James Buchanan Jr. was the 15th president of the United States, serving from 1857 to 1861. A northern Democrat, he sought to resolve the sectional crisis through a pro-slavery interpretation of the U.S. Constitution, which alienated abolitionists in the North.
Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Dated facts from Wikidata; ages marked “about” come from year-only dates.
Every fact on this page traces to one of these.
Also born on April 23
Actor
1977 · United States
John Felix Anthony Cena is an American actor, former professional wrestler, and former rapper. He is signed to WWE as a brand ambassador. Cena wrestled for WWE for 24 years, becoming a record-setting 17-time world champion, before transitioning fully into his acting career.
Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Politician
1928–2014 · United States
Shirley Jane Temple Black was an American actress, singer, dancer, politician, and diplomat, who was Hollywood's number-one box-office draw as a child actress from 1934 to 1938.
Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Actor
1936–1988 · United States
Roy Kelton Orbison was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist known for his distinctive and powerful voice, complex song structures, and dark, emotional ballads. Orbison's most successful periods were in the early 1960s and the late 1980s.
Jack de Nijs for Anefo, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Author
1858–1947 · German Reich
Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck was a German theoretical physicist. He was awarded the 1918 Nobel Prize in Physics "for the services he rendered to the advancement of physics by his discovery of energy quanta".
Courtesy of the Clendening History of Medicine Library, University of Kansas Medical Center., CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
American molecular biologist and immunologist
1961 · United States
Mary Elizabeth Brunkow is an American molecular biologist, immunologist and Nobel Prize laureate. She is known for co-identifying the gene later named FOXP3 as the cause of the scurfy mouse phenotype, a finding that became foundational for modern regulatory T cell biology.
US Embassy Sweden, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Politician
1897–1972 · Canada
Lester Bowles Pearson was a Canadian politician, diplomat, and scholar who served as the 14th prime minister of Canada from 1963 to 1968. He also served as leader of the Liberal Party from 1958 to 1968 and as leader of the Official Opposition from 1958 to 1963.
ABC Television, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons