23 November History
- 1248 - The city of Seville, France, surrenders to Ferdinand III of Castile after a two-year siege.
- 1785 - John Hancock is elected president of the Continental Congress for the second time.
- 1863 - Union forces win the Battle of Orchard Knob, Tennessee.
- 1863 - The Battle of Chattanooga, one of the most decisive battles of the American Civil War, begins (also in Tennessee).
- 1903 - Italian tenor Enrico Caruso makes his American debut in a Metropolitan Opera production of Verdi's Rigoletto.
- 1904 - Russo-German talks break down because of Russia's insistence to consult France.
- 1909 - The Wright brothers form a million-dollar corporation for the commercial manufacture of their airplanes.
- 1921 - President Warren G. Harding signs the Willis Campell Act, better known as the anti-beer bill. It forbids doctors to prescribe beer or liquor for medicinal purposes.
- 1933 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt recalls the American ambassador from Havana, Cuba, and urges stability in the island nation.
- 1934 - The United States and Great Britain agree on a 5-5-3 naval ratio, with both countries allowed to build five million tons of naval ships while Japan can only build three. Japan will denounce the treaty.
- 1936 - The United States abandons the American embassy in Madrid, Spain, which is engulfed by civil war.
- 1941 - U.S. troops move into Dutch Guiana to guard the bauxite mines.
- 1942 - The film Casablanca premieres in New York City.
- 1943 - U.S. Marines declare the island of Tarawa secure.
- 1945 - Wartime meat and butter rationing ends in the United States.
- 1953 - North Korea signs 10-year aid pact with Peking.
- 1968 - Four men hijack an American plane, with 87 passengers, from Miami to Cuba.
- 1980 - In Europe's biggest earthquake since 1915, 3,000 people are killed in Italy.
23 November Birthdays
- 1804 - Franklin Pierce, hero of the American war with Mexico and 14th president of the United States.
- 1878 - Ernest King, commander-in-chief of the U.S. fleet who designed the United States' winning strategy in World War II.
- 1887 - Boris Karloff, film actor most famous for his role as the monster in the movie Frankenstein.
- 1888 - Adolph Arthur "Harpo" Marx, American comedian, one of the Marx brothers.
- 1897 - Willie "The Lion" Smith, jazz and ragtime pianist.