May 22
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.
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.”
1992: After a reign lasting nearly 30 years, Johnny Carson hosted his final episode of NBC’s “Tonight Show.”
May 23
1915: Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary, aligning with the Triple Entente of Russia, France and the United Kingdom.
1934: Bank robbers Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were shot to death during a police ambush in Bienville Parish, Louisiana.
1984: Surgeon General C. Everett Koop issued a report saying there was “very solid” evidence linking cigarette smoke to lung disease in non-smokers.
May 24
1844: Samuel F.B. Morse transmitted the message “What hath God wrought” from Washington to Baltimore as he formally opened America’s first telegraph line.
1883: New York’s Brooklyn Bridge opened to traffic.
1941: During World War II, the German battleship Bismarck sank the British battle cruiser HMS Hood in the North Atlantic, killing all but three of the 1,418 men on board.
1974: American jazz composer and bandleader Duke Ellington, 75, died in New York.
MAY 25
1787: The Constitutional Convention began at the Pennsylvania State House (Independence Hall) in Philadelphia after enough delegates had shown up for a quorum.
1961: President John F. Kennedy told Congress: “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.”
1968: The Gateway Arch in St. Louis was dedicated by Vice President Hubert Humphrey and Interior Secretary Stewart Udall.
1977: The first “Star Wars” film (later retitled “Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope”) was released by 20th Century Fox.
MAY 26
1864: President Abraham Lincoln signed a measure creating the Montana Territory.
1865: Confederate forces west of the Mississippi surrendered in New Orleans.
1938: The House Un-American Activities Committee was established by Congress.
1940: Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of some 338,000 Allied troops from Dunkirk, France, began during World War II.
May 27
1896: Two hundred fifty-five people were killed when a tornado struck St. Louis, Missouri, and East St. Louis, Illinois.
1937: The newly completed Golden Gate Bridge connecting San Francisco and Marin County, California, was opened to pedestrian traffic.
1941: The British Royal Navy sank the German battleship Bismarck off France.
May 28
1863: The 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment, made up of freed Black men, left Boston to fight for the Union in the Civil War.
1892: The Sierra Club was organized in San Francisco.
1940: During World War II, the Belgian army surrendered to invading German forces.
1998: Comic actor Phil Hartman of “Saturday Night Live” and “NewsRadio” fame was shot to death by his wife, Brynn.
