Matula is 35. Basketball player Jeremy Lin is 35.