• On July 23, 1923, John Herbert Dillinger joins the Navy in order to avoid charges of auto theft in Indiana, marking the beginning of America’s most notorious criminal’s downfall.
• On July 23, 1952, in Egypt, the Society of Free Officers seizes control of the government in a military coup d’etat staged by Colonel Gamal Abdal Nasser’s Free Officers.
• On July 23, 1973, President Richard Nixon refuses to hand over his secret audio recordings to the Senate Watergate Committee and Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox, citing executive privilege. His refusal kicked off a legal battle that culminated in the U.S. Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling one year later that Nixon must hand over the tapes.
• On July 23, 1982, Vic Morrow and two child actors, Renee Shinn Chen and Myca Dinh Le, are killed in an accident involving a helicopter during filming on the California set of Twilight Zone: The Movie.
• On July 23, 1996, at the Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Ga., the U.S. women’s gymnastics team wins its first-ever team gold.