TODAY IN HISTORY

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Today is Thursday, May 12, the 132nd day of 2022. There are 233 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On May 12, 1949, the Soviet Union lifted the Berlin Blockade, which the Western powers had succeeded in circumventing with their Berlin Airlift.

On this date:

In 1932, the body of Charles Lindbergh Jr., the 20-month-old kidnapped son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh, was found in a wooded area near Hopewell, New Jersey.

In 1933, the Federal Emergency Relief Administration and the Agricultural Adjustment Administration were established to provide help for the needy and farmers.

In 1958, the United States and Canada signed an agreement to create the North American Air Defense Command (later the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD).

In 1970, the Senate voted unanimously to confirm Harry A. Blackmun as a Supreme Court justice.

In 1975, the White House announced the new Cambodian government had seized an American merchant ship, the Mayaguez, in international waters. (U.S. Marines gained control of the ship three days after its seizure, not knowing the 39 civilian members of the crew had already been released by Cambodia.)

In 1982, in Fatima, Portugal, security guards overpowered a Spanish priest armed with a bayonet who attacked Pope John Paul II. (In 2008, the pope’s longtime private secretary revealed that the pontiff was slightly wounded in the assault.)

In 2008, a devastating 7.9 magnitude earthquake in China’s Sichuan province left more than 87,000 people dead or missing.

In 2011, CEOs of the five largest oil companies went before the Senate Finance Committee, where Democrats challenged the executives to justify tax breaks at a time when people were paying $4 a gallon for gas.

Today’s Birthdays: Composer Burt Bacharach is 94. Actor Millie Perkins is 86. Singer-musician Steve Winwood is 74. Actor Bruce Boxleitner is 72. Singer Billy Squier is 72. Blues singer-musician Guy Davis is 70. Country singer Kix Brooks is 67. Actor Ving Rhames is 63. Actor Emilio Estevez is 60. Actor Vanessa A. Williams is 59. TV personality/chef Carla Hall is 58. Actor Stephen Baldwin is 56. Actor Kim Fields is 53. Actor Mackenzie Astin is 49.

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