May 22: Today in History – Historical Events
Early Centuries – May 22 Historic Events – Before the 1700s
1. 22nd May 1176: There was an attempt by “Assassins” on the first sultan of Egypt and Syria, Saladin near Aleppo.
2. 22nd May 1200: France and England signed the treaty of Le Goulet today.
3. 22nd May 1370: In Brussels Belgium, Jews were expelled and massacred.
4. 22nd May 1377: Five papal bulls were issued by Pope George XI to denounce the doctrines of the English theologian John Wycliffe.
18th Century – What Happened on May 22 – The 1700s
5. 22nd May 1799: French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte today made a statement in support of establishing Jerusalem for Jews again.
19th Century – May 22 This Day That Year – The 1800s
6. 22nd May 1803: The first ever public library in the United States opened today in Connecticut.
7. 22nd May 1807: Former US Vice President Aaron Burr was today tried for treason in Richmond in Virginia. He was acquitted.
8. 22nd May 1819: Savannah leaves Georgia to cross the Atlantic. It was the first steam-propelled to cross the Atlantic.
9. 22nd May 1840: The practice of transporting British convicts to New South Whales Colony was abolished today.
10. 22nd May 1842: The Howe Caverns were discovered in the New York State when two farmers Lester Howe and Henry Wetsel stumbled upon a large gaping hole in the ground.
11. 22nd May 1843: The first wagon load of about 1000 immigrants departed Independence, Missouri to Oregon.
12. 22nd May 1849: Abraham Lincoln received a patent for inventing a device that lifts boats over river obstacles. He became the only president to receive a patent.
13. 22nd May 1856: In an incidence of violence in the US Senate, the South Carolina representative Brooks used his cane on Senator Charles Summer of Massachusetts.
14. 22nd May 1863:The Bureau of Coloured Troops was established by the Department today.
15. 22nd May 1868: Reno Brothers Gang made off with $98,000 in a train robbery at Marshfield in Indiana.
16. 22nd May 1872: Civil rights were restored to Southerners (except 500) by the Amnesty Act.
17. 22nd May 1888: A system of building skyscrapers was today patented by Leroy Buffington.
18. 22nd May 1892: The toothpaste tube was invented today by Dr. Washington Sheffield.
19. 22nd May 1897: Official opening of the Blackwall tunnel under the river Thames in London.
20th Century – Important Events On This Day May 22nd – The 1900s
20. 22nd May 1902: President Roosevelt today signed a treaty with Mexico agreed by both countries to submit a long-standing dispute over interest payment to the Court of Arbitration at Hague.
21. 22nd May 1903: SS Iconic the White Star Liner was launched today.
22. 22nd May 1905: Royal Academy in Delft, Holland today became Technical High School.
23. 22nd May 1906: Closing of the tenth anniversary of the Olympic games in Athens, Greece today.
24. 22nd May 1906:The Wright brothers were awarded the US patent for the Flying Machine.
25. 22nd May 1907: In a cricket match between Middlesex and Somerset, Albert Trott took two hat tricks in an inning.
26. 22nd May 1915: In Gretna in Scotland a local train collided with a troop train killing 226 people.
27. 22nd May 1915: Lassen Peak erupted today with a powerful force. This was the only peak other than St. Helena to have erupted in the continental US in the 20th century.
28. 22nd May 1916: Parts of Fort Douaumont Verdun were occupied by French troops.
29. 22nd May 1919: Archaeologist and Astronomer A.E. Douglass made a breakthrough in dating archaeological sites by establishing relative dates of two archaeological sites using ancient wood samples.
30. 22nd May 1926: Communists in Guolmindang China were replaced by military and political leader Cheng Kai-shek.
31. 22nd May 1926: David Wijnkoop was expelled by the Dutch communist party.
32. 22nd May 1927: A massive earthquake measuring 8.6 on the Richter scale struck Xining in China killing at least 200,000 people. It was one of the deadliest earthquakes on record.
33. 22nd May 1928: An explosion occurred in the No 1 mine at Yukon Pocahontas in West Virginia. About 17 people died in the disaster.
34. 22nd May 1928: The Jones White Merchant Naval Act was today accepted by the US Congress.
