ON MAY 22 ...

In 1761, the first life insurance policy in the U.S. was issued in Philadelphia.

In 1819 the American steamship Savannah set out for Liverpool, England, from Savannah, Ga. (It arrived June 20, making it the first steam-powered vessel to cross the Atlantic.)

In 1859 Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, was born in Edinburgh, Scotland.

In 1868 seven members of the Reno gang made off with $96,000 in cash, gold and bonds in the Great Train Robbery near Seymour, Ind.

In 1939 Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini signed a “Pact of Steel” committing Germany and Italy to a military alliance.

In 1947 the Truman Doctrine, aimed at containing communism, went into effect as Congress appropriated military and economic aid for Greece and Turkey.

In 1969 the lunar module of Apollo 10 flew to within 9 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 — the first by a U.S. president — during which he and Kremlin leaders signed the Salt I arms-limitation treaty. Also in 1972 the South Asian island nation of Ceylon became the republic of Sri Lanka.

In 1979 Canadians voted in parliamentary elections that put the Progressive Conservatives in power, ending the 11-year tenure of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.

In 1992, after a reign of nearly 30 years, Johnny Carson stepped down as host of NBC’s “Tonight” show.

In 2000, in a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court struck down a federal law that shielded children from sex-oriented cable-television channels.

In 2001 Ford Motor Co. said it planned to spend more than $2 billion to replace up to 13 million Firestone tires on its vehicles because of safety concerns.

In 2002 a jury in Birmingham, Ala., convicted former Ku Klux Klansman Bobby Frank Cherry of murder in a 1963 church bombing that killed four black girls. Also in 2002 the remains of Chandra Levy, the federal intern who had disappeared more than a year earlier, were found in a Washington park.

In 2003 the U.N. Security Council gave the U.S. and Britain a mandate to rule Iraq, ending 13 years of economic sanctions. Also in 2003 Annika Sorenstam became the first woman since Babe Didrikson Zaharias in 1945 to tee off against the men on the pro tour, playing in the first round of the Colonial golf tournament in Fort Worth. (Sorenstam missed the cut the next day by four shots.)

In 2005 voice actor Thurl Ravenscroft, who supplied Tony the Tiger’s “They’re grrrrreeeat!” for more than 50 years, died in Fullerton, Calif.; he was 91.

In 2011 a massive EF5 tornado ripped through Joplin, Mo., leveling much of the town, killing 161 people and injuring hundreds more.

In 2012, for the first time, a private company, Space Exploration Technologies Corp., sent a spacecraft to the International Space Station.

In 2013 two Muslim extremists hacked to death British soldier Lee Rigby, 25, on a London street before being shot and wounded by police. (Michael Adebolajo, 29, was later sentenced to life in prison and Michael Adebowale, 22, was given a life sentence with the possibility of parole after 45 years.) Also in 2013 the Boy Scouts of America lifted its ban against gay youth. Also in 2013 an FBI agent in Orlando, Fla., shot and killed Chechen immigrant Ibragim Todashev, 25, during questioning about the Boston Marathon bombings and an unrelated triple homicide.

In 2014 Thailand’s military carried out the country’s 12th coup in 82 years.

In 2015 4-year-old Jacele Johnson survived a bullet to the head in what authorities called a gang-related shooting in Englewood.

In 2017 a suicide bomber killed 22 people and injured dozens at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester.