@rh18bold:Today in History

Today is Friday, May 22, the 142nd day of 2009. There are 223 days left in the year.

On this date

In 1908, the Wright Brothers of Dayton, Ohio patented their flying machine in the United States.

In 1915, the worst train disaster in Britain took place when a troop train collided with a passenger train at Gretna Green, Scotland, killing 227.

In 1939, the foreign ministers of Germany and Italy, Joachim von Ribbentrop and Galeazzo Ciano, signed the "Pact of Steel" committing the two countries to a military alliance in time of war.

In 1943, the Third Communist International, known as the Comintern, was dissolved by the Soviet Union in a gesture to the West.

In 1947, the Truman Doctrine was enacted as Congress appropriated military and economic aid for Greece and Turkey.

In 1972, Ceylon became a republic within the Commonwealth under the name of Sri Lanka.

In 1990, formerly Marxist South Yemen and conservative North Yemen merged into one state.

In 2006, Montenegro ended nearly a century of formal ties to Serbia after its people voted for independence in a referendum.

Thought for Today

"It is often said that men are ruled by their imaginations; but it would be truer to say they are governed by the weakness of their imaginations." — Walter Bagehot, English editor and economist (1826-1877).