35. 22nd May 1931: Canned rattlesnake meat went on sale for the first time in Florida.
36. 22nd May 1933: World Trade Day/National Maritime Day was celebrated for the 1st time today.
37. 22nd May 1933: Eight states including Texas and Washington State were given a total of $5,336,317 in relief funding from the Federal Emergency Relief Fund today.
38. 22nd May 1933: John MacKay reportedly sighted the Loch Ness Monster first.
39. 22nd May 1936: The Irish government today established its national airline Aer Lingus (Aer Loingeas).
40. 22nd May 1939: Germany and Italy signed the Pact of Steel, formally known as the Pactt of Friendship and Alliance. It was a joint declaration of continuing trust and cooperation between the two countries and a joint military and economic policy.
41. 22nd May 1940: U.K. Prime Minister Winston Churchill flew to Paris to meet the French military commander General Maxime Weygand to work on a strategy of how to save the city.
42. 22nd May 1940: Dutch Prime Minister De Geer today started working with the Nazis.
43. 22nd May 1941: British troops launch an attack on Bagdad.
44. 22nd May 1942: The Steel Workers Organizing Committee was disbanded today and a new trade union in its place “United Steel Workers” was formed.
45. 22nd May 1942: Mexico today declared war on onNazi Germany and Japan.
46. 22nd May 1943: Stalin disbanded “The Communist International Cominternn)” today.
47. 22nd May 1943: The first U.S. jet fighter was test flown today.
48. 22nd May 1945: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill resigned today bringing to an end the coalition cabinet, which was formed during the war.
49. 22nd May 1945: The 6th Marine division reached the suburbs of Naha Okinawa today.
50. 22nd May 1947: The Truman Doctrine aiding Turkey and Greece takes effect today.
51. 22nd May 1947: The US today test-fired its first ballistic missile.
52. 22nd May 1950: Turkey elects Celal Bayer as its President.
53. 22nd May 1953: The Offshore Oil Bill was today signed by President Eisenhower.
54. 22nd May 1957: Race separation in universities was approved by the South African government today.
55. 22nd May 1958: In Middleton, New Jersey, a powerful missile exploded underground which set up a further 8 missiles, all fully armed. About 7 to 10 people died in the explosion.
56. 22nd May 1959: Benjamin O Davis Jr became the first black to become a major general of the US Air Force.
57. 22nd May 1960: The earthquake that struck the previous day caused a tsunami resulting in several deaths in Hawaii and Japan.
58. 22nd May 1961: On top of The Needle in Seattle, the first revolving restaurant was opened today.
59. 22nd May 1962: The Netherlands telephone network was fully automated today.
60. 22nd May 1962: Bombs exploded on board of Continental Airlines flight 11 which crashed due to the explosion.
61. 22nd May 1965: There were massive marathon protests over the United States policy in Vietnam continued at Berkley University. Over 5000 protesters were involved.
62. 22nd May 1967: In Brussels Belgium, a fire broke out at the L’Innovation department store killing about 322 people.
63. 22nd May 1967: President Nasser of Egypt closed the Straits of Tiran to Israel.
64. 22nd May 1969: When Apollo 10 came to within eight nautical miles of the moon’s surface, astronauts Col Thomas Stafford and Commander Eugene Cernancarriedy out of rehearsals for the planned moon landing.
65. 22nd May 1970: France performed its nuclear test at the Mururoa atoll today.
66. 22nd May 1970: Nine children and 3 adults were killed in a school bus today by Arab terrorists.
67. 22nd May 1973: US President Richard Nixon today confessed to his role in Watergatecover-upp.
68. 22nd May 1974:The US today performed a nuclear test at the Nevada test site.
69. 22nd May 1976: Space vehicle S-179 was launched by NASA today.
70. 22nd May 1977: Today was the last European scheduled run of the long-distance passenger train service created in 1883.
71. 22nd May 1979: Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau was today replaced by Joseph Clark, a conservative.
72. 22nd May 1981: Spacecraft Soyuz-40 returned to earth today.
73. 22nd May 1981: In England, The Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe was sentenced to a minimum of 30 years in jail after he was found guilty of killing 13 women and attempting to murder 7 others.
74. 22nd May 1985:An US sailor, Michael L Walker was arrested today on charges of spying for the USSR.
