Rose Voted the Official U.S. Flower

September 23, 1986

The rose is voted the official flower of the U.S. by Congress.

The Jetsons

September 23, 1962

The space age cartoon The Jetsons debuts on ABC. George, Jane, Judy, Elroy, and Astro live in the year 2062 with flying cars, robots, holograms, and numerous labor saving devices. George works one hour a day, two days a week.
Don Messick, who voiced Astro, also did the voice for Scooby in Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!
It was ABC's first color telecast, although only a few ABC stations were capable of broadcasting color.

Nixon's Checkers Speech

September 23, 1952

Vice-Presidential candidate Richard Nixon gives his famous speech explaining an $18,000 campaign fund he was accused of using for personal expenses. He claimed the only personal gift he received was a dog named Checkers - which he refused to give up. An outpouring of public sympathy kept him on the ticket for vice president. His speech was watched or heard by about 60 million Americans, the largest television audience to that time.
The term "Checkers speech" has now come to mean an emotional speech by a politician.
Nixon gave this speech on the 8th anniversary of Franklin D. Roosevelt's Fala Speech about his dog.

Russia Announces It Has the Bomb

September 23, 1949

Russia announces that it had exploded their first atom bomb the previous month. The development was aided by blue prints of the original American Trinity bomb design given to the Russians by the spy Klaus Fuchs, a Los Alamos physicist. The discovery of Fuchs' espionage led to the arrest of a spy ring that included husband and wife Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were executed for their part in the crime.

Fala Speech

September 23, 1944

U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had been accused of accidentally leaving his dog Fala behind on the Aleutian Islands while on tour there and had sent a U.S. Navy destroyer to retrieve him at a cost of up to $20,000,000 to the taxpayers. He responded in a radio speech:
These Republican leaders have not been content with attacks on me, or my wife, or on my sons. No, not content with that, they now include my little dog, Fala. Well, of course, I don't resent attacks, and my family doesn't resent attacks, but Fala does resent them. You know, Fala is Scotch, and being a Scottie, as soon as he learned that the Republican fiction writers in Congress and out had concocted a story that I'd left him behind on an Aleutian island and had sent a destroyer back to find him—at a cost to the taxpayers of two or three, or eight or twenty million dollars—his Scotch soul was furious. He has not been the same dog since. I am accustomed to hearing malicious falsehoods about myself … But I think I have a right to resent, to object, to libelous statements about my dog.
The idea of the Fala Speech was given to FDR by Orson Welles.
The rumor started when Rep. Harold Knutson (R) Minnesota, announced on the floor of the House of Representatives that he had heard that Fala had been left behind in the Aleutians and that a destroyer had to be sent from Seattle to pick him up and that $20 million had been spent to retrieve him. Democratic House Majority Leader John McCormack denied the reports the following day, quoting Admiral Leahy, "the story about Fala, the president's dog, is made out of whole cloth. The dog was never lost." The following week, Knutson then accused the President of sending a plane to pick up Fala, which was also denied by the Navy and the White House.
On the 8th anniversary of this speech, Richard Nixon gave his famous Checkers Speech about his dog.

Merkle's Boner - Mistake Loses the Pennant Race

September 23, 1908

Bottom of the 9th of the deciding game of the National League pennant race; score 1-1. The New York Giants hit to center field, bringing the man on 3rd in for the winning run. Giants player Fred Merkle, who had been on 1st, considered the game won and headed for the dugout without advancing to 2nd. This resulted in a forced out at 2nd, nullifying the run, and therefore ending the game in a tie. This resulted in a playoff game, which Merkle's Giants lost, causing them to lose the National League pennant to the opposing Chicago Cubs. This has become known as "Merkle's Boner."

If I should call a sheep's tail a leg, how many legs would it have?

September 23, 1862

If I should call a sheep's tail a leg, how many legs would it have? Five? No, only four; for my calling the tail a leg would not make it so. Now, gentlemen, if I say to the slaves, "you are free," they will be no more free than at present.
The Daily Milwaukee News reports that U.S. President Abraham Lincoln used the age old riddle in response to mounting pressure on the issue of Emancipation.

