Today is Friday, June 5, the 156th day of 2026. There are 209 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On June 5, 1968, U.S. 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.
Also 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 1950, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Henderson v. United States, struck down racially segregated railroad dining cars traveling across state lines.
In 1967, the Six-Day War began as Israel, anticipating a possible attack by its Arab neighbors, launched a series of airfield strikes that destroyed nearly the entire Egyptian air force.
In 1975, Egypt reopened the Suez Canal to international shipping, eight years after it was closed as a result of the 1967 Six-Day War with Israel.
In 1976, 11 people were killed when the Teton Dam in Idaho failed, releasing 80 billion gallons of water.
In 1981, the Centers for Disease Control reported that five men 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 2002, 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart was abducted from her Salt Lake City home. (Smart was found and rescued by police in a Salt Lake City suburb in March 2003.)
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.
In 2016, Novak Djokovic became the first man in nearly a half-century to win four consecutive major championships, finally earning an elusive French Open title with a win over Andy Murray to complete a career Grand Slam.
In 2024, Boeing launched astronauts into space for the first time aboard its Starliner capsule, joining SpaceX as a second taxi service for NASA. Two NASA test pilots blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, bound for the International Space Station.
Today’s Birthdays: USA Track & Field Hall of Famer John Carlos is 81. Musician-artist Laurie Anderson is 79. Author Ken Follett is 77. Finance author Suze Orman is 75. Musician Kenny G is 70. Actor-comedian Jeff Garlin is 64. Author Rick Riordan is 62. Actor Ron Livingston is 59. Singer Brian McKnight is 57. Actor Mark Wahlberg is 55. Actor Liza Weil is 49. Actor-comedian Nick Kroll is 48. Rock musician Pete Wentz (Fall Out Boy) is 47. Singer-actor Troye Sivan is 31. NFL quarterback Sam Darnold is 29. Dancer Rylee Arnold is 21.