Today In History
Today is Wednesday, May 22, the 143rd day of 2024. There are 223 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT
On May 22, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson, speaking at the University of Michigan, outlined the goals of his “Great Society,” saying that it “rests on abundance and liberty for all” and “demands an end to poverty and racial injustice.”
ON THIS DATE
› 1939: The foreign ministers of Germany and Italy, Joachim von Ribbentrop and Galeazzo Ciano, signed a “Pact of Steel” committing the two countries to a military alliance.
› 1968: The nuclear-powered submarine USS Scorpion, with 99 men aboard, sank in the Atlantic Ocean.
› 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.
› 1992: After a reign lasting nearly 30 years, Johnny Carson hosted NBC’s “Tonight Show” for the final time.
› 2012: The Falcon 9, built by billionaire businessman Elon Musk, sped toward the International Space Station with a load of groceries and other supplies, marking the first time a commercial spacecraft had been sent to the orbiting outpost.
› 2017: A suicide bomber set off an improvised explosive device that killed 22 people at the end of an Ariana
Grande concert in Manchester, England.
› 2020: “Full House” star Lori Loughlin and her fashion designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli, pleaded guilty to paying half a million dollars into the University of Southern California as part of a college admissions bribery scheme.
› 2018: Novelist Philip Roth, whose books included “Portnoy’s Complaint” and the Pulitzer Prize-winning “American Pastoral,” died in New York at the age of 85.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS
Actor-director Richard Benjamin is 86. Actor Frank Converse is 86. Actor Barbara Parkins is
82. Retired MLB All-Star pitcher Tommy John is 81. Songwriter Bernie Taupin is 74. Actor-producer Al Corley is 69. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, is
67. Singer Morrissey is 65. Actor Ann Cusack is 63. Country musician Dana Williams (Diamond Rio) is 63. Rock musician Jesse Valenzuela is 62. Actor Mark Christopher Lawrence is 60. R&B singer Johnny Gill (New Edition) is 58. Rock musician Dan Roberts (Crash Test Dummies) is 57. Model Naomi Campbell is 54. Actor Anna Belknap is 52. Actor Alison Eastwood is 52. Singer Donell Jones is 51. Actor Sean Gunn is 50. Actor A.J. Langer is 50. Actor Maggie Q is
45. Olympic gold medal speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno is 42. Actor Molly Ephraim (TV: “Last Man Standing”) is 38. Tennis player Novak Djokovic is
37. Actor Anna Baryshnikov is 32. Actor Camren Bicondova is 25.