Today in history

Today is Thursday, June 5, the 156th day of 2014. There are 209 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On June 5, 2004, Ronald Wilson Reagan, the 40th president of the United States, died in Los Angeles at age 93after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s disease.

On this date:

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 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 1963, Britain’s Secretary of State for War, John Profumo, resigned after acknowledging an affair with call girl Christine Keeler, who was also involved with a Soviet spy, and lying to Parliament about it. In 1964, The Rolling Stones performed the first concert of their first U.S. tour at Swing Auditorium in San Bernardino, Calif. In 1967, war erupted in the Mideast as Israel raided military aircraft parked on the ground in Egypt; Syria, Jordan and Iraq entered the conflict. In 1968, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in Los Angeles’ Ambassador Hotel after claiming victory in California’s Democratic presidential primary. Gunman Sirhan Bishara Sirhan was immediately arrested. In 1976, 14people were killed when the Teton Dam in Idaho burst. In 1981, the Centers for Disease Control reported that five homosexuals in Los Angeles had come down with a rare kind of pneumonia; they were the first recognized cases of what later became known as AIDS. In 1999, jazz and pop singer Mel Torme died in Los Angeles at age 73. The Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, the first devoted to any women’s sport, opened in Knoxville, Tenn.

Ten years ago: The nuclear submarine USS Jimmy Carter (SSN-23) was christened in Groton, Conn., in the presence of the former president and his wife, Rosalynn, who cracked a bottle of champagne against the sail.