Today in History: May 22, Johnson's 'Great Society'

Today in History Today is Sunday, May 22, the 142nd day of 2022. There are 223 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On May 22, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson, speaking at the University of Michigan, outlined the goals of his ‘œGreat Society,’� saying that it ‘œrests on abundance and liberty for all’� and ‘œdemands an end to poverty and racial injustice.’� On this date: In 1939, the foreign ministers of Germany and Italy, Joachim von Ribbentrop and Galeazzo Ciano, signed a ‘œPact of Steel’� committing the two countries to a military alliance. In 1960, an earthquake of magnitude 9.5, the strongest ever measured, struck southern Chile, claiming some 1,655 lives. In 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. In 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. In 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.) In 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. 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; both were later convicted of spying for the Soviet Union. (Michael Walker served 15 years in prison and was released in 2000.) In 1992, after a reign lasting nearly 30 years, Johnny Carson hosted NBC’s ‘œTonight Show’� for the final time. (Jay Leno took over as host three days later.) In 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. In 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. In 2018, Stacey Abrams won Georgia’s Democratic gubernatorial primary, making her the first woman nominee for Georgia governor from either major party. (Abrams, seeking to become the nation’s first Black female governor, was defeated by Republican Brian Kemp.) In 2020, ‘œFull 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.) Ten years ago: 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. Wesley A. Brown, the first African-American to graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, died in Silver Spring, Maryland, at age 85. Five years ago: A suicide bomber set off an improvised explosive device that killed 22 people at the end of an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England. In a historic gesture, President Donald Trump solemnly placed a note in the ancient stones of Jerusalem’s Western Wall. Ford Motor Co. announced it was replacing CEO Mark Fields. Actor Dina Merrill, 93, died at her home in East Hampton, New York.