Neptune Discovered

September 23, 1846

The planet Neptune is discovered by German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle. Its existence had been predicted the previous year by English astronomer John Couch Adams and French astronomer Urbain Le Verrier. Le Verrier would die on the 31st anniversary of Neptune's discovery.

First Baseball Team

September 23, 1845

The New York Knickerbocker Club is organized. They were one of the first teams to play under rules similar to the game today.
The team was organized by Alexander Joy Cartwright who named it after the volunteer Knickerbocker Engine Company No. 12, of which Cartwright was a member.

I Have Not Yet Begun To Fight

September 23, 1779

John Paul Jones in the Bonhomme Richard captures the British ship Serapis in the most famous battle of the American Revolution. It was during this battle that he is said to have declared "I have not yet begun to fight" after being ordered to surrender by the captain of the Serapis. The captain of the Serapis eventually surrendered. The Bonhomme Richard was damaged beyond repair in the battle and Jones took command of the Serapis.

First Naval Battle Using Artillery

September 23, 1338

The English ship Christopher, equipped with three cannons and a hand gun, fights in the naval Battle of Arnemuiden. This was the first recorded use of artillery in a naval battle. It was also the first naval battle of the Hundred Years' War between England and France. The English were vastly outnumbered and surrendered after a day of fighting. They were carrying a large cargo of wool that Edward III was hoping to sell in order to pay subsidies to his allies. The wool was confiscated and the English crew were executed.
Even though the English lost this battle, it ushered in a new era of naval warfare as other war ships began adding artillery. The next new era of naval warfare wouldn't occur until the advent of steam-powered ironclad ships more than 500 years later.

Ray Charles (Ray Charles Robinson)

Born September 23, 1930 d. 2004

American singer, composer, pianist, blind since the age of 6. Music: Georgia On My Mind (1960, #1) and Hit the Road, Jack (1961, #1). The movie Ray (2004, starring Jamie Foxx) is based on his life.

Commando Kelly - The One Man Army

Charles "Commando" Kelly

Born September 23, 1920 d. 1985

American soldier. Also known as "The One-Man-Army," he was the first WWII solider in the European war theater to receive the Medal of Honor. He had made several reconnaissance missions under fire. While protecting an ammo dump from the encroaching Germans, several of the automatic rifles he was firing jammed due to overheating. He then picked up 60mm mortar shells, pulled the safety pins, and used the shells as grenades, killing at least 5 of the enemy. After it became necessary to evacuate, Kelly volunteered to stay behind and hold off the Germans so the others could evacuate.
Prior to his military service, Kelly made his living with a street gang in his hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and frequently got in trouble with the law. After the war, he opened a gas station, but had to sell it after a downturn in business the following year. His wife was diagnosed with uterine cancer that same year, and died in 1951. The cost of her radiation treatments eventually resulted in Kelly losing his home in foreclosure. He remarried in 1952 and held a series of short-term jobs. Poor health, financial problems, and alcohol led to a divorce in 1962. In late 1984 Kelly was admitted to Veterans Hospital, suffering from kidney and liver failure and died a few months later.

Typhoid Mary (Mary Mallon)

Born September 23, 1869 d. 1938

Irish-born American cook, typhoid carrier. Mallon was the first recorded U.S. case of a healthy carrier of typhoid. She is suspected of directly infecting 51 people, three of whom died, with typhoid while working as a cook. She herself remained healthy. Outbreaks of typhoid followed her wherever she worked. She was put in quarantine for three years, but released when she promised not to work as a cook. However, after release she resumed working as a cook causing several more typhoid outbreaks. She was then put in quarantine for the remainder of her life.

Octavian (Gaius Octavius Thurinus)

Born September 23, 63 B.C. d. A.D. 14

the first Roman Emperor. Also known as Octavianus, he was the heir of Julius Caesar. His defeat of Mark Antony and Cleopatra at Actium in AD 31 made him ruler of the world, at which time he was granted the name "Augustus." After their defeat, Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide.