Today in History — May 22

updated 12:08 a.m. ET May 22, 2007

Today is Tuesday, May 22, the 142nd day of 2007. There are 223 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:
One hundred years ago, on May 22, 1907, actor-director Laurence Olivier was born in Dorking, Surrey, England.

On this date:
In 1813, composer Richard Wagner was born in Leipzig, Germany.

In 1868, a major train robbery took place near Marshfield, Ind., as seven members of the Reno gang made off with $96,000.

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.

In 1947, the Truman Doctrine was enacted as Congress appropriated military and economic aid for Greece and Turkey.

In 1968, the nuclear-powered U.S. submarine 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 flew to within nine miles of the moon’s surface in a dress rehearsal for the first lunar landing.

In 1972, President Nixon began a visit to the Soviet Union, during which he and Kremlin leaders signed the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.

In 1972, the island nation of Ceylon became the republic of Sri Lanka.

In 1979, Canadians voted in parliamentary elections that put the Progressive Conservatives in power, ending the 11-year tenure of Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau.

In 1992, after a reign lasting nearly 30 years, Johnny Carson hosted NBC’s “Tonight Show” for the last time.

Ten years ago: In a case that drew national attention, Kelly Flinn, the Air Force’s first female bomber pilot certified for combat, accepted a general discharge, thereby avoiding court-martial on charges of adultery, lying and disobeying an order. The defense began presenting its case in the Oklahoma City bombing trial of Timothy McVeigh.

Five years ago: A jury in Birmingham, Ala., convicted former Ku Klux Klansman Bobby Frank Cherry of murder in a 1963 church bombing that killed four black girls. The remains of Chandra Levy, the federal intern who had disappeared more than a year earlier, were found in a Washington park.

One year ago: 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. Seven-year-old Braxton Bilbrey of Arizona swam from Alcatraz Island to San Francisco in 47 minutes.

Today’s Birthdays: Movie reviewer Judith Crist is 85. Singer Charles Aznavour is 83. Actor Michael Constantine is 80. Conductor Peter Nero is 73. Actor-director Richard Benjamin is 69. Actor Frank Converse is 69. Actor Michael Sarrazin is 67. Former CNN anchor Bernard Shaw is 67. Actress Barbara Parkins is 65. Songwriter Bernie Taupin is 57. Actor-producer Al Corley is 51. Singer Morrissey is 48. Actress Ann Cusack is 46. Country musician Dana Williams (Diamond Rio) is 46. Rock musician Jesse Valenzuela is 45. Rhythm-and-blues singer Johnny Gill (New Edition) is 41. Rock musician Dan Roberts (Crash Test Dummies) is 40. Model Naomi Campbell is 37. Actress Anna Belknap is 35. Actress Alison Eastwood is 35. Singer Donell Jones is 34. Actress A.J. Langer is 33.

Thought for Today: “Always do your best. You can’t do more and you mustn’t do less.” — Laurence Olivier, British actor (1907-1989).

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