Years Ago

Today is Tuesday, May 22, the 143rd day of 2012. There are 223 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1761: The first American life insurance policy is issued in Philadelphia to a Rev. Francis Allison, whose premium was six pounds per year.

1860: The United States and Japan exchange ratifications of the Treaty of Amity and Commerce during a ceremony in Washington.

1935: President Franklin D. Roosevelt appears before Congress to explain his decision to veto a bill that would have allowed World War I veterans to cash in bonus certificates before their 1945 due date.

1939: The foreign ministers of Germany and Italy, Joachim von Ribbentrop and Galeazzo Ciano, sign a “Pact of Steel” committing the two countries to a military alliance.

1947: The Truman Doctrine is enacted as Congress appropriates military and economic aid for Greece and Turkey.

1960: An earthquake of magnitude 9.5, the strongest on record, strikes southern Chile, claiming some 1,655 lives.

VINDICATOR FILES

1987: LTV Steel Co. will not likely meet its self-imposed target of emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy by late 1988, but David H. Hoag, president and CEO, insists the company will survive.

Public pressure is mounting against a 9.6 percent electricity rate increase being sought by Ohio Edison Co. to cover costs of the Perry Nuclear Power plant.

1972: The oldest parochial school in Youngstown, St. Columba’s, will close in June and about 100 of its students will transfer to Immaculate Conception School and 32 will transfer to other nonpublic schools in the cathedral area.

Noah W. “Squire” Barringer, 90, of Columbiana, former Canfield mayor and Canfield Fair buff, dies of a heart ailment.

1962: The Youngstown Education Association asks the Youngstown Board of Education to provide wage increases ranging from $200 to $1,100 for the district’s 1,150 teachers.

Construction of the new Mahoning County Home is about 80 percent compete and Architect Robert Buchanan says the building should be done by Nov. 1.

1937: Mayo Fessler of the Cleveland Citizens League says Youngstown should adopt a city-manager form of government with a nine-member council elected on a proportionate representative plan.

Trustees of the Youngs-town Hospital announce plans for a $250,000 addition to the South Side unit of the hospital.

Eighty-three seniors at Hubbard High School receive their diplomas during ceremonies in the school auditorium.