YEARS AGO

Today is Friday, May 22, the 142nd day of 2015. There are 223 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

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

1913: The American Cancer Society is founded in New York under its original name, the American Society for the Control of Cancer.

1915: The Lassen Peak volcano in Northern California explodes, devastating nearby areas but causing no deaths.

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 ever measured, strikes southern Chile, claiming some 1,655 lives.

1968: The nuclear-powered submarine USS Scorpion, with 99 men aboard, sinks in the Atlantic Ocean. (The remains of the sub were later found on the ocean floor 400 miles southwest of the Azores.)

1969: The lunar module of Apollo 10, with Thomas P. Stafford and Eugene Cernan aboard, flies to within nine miles of the moon’s surface in a dress rehearsal for the first lunar landing.

1972: President Richard Nixon begins a visit to the Soviet Union, during which he and Kremlin leaders sign the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.

The island nation of Ceylon becomes the republic of Sri Lanka.

1981: “Yorkshire Ripper” Peter Sutcliffe is convicted in London of murdering 13 women and is sentenced to life in prison.

1990: After years of conflict, pro-Western North Yemen and pro-Soviet South Yemen merge to form a single nation, the Republic of Yemen.

1992: After a reign lasting nearly 30 years, Johnny Carson hosts NBC’s “Tonight Show” for the last time.

2005: First lady Laura Bush is heckled by protesters — Israelis as well as Palestinians — during a visit to holy sites in Jerusalem.

Three Romanian journalists and their Iraqi-American guide are freed after nearly two months in captivity in Iraq.

Voice actor Thurl Ravenscroft, who supplied Tony the Tiger’s “They’re grrrrreat!” for more than 50 years, died in Fullerton, Calif., at age 91.

2010: Addressing graduating cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, President Barack Obama says the U.S. has to shape a world order as reliant on diplomacy as on the might of its military to lead, a repudiation of the go-it-alone approach forged by his predecessor, George W. Bush.

An Air India Express Boeing 737-800 crashes after overshooting a runway at Mangalore International Airport, killing all but eight of the 166 people aboard.

VINDICATOR FILES

1990: A new York investors group seeking to buy Sharon Steel Corp.’s steel operations says it would invest $300 million in operations, including the installation of a continuous caster.

The United Auto Workers union says its goal in1990 will be a contract that will force the Big Three automakers to retain all current workers unless doing so would threaten the ability of the company to survive.

Bradley C. Harris, 15, of Poland receives his Eagle Scout award during a Court of Honor at Camp Stambaugh.

1975: Four tiny cygnets are among the newest members of the swan family at Crandall Park.

Mahoning County’s 13-year-old nursing home has been saved from closing by a federal grant of $241,695 for installation of a sprinkler system.

John A. Logan, president of Ajax Magnethermic Corp., and Bruce E. McArthur, a director and major shareholder, have reached an agreement in principal with Guthrie Corp. Ltd.. of England, on sale of their 58 percent interest of Ajax Magnethermic stock.

1965: The booming Youngstown district is facing one of its most severe labor shortages since World War II. Thousands of high school and college students are being recruited to fill job openings during the summer.

Rich Prokop hurls a no-hitter in the Uptown Kiwanis League as the Campus Equipment team beats the Buckeye Elks, 11-0.

Suvit Viranuvit of Thailand will spend a year with the James Long family of Niles as a foreign exchange student.

1940: In a letter to Youngstown City Council, Charles G. Nichols, head of the Retail Merchants Board, urges the immediate adoption of daylight saving time.

Four long, streamlined trains carrying 1,600 people, 50 elephants, 1,009 menagerie animals and hundreds of horse will roll into Youngstown June 12 when the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus comes to town.

Patricia McAllen is chosen queen of the Ursuline Prom, which will be held at The Mansion.