Today in history:
On May 22, 1960, the strongest earthquake ever recorded struck southern Chile; the magnitude 9.5 quake claimed 1,655 lives and left 2 million homeless, and triggered a tsunami responsible for over 230 additional deaths in Hawaii, Japan and the Philippines.
Also on this date:
In 1939, the foreign ministers of Germany and Italy, Joachim von Ribbentrop and Galeazzo Ciano, signed a “Pact of Steel” committing their two countries to a military and political alliance.
In 1962, Continental Airlines Flight 11, en route from Chicago to Kansas City, Missouri, crashed near Unionville, Missouri, after a passenger ignited dynamite on board the plane, killing all 45 occupants of the Boeing 707.
In 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.”
In 1969, the lunar module of Apollo 10, with Thomas P. Stafford and Eugene Cernan aboard, flew within nine miles of the moon’s surface in a “dress rehearsal” for the first lunar landing.
In 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 by the FBI; 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.)
In 1992, after a reign lasting nearly 30 years, Johnny Carson hosted his final episode of NBC’s “Tonight Show.” (Jay Leno took over as host three days later.)
In 2011, a massive EF5 tornado struck Joplin, Missouri, with winds up to 250 mph (400 km/h), killing at least 159 people and destroying about 8,000 homes and businesses.
In 2017, a suicide bomber set off an improvised explosive device that killed 22 people and injured over 1,000 following an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England.
