Epic Idiot's what happened
On This Day

June 5

2002
Elizabeth Smart: The Utah child is kidnapped.  She would not be rescued until March the following year.

1994
Youngest female pilot to cross the Atlantic: 12-year-old Vicki Van Meter takes off from Maine, following Amelia Earhart's historic route. She arrived in Scotland two days later.

1994
Youngest college graduate: 10-year-old Michael Kearney receives his bachelor's degree in anthropology from the University of South Alabama.

1993
First woman jockey to win a Triple Crown race: Julie Krone riding Colonial Affair in the Belmont Stakes.

1981
Beginning of the AIDS epidemic: A report is issued concerning an unexplained outbreak, among homosexual men, of a type of pneumonia which usually affects only cancer patients.

1976
Roy C. Sullivan struck by lightning for the 6th of 7 times.

1968
Senator Robert F. Kennedy is shot by Sirhan Bishara Sirhan. He died the following day.

1967
Six-Day War begins when Israeli jets attack and destroys most of Egypt's, Jordan's, and Syria's air forces.

1963
First black U.S. Air Force Academy graduates: Charles Vernon Bush, Isaac Sanders Payne, IV and Roger Bernard Sims.

1952
First black referee for a heavyweight boxing championship: Zack Clayton officiates Jersey Joe Walcott's win over Ezzard Charles in Philadelphia to retain his title. (Source: Famous First Facts)

1940
World War II: Germany invades France.

1933
Gold standard is dropped: Pres. F.D. Roosevelt signs a bill making it illegal to require payments in gold or any other particular currency. (Source: Famous First Facts)

1893
Lizzie Borden: The trial for the murder of her parent, who were axed to death begins. She was acquitted 15 days later.

1855
First Jewish hospital in America: Mount Sinai Hospital in New York accepts its first patients.

1851
Uncle Tom's Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe, begins appearing in serial form in a Washington D.C. anti-slavery newspaper. The book was published the following year, becoming the first American novel to sell 1,000,000 copies.

1783
First man-made object to achieve sustained flight: Brothers Joseph and Jacques Montgolfier launch an unmanned 33-foot-diameter hot-air balloon in France for a 10-minute, 6,000-foot flight.

1752
Benjamin Franklin, flying his kite, identifies lightning as electricity.

1974
Chad Allen, American actor. TV: St. Elsewhere (the autistic child Tommy).

1934
Bill Moyers, American Emmy-winning journalist. TV: A Walk Through the 20th Century.

1932     d. 1981
Christy Brown, Irish author, artist, cerebral palsy victim. The movie My Left Foot was based on his 1954 autobiography - which he typed using the little toe of his left foot.

1929     d. 1994
Robert Lansing (Robert Brown), American actor. TV: Twelve O'Clock High (Gen. Savage) and The Equalizer (Control).

1925
Bill Hayes, American singer, actor. Music: The Ballad of Davy Crockett (1955). TV: Days of Our Lives (Doug Williams).

1919     d. 1994
Richard Scarry, American children's author, creator of Lowly Worm. His 250 books sold over 100 million copies in over 30 languages. Writings: Best Word Book Ever (1965) and Cars and Trucks and Things That Go (1974).

1898     d. 1972
William Boyd, American actor. He played Hopalong Cassidy in the movies and television.

1819     d. 1892
John Couch Adams, English astronomer, in 1845 he correctly predicted the existence of the planet Neptune, which was discovered the following year.

1723     d. 1790
Adam Smith, British moral philosopher, political economist, author of Wealth of Nations (1776), the first systematic formulation of classical English economics.

2004     b. 1911
Ronald Wilson Reagan, American politician, actor, 40th U.S. President (1981-89). Film: Knute Rockne - All American (1940, the Gipper).

1993     b. 1933
Conway Twitty (Harold Lloyd Jenkins), American Grammy-winning country singer. Music: After The Fire is Gone (1971, Grammy). In 1982 he opened Twitty City, a nine-acre tourist attraction outside of Nashville.

1992     b. 1902
Max Lerner, Russian-born journalist, educator.

1991     b. 1908
Min Chueh Chang, Chinese-born American biologist, co-inventor of the birth control pill.

1910     b. 1862
O. Henry (William Sydney Porter), American short story author. He served three years in prison for embezzling bank funds.

1900     b. 1871
Stephen Crane, American author. Writings: Red Badge of Courage (1895).

1316     b. 1289
Louis X, "The Quarreller," King of France (1314-16).

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