TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS MONDAY, MAY 23, the 143rd day of 2022. There are 222 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date on 1984, Surgeon General C. Everett Koop issued a report saying there was “very solid” evidence linking cigarette smoke to lung disease in non-smokers.
In 1430, Joan of Arc was captured by the Burgundians, who sold her to the English.
In 1533, the marriage of England’s King Henry VIII to Catherine of Aragon was declared null and void by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer.
In 1915, Italy declared war on AustriaHungary during World War I.
In 1934, bank robbers Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker were shot to death in a police ambush in Bienville Parish, Louisiana.
In 1937, industrialist and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller, founder of the Standard Oil Co. and the Rockefeller Foundation, died in Ormond Beach, Florida, at age 97.
In 1939, the Navy submarine USS Squalus sank during a test dive off the New England coast. Thirty-two crew members and one civilian were rescued, but 26 others died; the sub was salvaged and recommissioned the USS Sailfish.
In 1944, during World War II, Allied forces bogged down in Anzio began a major breakout offensive.
In 1945, Nazi official Heinrich Himmler committed suicide by biting into a cyanide capsule while in British custody in Luneburg, Germany.
In 1967, Egypt closed the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping, an action that helped precipitate war between Israel and its Arab neighbors the following month.
In 1975, comedian Jackie “Moms” Mabley, 81, died in White Plains, New York.
In 2007, President George W. Bush, speaking at the U.S. Coast Guard commencement, portrayed the Iraq war as a battle between the United States and al-Qaida, and said Osama bin Laden was setting up a terrorist cell in Iraq to strike targets in America.
In 2016, during his visit to Asia, President Barack Obama, eager to banish lingering shadows of the Vietnam War, lifted the U.S. embargo on selling arms to America’s former enemy. Prosecutors failed for the second time in their bid to hold Baltimore police accountable for the arrest and death of Freddie Gray, as an officer was acquitted in the racially charged case that triggered riots a year earlier.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Actor Barbara Barrie is 91. Actor Joan Collins is 89. Actor Charles Kimbrough is 86. International Tennis Hall-of-Famer John Newcombe is 78. Actor Lauren Chapin is 77. Country singer Judy Rodman and chess grandmaster Anatoly Karpov are 71. Singer Luka Bloom is 67. Baseball manager Buck Showalter is 66. Actorcomedian-game show host Drew Carey, actor Lea DeLaria, country singer Shelly West and author Mitch Albom are 64. Actor Linden Ashby is 62. Actormodel Karen Duffy is 61. Actor Melissa McBride is 57. Rock musician Phil Selway (Radiohead) is 55. Actor Laurel Holloman is 54. Rock musician Matt Flynn (Maroon 5) is 52. Country singer Brian McComas and actor John Pollono are 50. Singer Maxwell is 49. Singer Jewel and game show contestant Ken Jennings are 48. Actor LaMonica Garrett is 47. Actors D.J. Cotrona and Lane Garrison are 42. Actor-comedian Tim Robinson is 41. Actor Adam Wylie is 38. Movie writer-director Ryan Coogler is 36. Golfer Morgan Pressel is 34. Actor Alberto Frezza is 33. Folk/pop singer/ songwriter Sarah Jarosz is 31.