Today is Tuesday, June 5, the 157th day of 2012. There are 209 days left in the year.
Today's Highlight in History:
On June 5, 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.
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 General William T. Sherman refused the Republican presidential nomination, saying, "I will not accept if nominated and will not serve if elected."
In 1912, U.S. Marines landed in Cuba at the order of President William Howard Taft to ensure order and protect U.S. interests.
In 1916, the Arab Revolt against Turkish Ottoman rule began during World War I.
In 1933, the United States went off the gold standard.
In 1940, during the World War II Battle of France, Germany attacked French forces along the Somme line.
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 Mideast as Israel raided military aircraft parked on the ground in Egypt; Syria, Jordan and Iraq entered the conflict.
In 1976, 14 people 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 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: Fourteen-year-old Elizabeth Smart was abducted from her Salt Lake City home. (Smart was found alive in a Salt Lake suburb in March 2003; her kidnappers, Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Barzee, are serving prison sentences.) A suicide bomber killed 17 Israelis on a bus. Magic Johnson was introduced as a member of the 2002 class elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Dee Dee Ramone, bass player for the pioneer punk band the Ramones, died in Los Angeles at age 50.