In History, Today on March 23

The Parliament of England passed the Act of Supremacy, establishing King Henry VIII as the Supreme Head of the Church of England.

George Frideric Handel's oratorio 'Messiah' premiered in London.

Patrick Henry delivered his famous speech, 'Give me liberty, or give me death!' at the Second Virginia Convention.

Tsar Paul I of Russia was assassinated in his bedroom at St. Michael's Castle, St. Petersburg.

The ship John Wickliffe arrived at Port Chalmers, marking the beginning of European settlement in Otago, New Zealand.

The Wright brothers applied for a patent on their airplane, the Wright Flyer.

Benito Mussolini founded the Italian Fascist movement in Milan.

The Reichstag passed the Enabling Act, giving Adolf Hitler dictatorial powers in Germany.

NASA launched Gemini 3, the first manned Gemini flight, with astronauts Gus Grissom and John Young.

U.S. President Ronald Reagan proposed the Strategic Defense Initiative, a missile defense system intended to protect the United States from attack by ballistic strategic nuclear weapons.

Aeroflot Flight 593 crashed in Siberia after the pilot's children accidentally disengaged the autopilot, killing all 75 people on board.

The Russian space station Mir re-enters Earth's atmosphere and breaks up over the South Pacific Ocean after 15 years in orbit.

President Barack Obama signs the Affordable Care Act into law, marking a significant overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system.

The Syrian Civil War begins with nationwide protests against President Bashar al-Assad's government, marking the start of a prolonged conflict.

U.S. President Donald Trump signs a $1.3 trillion spending bill to keep the government open, despite earlier threats to veto it.