DAILY ALMANAC
Today is Monday, May 22, the 142nd day of 2023. There are 223 days left in the year. On this date in:
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.)
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.)
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.)
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, Missouri, with winds up to 250 mph, claiming at least 159 lives and destroying about 8,000 homes and businesses.
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. (Loughlin would spend two months behind bars; Giannulli began a five-month sentence in November 2020 and was released to home confinement in April 2021.)
Pianist Peter Nero is 89. Actor-director Richard Benjamin is 85. Actor Frank Converse is 85. Actor Barbara Parkins (“Peyton Place,” “Valley of the Dolls”) is 81. Songwriter Bernie Taupin
is 73. Actor Al Corley
(“Dynasty”) is 68. Singer
Morrissey is 64. Actor
Ann Cusack (“Jeff Foxworthy Show,” “A League of Their Own”) is 62. Bassist Dana Williams
of Diamond Rio is 62. Guitarist Jesse Valenzuela of Gin Blossoms is 61. Actor Mark Christopher Lawrence (“Chuck”) is 59. Singer Johnny Gill is 57. Bassist Dan Roberts of Crash Test Dummies is 56. Actor Brooke Smith (“Grey’s Anatomy,” “The Silence of the Lambs”) is 56. Actor
Michael Kelly (“House of Cards”) is 54. Model Naomi Campbell is 53.