Today’s highlight in history
On May 22, 1968, the nuclear-powered submarine USS Scorpion, with 99 men aboard, sank in the Atlantic Ocean. (The remains of the sub were later found on the ocean floor 400 miles southwest of the Azores.)
On this date
In 1913, the American Cancer Society was founded in New York under its original name, the American Society for the Control of Cancer.
In 1947, the Truman Doctrine was enacted as Congress appropriated military and economic aid for Greece and Turkey.
In 1960, an earthquake of magnitude 9.5, the strongest ever measured, struck southern Chile, claiming some 1,655 lives.
In 1969, the lunar module of Apollo 10, with Thomas P. Stafford and Eugene Cernan aboard, flew to within nine miles of the moon’s surface in a dress rehearsal for the first lunar landing.
In 1972, President Richard Nixon began a visit to the Soviet Union, during which he and Kremlin leaders signed the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
In 1981, “Yorkshire Ripper” Peter Sutcliffe was convicted in London of murdering 13 women and was sentenced to life in prison.
In 1992, after a reign lasting nearly 30 years, Johnny Carson hosted NBC’s “Tonight Show” for the final time. (Jay Leno took over as host three days later.)
Ten years ago: A Texas appeals court said the state had no right to take more than 400 children from a polygamist group’s ranch the previous month; the children were returned to their parents.
Five years ago: In a daylight attack in London, two al-Qaida-inspired extremists with knives hacked to death an off-duty British soldier, Lee Rigby, before police wounded them in a shootout. (The attackers were later sentenced to prison.)
One year ago: A suicide bomber set off an improvised explosive device that killed 22 people at the end of an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England.