The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy

The following is your daily snapshot of what happened on this day in history, June 5th. On this day in history, June 5, 1968, U.S. Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy is shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California, by Sirhan Sirhan. He dies the very next day. Sirhan Sirhan allegedly murdered Robert Kennedy over his support for Israel in the Six-Day War. Kennedy, Attorney General in his brother’s administration, had been well on his way to securing the Democratic nomination for the 1968 presidential race.

BORN JUNE 5TH:
June 5, 1341 – Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, son of Edward III of England (d. 1402)
June 5, 1493 – Justus Jonas, German Protestant reformer (d. 1555)
June 5, 1523 – Margaret of France, Duchess of Berry (d. 1573)
June 5, 1553 – Bernardino Baldi, Italian mathematician (d. 1617)
June 5, 1554 – Elisabeth of Austria, queen consort of Charles IX of France (d. 1592)
June 5, 1640 – Pu Songling, Chinese writer (d. 1715)
June 5, 1660 – Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough (d. 1744)
June 5, 1646 – Elena Cornaro Piscopia, Italian mathematician (d. 1684)
June 5, 1718 – Thomas Chippendale, English furniture maker (d. 1779)
June 5, 1723 – Adam Smith, Scottish economist (d. 1790)
June 5, 1757 – Pierre Jean George Cabanis, French physiologist (d. 1808)
June 5, 1760 – Johan Gadolin, Finnish scientist (d. 1852)
June 5, 1771 – Ernest Augustus I of Hanover (d. 1851)
June 5, 1781 – Christian August Lobeck, German scholar (d. 1860)
June 5, 1819 – John Couch Adams, English mathematician and astronomer (d. 1892)
June 5, 1850 – Pat Garrett, American Western lawman (d. 1908)
June 5, 1862 – Allvar Gullstrand, Swedish ophthalmologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1930)
June 5, 1868 – James Connolly, Irish socialist (d. 1916)
June 5, 1876 – Isaac Heinemann, German-born Israeli scholar and professor of classical literature (d. 1957)
June 5, 1876 – Tony Jackson, American musician (d. 1920)
June 5, 1877 – Willard Miller, American sailor (d. 1959)
June 5, 1878 – Pancho Villa, Mexican revolutionary (d. 1923)
June 5, 1879 – Robert Mayer, German-born philanthropist (d. 1985)
June 5, 1879 – René Pottier, French cyclist (d. 1907)
June 5, 1883 – John Maynard Keynes, English economist (d. 1946)
June 5, 1884 – Ralph Benatzky, Czech composer (d. 1957)
June 5, 1894 – Roy Thomson, Lord Thomson of Fleet, English publisher (d. 1976)
June 5, 1895 – William Boyd, American actor (d. 1972)
June 5, 1898 – Salvatore Ferragamo, Italian shoemaker (d. 1960)
June 5, 1898 – Federico García Lorca, Spanish poet, lyricist and dramatist (d. 1936)
June 5, 1899 – Otis Barton, American deep-sea diver, inventor and actor (d. 1992)
June 5, 1900 – Dennis Gabor, Hungarian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1979)
June 5, 1902 – Arthur Powell Davies, American religious minister (d. 1957)
June 5, 1905 – John Abbott, British actor (d. 1996)
June 5, 1905 – Jock Cameron, South African cricketer, Wisden COY 1936 (d. 1935)
June 5, 1912 – Dean Amadon, American ornithologist (d. 2003)
June 5, 1916 – Eddie Joost, American baseball player and manager
June 5, 1919 – Richard Scarry, American author/illustrator (d. 1994)
June 5, 1920 – Cornelius Ryan, Irish-American author (d. 1974)
June 5, 1923 – Jorge Daponte, Argentine racing driver (d. 1963)
June 5, 1923 – Daniel Pinkham, American composer, organist, and harpsichordist (d. 2006)
June 5, 1925 – Art Donovan, American football star
