This day in history

[June 23, 2010]  (AP)  Today is Wednesday, June 23, the 174th day of 2010. There are 191 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history:

On June 23, 1960, the Food and Drug Administration formally approved Enovid as the first oral contraceptive for sale in the U.S.

On this date:

In 1860, a congressional resolution authorized creation of the United States Government Printing Office, which opened the following year.

In 1910, French playwright Jean Anouilh was born in Bordeaux.

In 1931, aviators Wiley Post and Harold Gatty took off from New York on a round-the-world flight that lasted eight days and 15 hours.

In 1938, the Civil Aeronautics Authority was established.

In 1947, the Senate joined the House in overriding President Harry S. Truman's veto of the Taft-Hartley Act, designed to limit the power of organized labor.

In 1956, Gamal Abdel Nasser was elected president of Egypt.

In 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson and Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin (ah-LEK'-say koh-SEE'-gihn) held the first of two meetings at Glassboro State College in New Jersey.

In 1969, Warren E. Burger was sworn in as chief justice of the United States by the man he was succeeding, Earl Warren.

In 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and White House chief of staff H.R. Haldeman discussed a plan to use the CIA to obstruct the FBI's Watergate investigation. (Revelation of the tape recording of this conversation sparked Nixon's resignation in 1974.)

In 1985, all 329 people aboard an Air India Boeing 747 were killed when the plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near Ireland, after a bomb widely believed to have been planted by Sikh separatists exploded on board.

Ten years ago: Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, during a visit to South Korea, said American troops would remain in the country indefinitely to maintain strategic stability in the Pacific area.

Five years ago: The White House defended presidential adviser Karl Rove against Democratic demands he apologize or quit for saying "liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers." Former Ku Klux Klansman Edgar Ray Killen was sentenced to 60 years in prison for the 1964 Mississippi slayings of three civil rights workers. The San Antonio Spurs won a thrilling Game 7 over Detroit Pistons, 81-74, to claim the NBA championship. Veteran journalist Shana Alexander died in Hermosa Beach, Calif. at age 79.

One year ago: Hardening the U.S. reaction to Iran's disputed elections and bloody aftermath, President Barack Obama condemned the violence against protesters and lent his strongest support yet to their accusations the hardline victory was a fraud. "Tonight Show" sidekick Ed McMahon died in Los Angeles at 86. Dr. Jerri Nielsen FitzGerald, who'd diagnosed and treated her own breast cancer before a dramatic rescue from a South Pole station, died in Southwick, Mass. at 57. Steve Yzerman, Brett Hull, Luc Robitaille and Brian Leetch were elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Today's birthdays: Singer Diana Trask is 70. Musical conductor James Levine (luh-VYN') is 67. Rhythm-and-blues singer Rosetta Hightower (The Orlons) is 66. Actor Ted Shackelford is 64. Actor Bryan Brown is 63. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is 62. "American Idol" judge Randy Jackson is 54. Actress Frances McDormand is 53. Rock musician Steve Shelley (Sonic Youth) is 48. Actor Paul La Greca is 48. Rhythm-and-blues singer Chico DeBarge is 40. Actress Selma Blair is 38. Rock singer KT Tunstall is 35. Rhythm-and-blues singer Virgo Williams (Ghostowns DJs) is 35. Singer-songwriter Jason Mraz is 33. Rock singer Duffy is 26. Country singer Katie Armiger is 19.

Thought for today: "To have felt too much is to end in feeling nothing." -- Dorothy Thompson, American journalist (1894-1961)

[Associated Press]

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