75. 22nd May 1987: In Meerut in India, the Hashimpura massacre took place in which about 40 Muslims mostly from the Hashimpura locality were shot by the men from the Provincial Armed Constabulary.
76. 22nd May 1987: A tornado struck Texas today killing 30 people.
77. 22nd May 1987: This day marks the start of the Rugby World Cup at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand with a match between the home team and Italy.
78. 22nd May 1989: Today is the 10th day of the occupation of Tiananmen Square by students of the pro-democracy movement in China. About 45,000 people have gathered in the square.
79. 22nd May 1989: India successfully tested its Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile “Agni”, in Chandipur in Orissa.
80. 22nd May 1972: US President Richard Nixon today arrived in Moscow for talks on International issues and the nuclear arms race. He was the first US president to visit the Soviet Union.
81. 22nd May 1972: Ceylon was renamed Sri Lanka today.
82. 22nd May 1990:the Republic of Yemen was formed today by the unification of Marxist South Yemen and Conservative North Yemen.
83. 22nd May 1990: The Windows 3 operating system was today released by Microsoft Corporation.
84. 22nd May 1998: To evict anti-government student protesters who were protesting against the corruption of the government in the parliament in Indonesia, heavily armed soldiers marched into the parliament in Jakarta.
85. 22nd May 1998: In the Lewinsky scandal involving US President Bill Clinton and White House intern Monica Lewinsky, a federal judge today ruled that United States Secret Service agents may be compelled to testify before the Grand Jury concerning the scandal.
21st Century – May 22 This Day In History – The 2000s
86. 22nd May 2000: The Lebanese Shia Muslim militant group Hezbollah, with the support of Syria and Iran occupied several outposts abandoned by the South Lebanon army (backed by Israel) in Israel’s southern occupation zone.
87. 22nd May 2002: Bobby Frank Cherry, a former member of the Ku Klux Klan was today convicted by a jury in Alabama for the murders of four girls in the bombing of 16th Street Baptist Church in 1963.
88. 22nd May 2003: The United Nations Security Council today paved the way for ending the 13-year-old economic sanction on Iraq by giving a mandate to the US and the UK to rule Iraq.
89. 22nd May 2004: In India, Dr. Manmohan Singh became Prime Minister. He was the 13th Prime Minister of the country.
90. 22nd May 2008: The Italian government today announced that it would resume its nuclear program, more than 20 years after it ended it.
91. 22nd May 2008: In Kenya, eight women and three men who were all between 80 and 96 were accused of being witches and burned to death in the western Kisii district. 19 people have been held in connection with the murder.
92. 22nd May 2009: Sixty-six-year-old Lynda Flemming who was terminally ill died under the supervision of her doctor with her family by her side. She became the first person in the US state of Washington to die under assisted suicide law in the state.
93. 22nd May 2010: Thirteen-year-old Jordan Romero of the United States climbed Everest with his father and three sherpas today. He became the youngest person to climb the Everest.
94. 22nd May 2010: An Air India Boeing 737 flight crashed on landing in the Mangalore airport in India. In the crash, 158 people of the 166 on board were killed.
95. 22nd May 2011: A devastating tornado struck Missouri today cutting off power supply to most parts of the city and damaging about 2000 buildings. About 115 people are reported to be dead and over a thousand injured.
96. 22nd May 2011: In Mexico, General Jorge Juarez Loera, a key figure in Mexico’s war against the drug mafia, who had recently retired was shot dead near Mexico City.
97. 22nd May 2013:Too overcome the shortage of toiletries, the Venezuelan government created a credit of $79 million for the import of toilet paper, toothpaste,e, and soap.
98. 22nd May 2014: There was a military coup in Thailand today which installed General Prayuth Chan-Ocha as its interim leader. The military has imposed a curfew, suspended parts of the constitution, and placed media and internet communication under control.
99. 22nd May 2014: Meg Whiteman, CEO of Hewlett-Packard announced increasing job cuts from the original figure of 34,000 to 45,000 by shifting computing habits from servers to cloud services.
100. 22nd May 2015: Near Wembley Stadium in London, construction workers today discovered an unexploded, World War II bomb. It was however safely defused by explosive experts.
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