TODAY IN HISTORY TODAY'S HIGHLIGHT
Today is Tuesday, June 5, the 156th day of 2018. On June 5, 1968, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy was shot and mortally wounded after claiming victory in California’s Democratic presidential primary at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles; assassin Sirhan Bishara Sirhan was arrested at the scene.
ON THIS DATE
In 1527, a month after Rome was conquered by troops of the Holy Roman Empire, Pope Clement VII surrendered.
In 1794, Congress passed the Neutrality Act, which prohibited Americans from taking part in any military action against a country that was at peace with the United States.
In 1884, Civil War hero Gen. William T. Sherman refused the Republican presidential nomination, saying,“I will not accept if nominated and will not serve if elected.”
In 1917, about 10 million American men between the ages of 21 and 31 began registering for the draft in World War I.
In 1933, the United States went off the gold standard.
In 1947, Secretary of State George C. Marshall gave a speech at Harvard University in which he outlined an aid program for Europe that came to be known as The Marshall Plan.
In 1950, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Henderson v. United States, struck down racially segregated railroad dining cars.
In 1967, war erupted in the Middle East as Israel, anticipating a possible attack by its Arab neighbors, launched a series of preemptive airfield strikes that destroyed nearly the entire Egyptian air force; Syria, Jordan and Iraq immediately entered the conflict.
In 1976, 14 people were killed when the Teton Dam in Idaho burst.
In 1986, a federal jury in Baltimore convicted Ronald W. Pelton of selling secrets to the Soviet Union. (Pelton was sentenced to three life prison terms plus ten years.)
In 1993, country star Conway Twitty died in Springfield, Missouri, at age 59.
In 2004, Ronald Wilson Reagan, the 40th president of the United States, died in Los Angeles at age 93 after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s disease.
Ten years ago: Defense Secretary Robert Gates ousted Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley and Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne, holding them to account in a historic Pentagon shake-up after embarrassing nuclear mixups. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton met privately at the Washington home of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (FYN’-styn), the first such get-together since Obama clinched the Democratic presidential nomination. Five years ago: The British newspaper The Guardian reported the National Security Agency was collecting the telephone records of millions of American customers of Verizon under a top secret court order. President Barack Obama named Susan Rice his national security adviser, and nominated Samantha Power to replace Rice as United Nations ambassador. U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians, many of them sleeping women and children, pleaded guilty to murder at Joint Base LewisMcChord, Washington, to avoid the death penalty.
One year ago: The White House said President Donald Trump would not assert executive privilege to block fired FBI Director James Comey from testifying on Capitol Hill.
THOUGHT FOR TODAY
“I know in my heart that man is good. That what is right will always eventually triumph. And there’s purpose and worth to each and every life.” — President Ronald Reagan (1911-2004)
— ASSOCIATED PRESS