Today in History: August 22, hostages taken during botched Brooklyn bank robbery
Today is Friday, Aug. 22, the 234th day of 2025. There are 131 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On Aug. 22,1972, John Wojtowicz (WAHT’-uh-witz) and Salvatore Naturile took seven employees hostage at a Chase Manhattan Bank branch in Brooklyn, New York, during a botched robbery; the siege, which ended with Wojtowicz’s arrest and Naturile’s killing by the FBI, inspired the 1975 movie “Dog Day Afternoon.”
Also on this date:
In 1791, the Haitian Revolution began as enslaved people of Saint-Domingue rose up against French colonizers.
In 1851, the schooner America outraced more than a dozen British vessels off the English coast to win a trophy that came to be known as the America’s Cup.
In 1910, Japan annexed Korea, which remained under Japanese control until the end of World War II.
In 1922, Irish revolutionary Michael Collins was shot to death, apparently by Irish Republican Army members opposed to the Anglo-Irish Treaty that Collins had co-signed.
In 1965, a fourteen-minute brawl ensued between the San Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers after Giants pitcher Juan Marichal struck Dodgers catcher John Roseboro in the head with a baseball bat. (Marichal and Roseboro would later reconcile and become lifelong friends.)
In 1968, Pope Paul VI arrived in Bogota, Colombia, for the start of the first papal visit to South America.
In 1989, Black Panthers co-founder Huey P. Newton was shot to death in Oakland, California.
In 1992, on the second day of the Ruby Ridge siege in Idaho, an FBI sharpshooter killed Vicki Weaver, the wife of white separatist Randy Weaver.
In 1996, President Bill Clinton signed welfare reform legislation that ended guaranteed cash payments to the poor and demanded work from recipients.
In 2003, Alabama’s chief justice, Roy Moore, was suspended for his refusal to obey a federal court order to remove his Ten Commandments monument from the rotunda of his courthouse.
In 2007, A Black Hawk helicopter crashed in Iraq, killing all 14 U.S. soldiers aboard.
Today’s Birthdays:
- Author Annie Proulx (proo) is 90.
- Baseball Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski is 86.
- Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Bill Parcells is 84.
- Writer-producer David Chase is 80.
- Retired CBS newsman Steve Kroft is 80.
- International Swimming Hall of Famer Diana Nyad is 76.
- Baseball Hall of Famer Paul Molitor is 69.
- Rock guitarist Vernon Reid is 67.
- Country singer Collin Raye is 65.
- Rock singer Roland Orzabal (Tears For Fears) is 64.
- Singer Tori Amos is 62.
- International Tennis Hall of Famer Mats Wilander (VEE’-luhn-dur) is 61.
- Rapper GZA (JIHZ’-ah)/The Genius is 59.
- Actor Ty Burrell is 58.
- Celebrity chef Giada De Laurentiis is 55.
- Actor Rick Yune is 54.
- Singer Howie Dorough (Backstreet Boys) is 52.
- Comedian-actor Kristen Wiig is 52.
- Talk show host James Corden is 47.
- Pop singer Dua Lipa is 30.