June 5, 1928 – Robert Lansing, American actor (d. 1994)
June 5, 1928 – Tony Richardson, British film director (d. 1991)
June 5, 1930 – Alifa Rifaat, Egyptian writer (d. 1996)
June 5, 1931 – Jacques Demy, French film director (d. 1990)
June 5, 1931 – Connie Hines, American actress (d. 2009)
June 5, 1931 – Jerzy Prokopiuk, Polish philosopher, antroposopher
June 5, 1932 – Christy Brown, Irish author (d. 1981)
June 5, 1934 – Bill Moyers, American journalist
June 5, 1937 – Hélène Cixous, French writer, poet
June 5, 1938 – Karin Balzer, German hurdler
June 5, 1939 – Joe Clark, sixteenth Prime Minister of Canada
June 5, 1939 – Margaret Drabble, English novelist
June 5, 1941 – Martha Argerich, Argentine pianist
June 5, 1941 – Erasmo Carlos, Brazilian singer and songwriter
June 5, 1941 – Spalding Gray, American actor and writer (d. 2004)
June 5, 1941 – Robert Kraft, American owner of the New England Patriots
June 5, 1942 – Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, Equatoguinean politician
June 5, 1943 – Matthew Lesko, American author
June 5, 1944 – Colm Wilkinson, Irish singer
June 5, 1945 – John Carlos, American athlete
June 5, 1945 – Patrick Head, English F1 technical director and team co-owner (WilliamsF1)
June 5, 1946 – John Bach, Welsh actor
June 5, 1946 – Freddie Stone, American guitarist (Sly & the Family Stone)
June 5, 1947 – Laurie Anderson, American performance artist
June 5, 1947 – Tom Evans, English musician (Badfinger) (d. 1983)
June 5, 1949 – Ken Follett, Welsh author
June 5, 1950 – J. J. Bittenbinder, American television host and author
June 5, 1950 – Ronnie Dyson, American singer and actor (d. 1990)

June 5, 1950 – Abraham Sarmiento, Jr., Filipino journalist & political activist (d. 1977)
June 5, 1951 – Suze Orman, American financial advisor, writer, and television personality
June 5, 1951 – Jill Biden, American educator and wife of Vice President Joe Biden
June 5, 1952 – Carole Fredericks, American singer (d. 2001)
June 5, 1952 – Daniel Katzen, American classical musician
June 5, 1952 – Nicko McBrain, English drummer (Iron Maiden)
June 5, 1953 – Kathleen Kennedy, American film producer
June 5, 1954 – Haluk Bilginer, Turkish actor
June 5, 1955 – Edino Nazareth Filho, Brazilian football player
June 5, 1956 – Richard Butler, English singer (The Psychedelic Furs)
June 5, 1956 – Kenny G, American saxophonist
June 5, 1958 – Avigdor Lieberman, Israeli politician
June 5, 1958 – Ahmed Abdallah Mohamed Sambi, President of the Comoros
June 5, 1959 – Robert Lloyd, English musician (The Nightingales)
June 5, 1960 – Leslie Hendrix, American actress
June 5, 1960 – Margo Lanagan, Australian author
June 5, 1961 – Mary Kay Bergman, American voice actress (d. 1999)
June 5, 1961 – Anthony Burger, American musician and singer (d. 2006)
June 5, 1961 – Aldo Costa, Italian engineer
June 5, 1962 – Princess Astrid of Belgium
June 5, 1962 – Jeff Garlin, American comedian
June 5, 1963 – Joe Rudán, Hungarian heavy metal singer
June 5, 1964 – Lisa Cholodenko, American filmmaker
June 5, 1964 – Rick Riordan, American author
June 5, 1964 – Karl Sanders, American musician (Nile)
June 5, 1965 – Michael E. Brown, American astronomer
June 5, 1965 – Sandrine Piau, French soprano
June 5, 1967 – Joe DeLoach, American athlete
June 5, 1967 – Ray Lankford, American baseball player
June 5, 1967 – Ron Livingston, American actor
June 5, 1969 – Brian McKnight, American musician
June 5, 1970 – Martin Gelinas, Canadian hockey player
June 5, 1971 – Miyuki Komatsu, Japanese actress
