Today in History: Friday, November 23, 2012
On Nov. 23, 1936, Life magazine was first published.
1804 Franklin Pierce, the 14th president of the United States, was born in Hillsboro, N.H.
1889 The jukebox made its debut, at the Palais Royale Saloon in San Francisco.
1903 Singer Enrico Caruso made his American debut at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, appearing in "Rigoletto."
1954 The Dow Jones industrial average finally surpassed it's pre-crash high - 25 years after Black Tuesday - when it closed at 382.74.
1971 The People's Republic of China was seated in the U.N. Security Council.
1980 A series of earthquakes devastated southern Italy, killing some 2,600 people.
2001 An Israeli helicopter fired two missiles at a van in the West Bank, killing Mahmoud Abu Hanoud, a leading member of the Islamic militant Hamas group.
2006 Former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko died in London from radiation poisoning after making a deathbed statement blaming Russian President Vladimir Putin.
2011 Yemen's authoritarian President Ali Abdullah Saleh agreed to step down amid a fierce uprising to oust him after 33 years in power.