Today in History - History - May 23rd

1941Joe Louis beats Buddy Baer on DQ in 7 for heavyweight boxing title

1958Mao Zedong starts "Great leap forward" movement in China

1059Henri I crowns his son compassionate King Philip I of France

1867Jesse James gang robs bank in Richmond, Missouri (2 die, $4,000 taken)

1965Mickey Wright wins LPGA Dallas Civitan Golf Open

1943Thomas Mann begins writing his novel Dr Faustus

1992President Bush orders Coast Guard to intercept boats with Haitian refugees

1922Walt Disney incorporates his 1st film company Laugh-O-Gram Films

1948Joe DiMaggio hits 3 consecutive HRs

1971Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA Suzuki Golf Internationalionale

1958Drew Carey, Cleveland, Ohio, American actor & comedian (Drew-Drew Carey Show)

1707Carolus Linnaeus, Swedish botanist and the Father of Taxonomy (d. 1778)

1974Jewel Kilcher, Payson, Utah, American singer-songwriter (Pieces of You)

1908John Bardeen, US, physicist (transistor, Nobel 1956, 1972)

1974Ken Jennings, American game show contestant

1052King Philip I of France (d. 1108)

1992Actress Anjelica Huston (40) weds sculptor Robert Graham (54)

1942Comic book artist Jack Kirby (24) weds Roz Goldstein

1934First wife Marguerite Van Kessel divorces NFL player Curly Lambeau (36) after 14 years of marriage

1533King Henry VIII & Catherine of Aragon's marriage declared null & void by authority English clergy not the Pope

1934Bonnie Parker, American outlaw (Bonnie & Clyde), killed in police ambush at 23

1701William Kidd, Scottish pirate, hanged at London's Execution Dock

2002Sam Snead, American golfer (b. 1912)

1937John D Rockefeller, American industrialist and philanthropist, dies at 97