History of 5 June
1917 – American men began registering for the World War I draft.
1924 – Ernst F. W. Alexanderson transmitted the first facsimile message across the Atlantic Ocean.
1927 – Johnny Weissmuller set two world records in swimming events. Weissmuller set marks in the 100-yard, and 200-yard, freestyle swimming competition.
1933 – President Roosevelt signed the bill that took the U.S. off of the gold standard.
1940 – During World War II, the Battle of France began when Germany began an offensive in Southern France.
1942 – In France, Pierre Laval congratulated French volunteers that were fighting in the U.S.S.R. with Germans.
1944 – The first B-29 bombing raid hit the Japanese rail line in Bangkok, Thailand.
1946 – The first medical sponges were first offered for sale in Detroit, MI.
1947 – U.S. Secretary of State George C. Marshall gave a speech at Harvard University in which he outlined the Marshall Plan.
1956 – Premier Nikita Khrushchev denounced Josef Stalin to the Soviet Communist Party Congress.
1967 – The National Hockey League (NHL) awarded three new franchises. The Minnesota North Stars (later the Dallas Stars), the California Golden Seals (no longer in existence) and the Los Angeles Kings.
1967 – The Six Day War between Israel and Egypt, Syria and Jordan began.
1973 – The first hole-in-one in the British Amateur golf championship was made by Jim Crowford.
1975 – Egypt reopened the Suez Canal to international shipping, eight years after it was closed because of the 1967 war with Israel.
1981 – In the U.S., the Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported that five men in Los Angeles were suffering from rare pneumonia found in patients with weakened immune systems. They were the first recognized cases of what later became known as AIDS.
1986 – A federal jury in Baltimore convicted Ronald W. Pelton of selling secrets to the Soviet Union. Pelton was sentenced to three life prison terms plus 10 years.
1987 – Ted Koppel and guests discussed the topic of AIDS for four hours on ABC-TV’s “Nightline”.
1998 – A strike began at a General Motors Corp. parts factory near Detroit, MI, that closed five assembly plants and idled workers across the U.S. for seven weeks.
1998 – Volkswagen AG won approval to buy Rolls-Royce Motor Cars for $700 million, outbidding BMW’s $554 million offer.
1998 – C-Span reported that Bob Hope had died. The report was false and had begun with an inaccurate obituary on the Associated Press website.
1998 – A strike at a General Motors parts factory began. It lasted for seven weeks.
2001 – Amazon.com announced that it would begin selling personal computers later in the year.
2004 – The U.S.S. Jimmy Carter was christened in the U.S. Navy in Groton, CT.
Celebrating Birthday Today
- 1981 – Serhat Akın, Turkish footballer
- 1981 – Sébastien Lefebvre, Canadian singer, and guitarist
- 1982 – Ryan Dallas Cook, American trombonist (d. 2005)
- 1983 – Marques Colston, American football player
- 1984 – Robert Barbieri, Canadian-Italian rugby player
- 1984 – Eric Traoré, Senegalese footballer
- 1985 – Jeremy Abbott, American figure skater
- 1985 – Ekaterina Bychkova, a Russian tennis player
- 1986 – Dave Bolland, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1986 – Vernon Gholston, American football player
- 1987 – Marcus Thornton, American basketball player
- 1988 – Alessandro Salvi, Italian footballer
- 1989 – Cam Atkinson, American ice hockey player
- 1989 – Megumi Nakajima, Japanese voice actress, and singer
- 1990 – Radko Gudas, Czech ice hockey defenceman
- 1990 – Junior Hoilett, Canadian soccer player
- 1990 – DJ Mustard, American record producer, and songwriter
- 1991 – Sören Bertram, German footballer
- 1992 – Joazhiño Arrow, Peruvian footballer
- 1992 – Emily Seebohm, Australian swimmer
- 1993 – Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, Samoan-New Zealand rugby league player
- 1995 – Ross Wilson, English table tennis player
- 1998 – Yulia Lipnitskaya, Russian figure skater