Today is Tuesday, February 23, the 54th day of 2010. There are 311 days left in the year.
303 _ Emperor Diocletian orders general persecution of Christians
1455 _ Johannes Gutenberg prints first book, the Bible (estimated date)
1804 _ Conspirators against Napoleon, for restoration of Louis XVIII
1861 _ President-elect Lincoln arrives secretly in Washington, D.C. to take office
1886 _ London Times publishes world's first classified ad
1898 _ In France, Emile Zola is imprisoned for writing his ``J'accuse" letter accusing government of anti-Semitism and wrongly jailing Alfred Dreyfus
1917 _ February revolution begins in Russia
1919 _ Benito Mussolini founds the Facist party of Italy
1956 _ Russian party leader Khrushchev attacks memory of Stalin
1980 _ Eric Heiden wins all five speed skating golds at Lake Placid Olympics