TODAY IN HISTORY

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, Mo., 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 322people.

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 400miles southwest of the Azores.)