June 5, 1971 – Susan Lynch, Northern Irish actress
June 5, 1971 – Takaya Tsubobayashi, Japanese racing driver
June 5, 1971 – Mark Wahlberg, American rapper and actor
June 5, 1972 – Mike Bucci, American professional wrestler
June 5, 1972 – Chuck Klosterman, American journalist
June 5, 1972 – Pavel Kotla, Polish conductor
June 5, 1973 – Lamon Brewster, American boxer
June 5, 1973 – Daniel Gildenlöw, Swedish musician and songwriter
June 5, 1973 – Galilea Montijo, Mexican actress
June 5, 1973 – Gella Vandecaveye, Belgian judoka
June 5, 1974 – Chad Allen, American actor
June 5, 1974 – Russ Ortiz, American baseball player
June 5, 1974 – P-Nut, American bassist (311)
June 5, 1975 – Žydrūnas Ilgauskas, Lithuanian basketball player
June 5, 1975 – Sandra Stals, Belgian athlete
June 5, 1976 – Giannis Giannoulis, Greek basketball player
June 5, 1976 – Torry Holt, American football player
June 5, 1976 – Ross Noble, English comedian
June 5, 1976 – Aesop Rock, American hip-hop artist
June 5, 1976 – Jack Ross, Scottish footballer
June 5, 1977 – Kristin Gore, American author and screenwriter
June 5, 1977 – Christian Martucci, American musician
June 5, 1977 – Nourhanne, Lebanese singer
June 5, 1977 – Navi Rawat, American actress
June 5, 1977 – Liza Weil, American actress
June 5, 1978 – Fernando Meira, Portuguese football player
June 5, 1979 – David Bisbal, Spanish singer
June 5, 1979 – Fraser Watts, Scottish cricketer
June 5, 1979 – Pete Wentz, American musician (Fall Out Boy)
June 5, 1979 – Jason White, American racing driver
June 5, 1980 – Mike Fisher, Canadian ice hockey player
June 5, 1980 – Sutee Suksomkit, Thai football player
June 5, 1981 – Jade Goody, British television personality (d. 2009)
June 5, 1981 – Sebastien Lefebvre, Canadian musician (Simple Plan)
June 5, 1982 – Dallas Cook, American musician (Suburban Legends)
June 5, 1982 – Baron Geisler, Filipino actor
June 5, 1983 – Bill Bray, American baseball player
June 5, 1983 – Marques Colston, American football player
June 5, 1984 – Robert Barbieri, Canadian-born Italian rugby player
June 5, 1985 – Ekaterina Bychkova, Russian tennis player
June 5, 1985 – Kenny De Ketele, Belgian cyclist
June 5, 1986 – Christian Baracat, German rugby player
June 5, 1986 – Dave Bolland, Canadian ice hockey player
June 5, 1986 – Amanda Crew, Canadian actress
June 5, 1986 – Vernon Gholston, American football player
June 5, 1987 – Charlie Clements, English actor
June 5, 1988 – Alessandro Salvi, Italian footballer
June 5, 1989 – Megumi Nakajima, Filipina-Japanese voice actress & singer
June 5, 1992 – Joazhiño Arroe, Peruvian footballer
June 5, 1992 – Emily Seebohm, Australian swimmer
June 5, 1995 – Troye Sivan, South African/Australian actor and singer
June 5, 2005 – Irene Urdangarín y de Borbón, granddaughter of King Juan Carlos I of Spain

DIED JUNE 5TH:
June 5, 301 – Sima Lun, Chinese usurper
June 5, 535 – Epiphanius of Constantinople, patriarch of Constantinople
June 5, 1017 – Emperor Sanjō of Japan (b. 976)
June 5, 1118 – Robert de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Leicester (b. 1049)
June 5, 1296 – Edmund Crouchback, son of Henry III of England (b. 1245)
June 5, 1316 – King Louis X of France (b. 1289)
June 5, 1383 – Dmitry Konstantinovich, Russian prince (b. 1324)
June 5, 1568 – Lamoral, Count of Egmont, Flemish general and statesman (b. 1522)
June 5, 1625 – Orlando Gibbons, English composer (b. 1583)
June 5, 1667 – Pietro Sforza Pallavicino, Italian cardinal and historian (b. 1607)
June 5, 1688 – Constantine Phaulkon, Greek adventurer (b. 1667)
