Today in History: March 23, ‘Titanic’ wins record-tying 11 Academy Awards

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Today is Monday, March 23, the 82nd day of 2026. There are 283 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On March 23, 1998, “Titanic” tied an Academy Awards record by winning 11 Oscars, including best picture, best director for James Cameron and best original song for “My Heart Will Go On.”

Also on this date:

In 1775, Patrick Henry delivered an address to the Virginia Provincial Convention in which it is said he declared, “Give me liberty, or give me death!”

In 1806, explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark began their return to St. Louis, Missouri, after completing the first U.S. overland expedition to the Pacific coast. The explorers had begun their journey from St. Louis in May 1804 and trekked thousands of miles to and from the coast.

In 1919, Benito Mussolini founded his Fascist political movement in Milan, Italy.

In 1933, the German Reichstag adopted the Enabling Act, which effectively granted Adolf Hitler dictatorial powers.

In 1942, the first Japanese Americans incarcerated by the U.S. Army during World War II arrived at the internment camp at Manzanar, California.

In 1965, America’s first two-person space mission took place as Gemini 3 blasted off with astronauts Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom and John W. Young aboard for a nearly 5-hour flight orbiting Earth.

In 1993, scientists announced they’d identified the gene that causes Huntington’s disease.

In 2010, President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act, a $938 billion health care overhaul aimed at making health insurance more accessible and affordable in the U.S.

In 2021, a cargo ship the size of a skyscraper ran aground and became wedged in the Suez Canal; hundreds of ships would be prevented from passing through the canal until the vessel was freed six days later.

Today’s Birthdays: Singer Chaka Khan is 73. Basketball Hall of Fame coach Geno Auriemma is 72. Fashion designer Kenneth Cole is 72. Actor Amanda Plummer is 69. Actor Hope Davis is 62. Musician Damon Albarn is 58. Basketball Hall of Famer Jason Kidd is 53. Actor Randall Park is 52. Actor Michelle Monaghan is 50. Actor Keri Russell is 50. Country singer Brett Young is 45. Actor Vanessa Morgan is 34. Actor Victoria Pedretti is 31.