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Today in history: November 23

Celebrity birthdays, highlights in history, plus more facts about this day
/ Source: The Associated Press

Today is Thursday, Nov. 23, the 327th day of 2006. There are 38 days left in the year. This is Thanksgiving Day.

Today’s Highlight in History:

Nov. 23, 1945, was the last day of most U.S. wartime rationing of foods, including meat and butter.

On this date:

In 1765, Frederick County, Md., repudiated the British Stamp Act.

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

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

In 1936, Life, the photojournalism magazine created by Henry R. Luce, was first published.

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

In 1959, the musical “Fiorello!,” with music by Jerry Bock and lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, opened on Broadway.

In 1963, President Johnson proclaimed Nov. 25 a day of national mourning following the assassination of President Kennedy.

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 1985, retired CIA analyst Larry Wu-tai Chin was arrested and accused of spying for China. (He committed suicide a year after his conviction.)

Ten years ago: A hijacked Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 767 crashed into the waves off Comoros Islands, killing 125 of the 175 people on board. Forty-four people were injured when an Amtrak train derailed on a Secaucus, N.J., bridge. Following a four-day visit to Australia, President Clinton arrived in the Philippines for a summit of Asian-Pacific leaders.

Five 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.

One year ago: In Iraq, gunmen broke into the home of a senior Sunni Arab leader and killed him, his three sons and his son-in-law. A commuter train slammed into several vehicles caught in a traffic jam on a busy road in Elmwood Park, Ill., starting a chain reaction that injured at least 10 people. American-born actress Constance Cummings died in Oxfordshire, England, at age 95.

Today’s Birthdays: Actor Michael Gough is 89. Broadway composer Jerry Bock is 78. Former Labor Secretary William E. Brock is 76. Actor Franco Nero is 65. Screenwriter Joe Eszterhas is 62. Actress Susan Anspach is 61. Actor Steve Landesberg is 61. Singer Bruce Hornsby is 52. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., is 51. Actor Maxwell Caulfield is 47. Actor John Henton is 46. TV personality Robin Roberts (“Good Morning America”) is 46. Rock singer-musician Ken Block (Sister Hazel) is 40. Rock musician Charlie Grover is 40. Actress Salli Richardson-Whitfield is 39. Actor Oded Fehr is 36. Rapper Kurupt (Tha Dogg Pound) is 34. Actor Page Kennedy is 30. Actress Kelly Brook is 27. Actress Miley Cyrus (TV: “Hannah Montana”) is 14. Actor Austin Majors is 11.

Thought for Today: “The ultimate aim of the human mind, in all its efforts, is to become acquainted with Truth.” — Eliza Farnham, American reformer (1815-1864).