On this day, May 22
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.
1960 An earthquake of magnitude 9.5, the strongest ever measured, struck southern Chile, claiming some 1,655 lives.
1962 Continental Airlines Flight 11, en route from Chicago to Kansas City, Missouri, crashed after a bomb apparently brought on board by a passenger exploded, killing all 45 occupants of the Boeing 707.
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.”
1967 A fire at the L’Innovation department store in Brussels killed 322 people. Poet and playwright Langston Hughes died in
New York at age 65.
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.)
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.
1985 U.S. sailor Michael L. Walker was arrested aboard the aircraft carrier Nimitz, two days after his father, John A. Walker Jr., was apprehended; both 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. )
2006 The Department of Veterans Affairs said personal data, including Social Security numbers of 26.5 million U.S. veterans, was stolen from a VA employee after he took the information home without authorization.
2011 A tornado devastated Joplin, Mo., with winds up to 250 mph, claiming at least 159 lives and destroying about 8,000 homes and businesses.
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.
Today’s birthdays: Actor Frank Converse, 86. Retired MLB All-Star pitcher Tommy John, 81. Songwriter Bernie Taupin, 74. Actor-producer Al Corley, 69. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska,, 67. Singer Morrissey, 65. Actor Ann Cusack, 63. Rock musician Jesse Valenzuela, 62. R&B singer Johnny Gill (New Edition), 58. Rock musician Dan Roberts (Crash Test Dummies), 57. Actor Brooke Smith, 57.