June 5, 1716 – Roger Cotes, English mathematician (b. 1682)
June 5, 1722 – Johann Kuhnau, German composer, organist, and harpsichordist (b. 1660)
June 5, 1738 – Isaac de Beausobre, French Protestant pastor (b. 1659)
June 5, 1791 – Frederick Haldimand, Swiss-born colonial governor (b. 1718)
June 5, 1816 – Giovanni Paisiello, Italian composer (b. 1741)
June 5, 1819 – Bodawpaya, King of Burma (b. 1745)
June 5, 1825 – Odysseas Androutsos, national hero in the Greek War of Independence (b. 1788)
June 5, 1826 – Carl Maria von Weber, German composer (b. 1786)
June 5, 1866 – John McDouall Stuart, Australian explorer (b. 1815)
June 5, 1900 – Stephen Crane, American author (b. 1871)
June 5, 1902 – Louis J. Weichmann, American witness in Abraham Lincoln assassination trial (b. 1842)
June 5, 1906 – Karl Robert Eduard von Hartmann, German philosopher (b. 1842)
June 5, 1910 – O. Henry, American author (b. 1862)
June 5, 1913 – Chris von der Ahe, German-born baseball pioneer (b. 1851)
June 5, 1916 – Lord Horatio Kitchener, British field marshal (b. 1850)
June 5, 1920 – Rhoda Broughton, Welsh author (b. 1840)
June 5, 1921 – Georges Feydeau, French playwright (b. 1862)
June 5, 1930 – Pascin, Bulgarian painter (b. 1885)
June 5, 1967 – Arthur Biram, Israeli philosopher and educator, and Israel Prize recipient (b. 1878)
June 5, 1975 – Paul Keres, Estonian chess player (b. 1916)
June 5, 1976 – Violet Wilkey, American actress (b. 1903)
June 5, 1993 – Conway Twitty, American musician (b. 1933)
June 5, 1998 – Jeanette Nolan, American actress (b. 1911)
June 5, 1998 – Sam Yorty, American mayor of Los Angeles (b. 1909)
June 5, 1999 – Mel Tormé, American singer, composer, and actor (b. 1925)
June 5, 2000 – Don Liddle, American baseball player (b. 1925)
June 5, 2001 – Pedro Laín Entralgo, Spanish medical researcher and humanist (b. 1908)
June 5, 2002 – Gwen Plumb, Australian actress (b. 1912)
June 5, 2002 – Dee Dee Ramone, American bassist (The Ramones) (b. 1951)
June 5, 2003 – Jürgen Möllemann, German politician (b. 1945)
June 5, 2003 – Manuel Rosenthal, French composer and conductor (b. 1904)
June 5, 2004 – Iona Brown, British violinist and conductor (b. 1941)
June 5, 2004 – Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States (b. 1911)
June 5, 2005 – Susi Nicoletti, German actress (b. 1918)
June 5, 2005 – Adolfo Aguilar Zínser, Mexican politician (b. 1949)
June 5, 2006 – Frederick Franck, American artist and writer (b. 1909)
June 5, 2007 – Povel Ramel, Swedish entertainer (b. 1922)
June 5, 2009 – Jeff Hanson, American singer-songwriter (b. 1978)
June 5, 2009 – Boris Pokrovsky, Russian operatic stage director (b. 1912)

JUNE 5TH MEMORABLE EVENTS:
June 5, 70 – Titus and his Roman legions breach the middle wall of Jerusalem in the Siege of Jerusalem.
June 5, 1257 – Kraków, Poland receives city rights.
June 5, 1798 – The Battle of New Ross: The attempt to spread United Irish Rebellion into Munster is defeated.
June 5, 1817 – The first Great Lakes steamer, the Frontenac, is launched.
June 5, 1829 – HMS Pickle captures the armed slave ship Voladora off the coast of Cuba.
June 5, 1832 – The June Rebellion breaks out in Paris in an attempt to overthrow the monarchy of Louis-Philippe.
June 5, 1837 – Houston, Texas is incorporated by the Republic of Texas.
June 5, 1849 – Denmark becomes a constitutional monarchy by the signing of a new constitution.
June 5, 1851 – Harriet Beecher Stowe’s anti-slavery serial, Uncle Tom’s Cabin or, Life Among the Lowly starts a ten-month run in the National Era abolitionist newspaper.
