Today is Wednesday, May 22nd, the 143rd day of 2024. There are 223 days left this year.
Today’s history highlights:
On May 22, 1962, Continental Airlines Flight 11 from Chicago to Kansas City, Missouri crashed after a bomb apparently brought on board by a passenger exploded, killing all 45 people on board the Boeing 707.
This date:
In 1939, the German and Italian foreign ministers, Joachim von Ribbentrop and Galeazzo Ciano, signed the Steel Pact, binding the two countries into a military alliance.
In 1960, a magnitude 9.5 earthquake, the strongest on record, struck southern Chile, killing approximately 1,655 people.
In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson spoke at the University of Michigan and outlined the goals of his “Great Society,” saying it would be “based on abundance and freedom for all,” and “reducing poverty.” and demand an end to racial injustice.”
In 1967, a fire broke out at the Innovation department store in Brussels, killing 322 people. Poet and playwright Langston Hughes has died at the age of 65 in New York.
In 1968, the nuclear submarine Scorpion sank in the Atlantic Ocean with 99 people on board. (The wreckage of the submarine was later discovered on the ocean floor 400 miles southwest of the Azores.)
In 1969, the Apollo 10 lunar module, crewed by Thomas P. Stafford and Eugene Cernan, flew to within nine miles of the moon’s surface in a rehearsal for the first moon landing.
In 1985, American sailor Michael L. Walker was arrested aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, two days after his father, John A. Walker Jr., was arrested. Both men were later convicted of spying for the Soviet Union. (Michael Walker served 15 years in prison and was released in 2000. John Walker Jr. died in prison in 2014.)
In 1992, after a nearly 30-year reign, Johnny Carson hosted NBC’s “Tonight Show” for the final time. (Jay Leno took over as host three days later.)
In 2006, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced that the personal data, including Social Security numbers, of 26.5 million U.S. veterans was stolen after VA employees took them home without their permission.
In 2011, a 250 mph tornado struck Joplin, Missouri, killing at least 159 people and destroying approximately 8,000 homes and businesses.
In 2012, the Falcon 9, developed by billionaire businessman Elon Musk, flew to the International Space Station with a cargo of food and other supplies, and private spacecraft were sent to orbiting bases. This was the first such case.
In 2017, a suicide bomber detonated an improvised explosive device after an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, killing 22 people.
In 2020, “Full House” star Lori Loughlin and her fashion designer husband Mossimo Giannulli pleaded guilty to paying $500,000 to the University of Southern California as part of a college admissions bribery scheme. (Loughlin will spend two months in prison, while Giannulli began a five-month sentence in November 2020 and was released on home confinement in April 2021).
In 2018, novelist Philip Roth, whose books include “Portnoy’s Appeal” and the Pulitzer Prize-winning “American Pastoral”, died in New York at the age of 85.
Kate McKinnon and Pete Davidson leave Saturday Night Live in 2022, leaving the sketch show without perhaps its two most famous names after its 47th season finale .
Today’s birthday: Actor and director Richard Benjamin turns 86. Actor Frank Converse is 86 years old. Actor Barbara Perkins is 82 years old. Former MLB All-Star pitcher Tommy John is 81 years old. Songwriter Bernie Taupin is 74 years old. Actor and producer Al Khoury is 69 years old. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) is 67 years old, singer Morrissey is 65 years old, actor Ann Cusack is 63 years old, country musician Dana Williams (Diamond Rio) is 63 years old, and rock musician Jesse is 63 years old. – Valenzuela is 62 years old, actor Mark Christopher Lawrence is 60 years old, and R&B singer Johnny Gil (New Edition) is 58 years old. Rock musician Dan Roberts (Crash Test Dummies) is 57 years old. Actor Brooke Smith is 57 years old. Actor Michael Kelly is 55 years old. Model Naomi Campbell is 54 years old. Actor Anna Belknap is 52 years old. Actor Alison Eastwood is 52 years old. Singer Donnell Jones is 51 years old. Actor Sean Gunn is 50 years old. Actor AJ Langer is 50 years old. Actor Ginnifer Goodwin is 46 years old. R&B singer Vivian Green is 45 years old. Actor Maggie Q is 45 years old. Olympic gold medal winning speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno is 42 years old. Actor Molly Ephraim. (TV’s “Last Man Standing”) is 38 years old, tennis player Novak Djokovic is 37 years old, actor Anna Baryshnikov (TV’s “Superior Donuts”) is 32 years old, and actor Camren Bicondova is 25 years old.
