May 22 is the 142nd day of the year. There are 223 days remaining until the end of the year. This date is slightly more likely to fall on a Tuesday, Friday or Sunday (58 in 400 years each) than on Wednesday or Thursday (57), and slightly less likely to occur on a Monday or Saturday (56).
+ 1804 – The Lewis and Clark Expedition officially began as the Corps of Discovery departed from St. Charles, Missouri.
+ 1807 – A grand jury indicts former Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr on a charge of treason.
+ 1849 – Future U.S. President Abraham Lincoln is issued a patent for an invention to lift boats, making him the only U.S. President to ever hold a patent.
+ 1906 – The Wright brothers are granted U.S. patent number 821,393 for their "Flying-Machine".
+ 1969 – Apollo 10's lunar module flies within 8.4 nautical miles (16 km) of the moon's surface.
+ 1973 – U.S. President Richard Nixon confesses his role in Watergate cover-up.
+ 1998 – A U.S. federal judge rules that U.S. Secret Service agents can be compelled to testify before a grand jury concerning the Lewinsky scandal involving President Bill Clinton.
( Births)
+ 1940 – Bernard Shaw, American journalist
+ 1942 – Ted Kaczynski, American academic and mathematician turned anarchist and serial murderer (Unabomber)
+ 1982 – Apolo Ohno, American speed skater