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Today in History, January 23rd

On January 23, 1968, North Korea seized the U.S. Navy spy ship Pueblo. Plus the deadliest earthquake on record and Elizabeth Blackwell's M.D.

By Today in History Updated November 10, 2026 3 min read Sources checked

Published January 23, 2026 · Last updated November 10, 2026

January 23 is best known for 1968, when North Korean forces seized the USS Pueblo, a U.S. Navy spy ship, and held its crew for 11 months. The date also saw the deadliest earthquake on record strike China in 1556 and Elizabeth Blackwell become the first woman in the U.S. to earn a medical degree in 1849.

The big story: North Korea seizes the USS Pueblo (1968)

The Pueblo was a small Navy intelligence ship listening in on North Korean communications when patrol boats surrounded it on January 23, 1968. The U.S. said the ship was in international waters, nearly 16 miles from shore. North Korea said it had crossed into the country’s 12-mile limit to spy. The attackers opened fire, wounding Commander Lloyd Bucher and others, and one crewman later died of his wounds. The ship was taken into the port of Wonsan, and the 82 surviving men were held as prisoners near Pyongyang. Over the following months they were beaten, kept cold, and deprived of sleep, and they signed confessions under threat of torture. It ended on December 23, 1968, with an agreement in which the U.S. admitted the intrusion and apologized, while being allowed to publicly disavow that statement. The crew walked across the Bridge of No Return at Panmunjom and were home for Christmas.

More events on January 23

Year	What happened
1556	An earthquake struck Shaanxi Province, China, killing an estimated 830,000 people. It is considered the deadliest earthquake on record.
1849	Elizabeth Blackwell graduated from Geneva Medical College in New York, becoming the first woman in the U.S. to receive a medical degree.
1907	The Kansas legislature chose Charles Curtis for the U.S. Senate, making him the first Native American elected to that body. He later served as Herbert Hoover’s vice president.
1941	Charles Lindbergh testified against Lend-Lease before a House committee and suggested the U.S. negotiate a neutrality pact with Hitler’s Germany.
1957	Toy company Wham-O began producing the first Frisbees, an improved version of the “Flying Saucer” disc designed by Walter Frederick Morrison.
1960	Jacques Piccard and U.S. Navy Lt. Don Walsh took the bathyscaphe Trieste to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, about 35,800 feet down.
1977	The miniseries Roots, based on Alex Haley’s book, premiered on ABC. It ran eight nights in a row and drew an estimated 140 million viewers in all.
1997	Madeleine Albright was sworn in as the first woman to serve as U.S. secretary of state.
2020	Chinese authorities placed Wuhan, a city of 11 million people, under lockdown to contain the new coronavirus.

Born on January 23

1832: Édouard Manet, French painter, born in Paris.
1855: John Browning, firearms designer behind the Colt M1911 pistol and the Browning Automatic Rifle, born in Ogden, Utah.
1910: Django Reinhardt, jazz guitarist, born in Liberchies, Belgium.
1933: Chita Rivera, Broadway singer, dancer, and actress, born in Washington, D.C.