June 5, 1862 – As the Treaty of Saigon is signed, ceding parts of southern Vietnam to France, the guerrilla leader Truong Dinh decides to defy Emperor Tu Duc of Vietnam and fight on against the Europeans.
June 5, 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Piedmont: Union forces under General David Hunter defeat a Confederate army at Piedmont, Virginia, taking nearly 1,000 prisoners.
June 5, 1883 – The first regularly scheduled Orient Express departs Paris.
June 5, 1888 – The Rio de la Plata Earthquake takes place.
June 5, 1900 – Second Boer War: British soldiers take Pretoria.
June 5, 1915 – Denmark amends its constitution to allow women’s suffrage.
June 5, 1916 – Louis Brandeis is sworn in as a Justice of the United States Supreme Court.
June 5, 1917 – World War I: Conscription begins in the United States as “Army registration day”.
June 5, 1933 – The U.S. Congress abrogates the United States’ use of the gold standard by enacting a joint resolution (48 Stat. 112) nullifying the right of creditors to demand payment in gold.
June 5, 1941 – Four thousand Chongqing residents are asphyxiated in a bomb shelter during the Bombing of Chongqing.
June 5, 1942 – World War II: United States declares war on Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania.
June 5, 1944 – World War II: More than 1000 British bombers drop 5,000 tons of bombs on German gun batteries on the Normandy coast in preparation for D-Day.
June 5, 1945 – The Allied Control Council, the military occupation governing body of Germany, formally takes power.
June 5, 1946 – A fire in the LaSalle Hotel in Chicago, Illinois kills 61 people.
June 5, 1947 – Marshall Plan: In a speech at Harvard University, United States Secretary of State George Marshall calls for economic aid to war-torn Europe.
June 5, 1949 – Thailand elects Orapin Chaiyakan, the first Thai female member of Thailand’s Parliament.
June 5, 1956 – Elvis Presley introduces his new single, “Hound Dog”, on The Milton Berle Show, scandalizing the audience with his suggestive hip movements.
June 5, 1959 – The first government of the State of Singapore is sworn in.
June 5, 1963 – British Secretary of State for War John Profumo resigns in a sex scandal known as the Profumo Affair.
June 5, 1963 – Movement of 15 Khordad: Protest against arrest of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini by Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. In several cities, masses of angry demonstrators are confronted by tanks and paratroopers.
June 5, 1964 – DSV Alvin is commissioned.
June 5, 1967 – Six-Day War begins: The Israeli air force launches simultaneous pre-emptive attacks on the air forces of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria.
June 5, 1968 – U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy is shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California by Palestinian Sirhan Sirhan. Kennedy dies the next day.
June 5, 1969 – The International communist conference begins in Moscow.
June 5, 1975 – The Suez Canal opens for the first time since the Six-Day War.
June 5, 1975 – The United Kingdom holds its first and only country-wide referendum, on remaining in the European Economic Community (EEC).
June 5, 1976 – Collapse of the Teton Dam in Idaho, United States.
June 5, 1977 – A coup takes place in Seychelles.
June 5, 1977 – The Apple II, one of the first personal computers, goes on sale.
June 5, 1981 – The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that five people in Los Angeles, California have a rare form of pneumonia seen only in patients with weakened immune systems, in what turns out to be the first recognized cases of AIDS.
June 5, 1984 – Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi orders an attack on the Golden Temple, the holiest site of the Sikh religion.
June 5, 1989 – The Unknown Rebel halts the progress of a column of advancing tanks for over half an hour after the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.
June 5, 1995 – The Bose-Einstein condensate is first created.
June 5, 1998 – A strike begins at the General Motors parts factory in Flint, Michigan, that quickly spreads to five other assembly plants (the strike lasted seven weeks).
June 5, 2001 – Tropical Storm Allison makes landfall on the upper-Texas coastline as a strong tropical storm and dumps large amounts of rain over Houston. The storm caused $5.5 billion in damages, making Allison the costliest tropical storm in U.S. history.
June 5, 2003 – A severe heat wave across Pakistan and India reaches its peak, as temperatures exceed 50°C (122°F) in the region.
June 5, 2006 – Serbia declares independence from the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro.

MEMORABLE QUOTE:
“Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first.” (Ronald Reagan)