June 05
1783
Joseph and Jacques Montgolfier gave the first successful balloon flight demonstration.
1884
Civil War hero Gen. William T. Sherman refused the Republican nomination for president with the words, “I will not accept if nominated and will not serve if elected.”
1933
The United States went off the gold standard.
1947
Sen. George Marshall proposed a plan (Marshall Plan) to help Europe recover financially from the effects of World War II.
1967
The Arab-Israeli Six-Day War began.
1968
Sen. Robert F. Kennedy was shot by an assassin and died the next day.
1981
The Centers for Disease Control published the first report about the disease that would later become known as AIDS.
2002
Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped from her Salt Lake City home.
2004
Former president Ronald Reagan died.
2013
The British newspaper the Guardian published the first of many stories based on leaks by Edward Snowden about the top-secret surveillance activities of the National Security Agency.
Birthdays
Francisco Villa
c.1877–1923, Mexican revolutionary, nicknamed Pancho Villa.
Thomas Chippendale
cabinetmaker (1718)
John Maynard Keynes
economist (1883)
Ruth Benedict
anthropologist (1887)
Federico García Lorca
poet and dramatist (1898)
Tony Richardson
director (1928)
Bill Moyers
journalist, public official (1934)
Margaret Drabble
novelist (1939)
Mark Wahlberg
actor (1971)