Today in history

Today is Monday, June 22, the 173rd day of 2009. There are 192 days left in the year. On this date in 1945, the World War II battle for Okinawa ends with an Allied victory; some 13,000 Americans and 90,000 Japanese soldiers, plus 130,000 civilians, are killed in the nearly three-month campaign.

In 1870, the U.S. Department of Justice is created. In 1937, Joe Louis begins his reign as world heavyweight boxing champion by knocking out Jim Braddock in the eighth round of their fight in Chicago. In 1938, Joe Louis knocks out Max Schmeling in the first round of their rematch at Yankee Stadium. In 1940, during World War II, Adolf Hitler gains a stunning victory as France is forced to sign an armistice eight days after German forces overran Paris. In 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, more popularly known as the “GI Bill of Rights.” In 1969, singer-actress Judy Garland dies in London at age 47. In 1977, John N. Mitchell becomes the first former U.S. attorney general to go to prison as he begins serving a sentence for his role in the Watergate cover-up. (He is released 19 months later.) In 1993, former first lady Pat Nixon dies in Park Ridge, N.J., at age 81.

June 22, 1984: The Niles Cab Co. has been sold to Cardinal Cab Co. of Warren. Cardinal runs the Co-Operide program for SCOPE, the senior citizens program in Warren, and Charles Gibson, Niles Cab owner, said he could not compete with the $1-per-ride program.

U.S. Rep. Lyle Williams, R-17, breaks his right leg during a congressional baseball game between Republicans and Democrats in suburban Washington.

June 22, 1969: Ambrose J. Wardle Jr., chairman of the board of McKay Machine Co. and president of Wean Industries Inc. will head a communitywide campaign to raise $1.7 million toward the $14 million cost of a new wing at St. Elizabeth hospital.

The Youngstown Tailwaggers 4-H Club has taken on responsibility for training a two-month old German shepherd to be a guide dog for Pilot Dogs Inc.

June 22, 1959: A 22-year-old window washer, Benjamin Deems of 23 Woodbine Ave., falls to his death while working on the third floor of the Dollar Savings & Trust Co.

The Radio Corporation of America is developing a magnetic tape system that will allow people to watch home movies on their TVs and would make educational programs available to groups of any size. It is being called “Hear-See.”

June 22, 1934: Several hundred hopeful elderly men and women stream into the Old Age pension office at the Mahoning County courthouse to fill out four-page applications for pensions from the state.

Margaret Bott, daughter of Ray Bott, a former Youngstown dancing instructor who now lives in New York, dies after shooting herself at the home of an uncle in Des Moines. Death came a week after the young woman and her 62-year-old mother tied themselves together and swam into Lake Michigan in a suicide pact. They washed up on shore, the mother dead and Miss Bott unconscious.