1635: The first public school in the United States, Boston Latin School, is founded in Boston, Massachusetts. In 2007 the school was named one of the top twenty high-schools in the nation by U.S. News & World Report.
1910: Theodore Roosevelt made his "The Man in the Arena" speech at the University of Paris in France. Later re-printed in his book Citizenship in a Republic, a notable portion was spoken by our 26th President as follows --
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."
1948: In a key battle, a major port in Israel called Haifa is captured from Arab forces during this particular Arab-Israeli War (of which there have been at least six). Israel's decisive victory 11 months later led to the 1949 Armistice Agreements that established boundaries between Israel and the West Bank. "The Green Line," as it was called, would hold for 18 years.
1985: Coca-Cola releases the ill-fated "New Coke." After a promising start, public response becomes acutely negative. In fact many Southerners who consider the drink a part of their regional identity viewed Coca-Cola's decision to change the flavor as another surrender to the Yankees. Ultimately the original formula is returned to the market in less than 3 months.
1988: Pink Floyd's album, The Dark Side of the Moon, leaves the charts for the first time after spending a record of 741 consecutive weeks (over 14 years) on the Billboard 200.
1997: Attackers armed with knives, sabers, and guns killed 42 men, women, and children in the Algerian village of Omaria. One report told of a pregnant woman whose unborn baby was literally ripped from her body and hacked apart. Called "Islamic terrorists" by the U.S. State Department, these like-minded aggressors were responsible for 13 declared massacres in Algeria for the year.
2009: A gamma ray burst, labeled "GRB 090423," is observed for 10 seconds near the constellation Leo by the Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Mission satellite. To date over 500 GRBs have been detected, but the first one is still recognized as both the most distant object of any kind and the oldest known object in the universe.
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