YEARS AGO

YEARS AGO

Today is Friday, June 5, the 156th day of 2015. There are 209 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1794: Congress passes the Neutrality Act, which prohibits Americans from taking part in any military action against a country that was at peace with the United States.

1884: Civil War hero Gen. William T. Sherman refuses the Republican presidential nomination, saying, “I will not accept if nominated and will not serve if elected.”

1933: The United States goes off the gold standard.

1940: During the World War II Battle of France, Germany attacks French forces along the Somme line.

1947: Secretary of State George C. Marshall gives a speech at Harvard University in which he outlines an aid program for Europe that comes to be known as The Marshall Plan.

1950: The U.S. Supreme Court, in Henderson v. United States, strikes down racially segregated railroad dining cars.

1963: Britain’s Secretary of State for War, John Profumo, resigns after acknowledging an affair with call girl Christine Keeler, who also is involved with a Soviet spy, and lying to Parliament about it.

1967: War erupts in the Mideast as Israel raids military aircraft parked on the ground in Egypt; Syria, Jordan and Iraq entered the conflict.

1968: U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy is assassinated in Los Angeles’ Ambassador Hotel after claiming victory in California’s Democratic presidential primary. Gunman Sirhan Bishara Sirhan is immediately arrested.

1975: Egypt reopens the Suez Canal to international shipping, eight years after it closed because of the 1967 war with Israel.

1981: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that five homosexuals in Los Angeles have come down with a rare kind of pneumonia; they are the first recognized cases of what later became known as AIDS.

The Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, the first devoted to any women’s sport, opened in Knoxville, Tenn.

2004: Ronald Wilson Reagan, the 40th president of the United States, dies in Los Angeles at age 93 after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s disease.

2010: Israeli forces seize a Gaza-bound aid vessel, the Rachel Corrie, without meeting resistance days after a similar effort turned bloody.

2014: President Barack Obama says he “absolutely makes no apologies” for seeking the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl in a prisoner swap with the Taliban, vigorously defending an exchange that caused controversy.

VINDICATOR FILES

1990: State Rep. Michael Verich’s office announces that Trumbull County will be receiving a $396,000 grant to upgrade the county jail.

U.S. Sen. Howard Metzenbaum, chief sponsor of a 1988 federal law to protect retiree benefits in bankruptcy cases, urges U.S. Bankruptcy Judge William J. Bodoh to follow the intent of Congress regarding health benefits lost by GF Corp. retirees.

Youngstown-area school superintendents say a Supreme Court ruling that requires acceptance of student prayer groups at schools where other extracurricular activities are offered should have little, if any, impact on their operations.

1975: A violent storm marked with lightning, torrential rain, wind and hail rips the roof off the Canfield High School gymnasium.

Paul Sandin, a 1968 graduate of Niles McKinley High School, is ordained into the ministry in First Christian Church of Niles.

Lincoln Square Townhouses, a 100-unit, middle-income housing project will be built on McCartney Road near the Lincoln Knolls Plaza.

1965: Two people are killed and two injured when a light plane crashes near North Road in Howland Township. Dead are Robert Elston and William Taylor. Injured are Charles Winch and Robert Koerner.

David Kaminsky, 17, of Salem joins 130 other young Ohioans in a singing group named “Ohio’s Singing Ambassadors,” which will tour Europe for 22 days after three concerts at the New York World’s Fair.

Youngstown police have a new shoe polisher and buffer available on consignment. It applies a coat of black polish and buffs it to a high shine.

Two Struthers elementary school teachers, Harriet Morris and Margaret Boldt, retire with a combined total of 73 years’ teaching experience.

1940: L.B. McKelvey, president and general manager of G.M. McKelvey Co., announces plans for a complete remodel of the downtown store’s second floor.

While swearing in the May term of the Mahoning County grand jury, Judge J.H.C. Lyon warns about the danger of “fifth column” activities by subversives who would destroy the country if they could.

A record class of 130 students receives diplomas during graduation exercises at Campbell Memorial High School.