Today is Saturday, May 22, the 143rd day of 2004. There are 223 days left in the year. On this date

Today is Saturday, May 22, the 143rd day of 2004. There are 223 days left in the year. On this date in 1868, the "Great Train Robbery" takes place near Marshfield, Ind., as seven members of the Reno gang make off with $96,000 in loot.
In 1761, the first life insurance policy in the United States is issued, in Philadelphia. In 1813, composer Richard Wagner is born in Leipzig, Germany. In 1819, the first steam-propelled vessel to attempt a transatlantic crossing, the Savannah, departs from Savannah, Ga. (It arrives in Liverpool, England, on June 20.) In 1939, Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini sign a "Pact of Steel" committing Germany and Italy to a military alliance. In 1947, the "Truman Doctrine" is enacted as Congress appropriates military and economic aid for Greece and Turkey. In 1969, the lunar module of Apollo 10 flies to within nine miles of the moon's surface in a dress rehearsal for the first lunar landing. In 1972, President Nixon begins a visit to the Soviet Union, during which he and Kremlin leaders sign the SALT One arms limitation treaty. In 1972, the island nation of Ceylon becomes the Republic of Sri Lanka. In 1979, Canadians vote 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 hosts NBC's "Tonight Show" for the last time.
May 22, 1979: The government and U.S. Steel are close to an agreement requiring the company to spend as much as $300 million to reduce pollution at nine of its plants.
The Greater Youngstown Area AFL-CIO, sharply divided over its own Political Education Committee's recommendation, refuses to endorse in the Youngstown mayoral race between William R. Shranko and George Vukovich.
Michael J. Maro, 68, is honored by students at Gordon School in Campbell on his retirement following his tenure of 32 years as principal of the school.
May 22, 1964: Youngstown district steel operations continue to improve, climbing three points to 77 percent of capacity.
The Rev. Edler G. Hawkins is elected moderator of the United Presbyterian Church by the church's general assembly, the first black to be elected to the position, which is, in effect, chairman of the board.
Frank Fetchet, Youngstown numbers operator, is again eluding service of a subpoena by the Mahoning County grand jury that is investigating gambling in the county.
May 22, 1954: Youngstown City Council unanimously grants the Youngstown Municipal Railway Co. a bus franchise renewal that will run for 25 years, expiring June 22, 1979. As a condition, Muny must apply to the PUCO for a franchise to expand service to Boardman and Wickliffe.
President Eisenhower's request to lower the voting age from 21 to 18 years old is doomed for this session of Congress when a solid line of 24 Democratic senators, mostly Southerners, kills the proposed constitutional amendment.
The United States was saved from armed intervention in the Indo-China conflict by the "cold reception" that Congress gave the idea and "sharp antagonism" of American newspaper editors, says U.S. Sen. Andrew F. Schoeppel of Kansas, the main speaker at the Ohio Bar Association convention meeting in Youngstown. Schoeppel said most members of Congress believe that if the nation is going to war, Congress must first declare a war.
May 22 1929: "I favor making marriage more difficult and divorce easier," says Mahoning County Judge George H. Gessner, commenting on the marital difficulties that led to the filing of 50 divorce suits in 22 days, a record for the county.
President Hoover invites the governors of western oil producing states to send representatives to a conference in Colorado Springs to consider the possibility of creating an interstate compact for conservation of oil.
Campbell City Council authorizes Water Works Supt. Henry Hussey to shut off water service to all city schools following failure of the Campbell Board of Education to pay its water bill of $1,500.