On This Day in History – September 22

Major Events

• 1499 – Treaty of Basel ends the Swabian War between Switzerland and the Holy Roman Empire.
• 1692 – Last executions of the Salem witch trials take place in Massachusetts.
• 1776 – American Revolutionary War: Nathan Hale is executed by the British for spying.
• 1862 – U.S. President Abraham Lincoln issues the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.
• 1888 – The first issue of National Geographic Magazine is published.
• 1914 – World War I: German submarine U-9 sinks three British cruisers within an hour.
• 1949 – Soviet Union detonates its first atomic bomb, code-named “RDS-1.”
• 1960 – Mali gains independence from France.
• 1975 – Sara Jane Moore fails in her attempt to assassinate U.S. President Gerald Ford.
• 1980 – Iraq invades Iran, starting the Iran–Iraq War.
• 1991 – The Dead Sea Scrolls are made available to the public for the first time.
• 1995 – The Washington Post and The New York Times publish the Unabomber’s manifesto.
• 2015 – Volkswagen emissions scandal (“Dieselgate”) is made public.

Famous Birthdays

• 1791 – Michael Faraday, English scientist (d. 1867)
• 1878 – Thomas Crapper, English plumber and inventor (d. 1910)
• 1895 – Paul Muni, American actor (d. 1967)
• 1902 – John Houseman, Romanian-American actor and producer (d. 1988)
• 1927 – Tommy Lasorda, American baseball manager (d. 2021)
• 1931 – Fay Weldon, English author (d. 2023)
• 1934 – Lute Olson, American basketball coach (d. 2020)
• 1958 – Andrea Bocelli, Italian tenor
• 1960 – Scott Baio, American actor
• 1961 – Bonnie Hunt, American actress and comedian
• 1968 – Scott Lawrence, American actor
• 1982 – Billie Piper, English actress and singer
• 1988 – Carlos Correa, Puerto Rican baseball player
• 1991 – Tatiana Maslany, Canadian actress

Notable Deaths

• 1072 – Odo of Bayeux, Norman bishop and statesman (b. c. 1036)
• 1828 – Shaka Zulu, founder of the Zulu Kingdom (b. c. 1787)
• 1835 – Vincenzo Bellini, Italian composer (b. 1801)
• 1901 – Charles Herman Mueller, American inventor and businessman (b. 1854)
• 1952 – Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg, Finnish statesman, first President of Finland (b. 1865)
• 1966 – Paul Reynaud, French politician, Prime Minister of France (b. 1878)
• 1976 – Cecil Frank Powell, English physicist and Nobel laureate (b. 1903)
• 1989 – Irving Berlin Kahn, American television executive (b. 1917)
• 1999 – George C. Scott, American actor and director (b. 1927)
• 2007 – Alice Ghostley, American actress (b. 1923)
• 2013 – Almon Glenn Braswell, American entrepreneur (b. 1943)
• 2019 – Sid Haig, American actor (b. 1939)

Holidays

• Independence Day in Mali
• Hobbit Day (celebrated by fans of J.R.R. Tolkien’s works)
• Car-Free Day (various countries)
• National Elephant Appreciation Day (USA)

Fun Facts

1. Hobbit Day commemorates the shared birthday of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins from The Lord of the Rings.
2. The Volkswagen “Dieselgate” scandal led to billions in fines and a major shift toward electric vehicles.
3. The preliminary Emancipation Proclamation in 1862 paved the way for the abolition of slavery in the United States.
4. National Geographic Magazine began as a scholarly journal before becoming a global icon of exploration and photography.