58 years ago today
Robert F. Kennedy Assassinated in Los Angeles
Shortly after midnight on June 5, 1968, Senator Robert F. Kennedy was shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles moments after celebrating his victory in the California Democratic presidential primary. The assassin, Sirhan Sirhan, fired multiple shots in a crowded kitchen passageway; Kennedy was struck in the head and died the following day. He had been the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination and was widely seen as the one candidate who could unite the anti-war movement with the civil rights coalition. His death, coming just two months after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., shattered a generation's faith in progressive politics. Kennedy was buried next to his brother John F. Kennedy at Arlington National Cemetery. The trauma of 1968 — with its assassinations, riots, and the chaos of the Democratic convention — transformed American politics and fuelled the conservative resurgence that would define the next two decades.
This day, across time
- 1646BornElena Cornaro Piscopia
- 1723BornAdam Smith
- 1832EventJune Rebellion Erupts in Paris
- 1851EventUncle Tom's Cabin Begins Publication
- 1878BornPancho Villa
- 1883EventOrient Express Makes Its First Run
- 1883BornJohn Maynard Keynes
- 1898BornFederico García Lorca
- 1900BornDennis Gabor
- 1916EventArab Revolt Breaks Out Against Ottoman Empire
- 1947EventMarshall Plan Announced at Harvard
- 1956EventElvis Introduces "Hound Dog" on Television
- 1967EventSix-Day War Begins
- 1968FeaturedRobert F. Kennedy Assassinated in Los Angeles
- 1981EventFirst AIDS Cases Reported
- 1989EventTank Man Faces Down the Tanks
- 1995EventBose–Einstein Condensate First Created
Alive in 1968
OverlapSame years; not influence
Martin Luther King Jr.died this year
Abraham Heschelturned 61 this year
Deng Xiaopingturned 64 this year
Elvis Presleyturned 33 this year
Emmanuel Levinasturned 62 this year
John Lennonturned 28 this year
Kofi Annanturned 30 this year
Margaret Thatcherturned 43 this year
Mother Teresaturned 58 this year
Nelson Mandelaturned 50 this year
4 more figures were alive that year
On This Day in History
10 EventsJune Rebellion Erupts in Paris
Republicans and students take to the barricades in Paris in the June Rebellion, an attempt to overthrow the July Monarchy of Louis Philippe. The uprising was crushed within days but was immortalised in Victor Hugo's Les Misérables.
Uncle Tom's Cabin Begins Publication
Harriet Beecher Stowe's anti-slavery serial Uncle Tom's Cabin begins a ten-month run in the abolitionist newspaper the National Era. When published as a book in 1852 it became the best-selling novel of the 19th century and inflamed the national debate over slavery.
Orient Express Makes Its First Run
The first regularly scheduled Orient Express departs Paris on its maiden journey, inaugurating the most famous luxury train route in history — linking Western Europe to Constantinople (Istanbul) and making rail travel seem genuinely glamorous.
Arab Revolt Breaks Out Against Ottoman Empire
Sharif Hussein of Mecca launches the Arab Revolt against four centuries of Ottoman rule, aided by British promises of Arab independence and the activities of British officer T. E. Lawrence. The revolt would permanently reshape the Middle East.
Marshall Plan Announced at Harvard
U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall calls for massive American economic aid to rebuild war-torn Europe in a commencement address at Harvard University. The Marshall Plan, which ultimately delivered over $13 billion, revived Western Europe and became one of the most successful foreign policy initiatives in history.
Elvis Introduces "Hound Dog" on Television
Elvis Presley performs "Hound Dog" on The Milton Berle Show with suggestive hip movements that scandalize American television audiences, igniting a national debate about youth culture, sexuality, and the threat of rock and roll.
Six-Day War Begins
Israel launches pre-emptive air strikes against Egyptian airfields, destroying most of the Egyptian Air Force on the ground and beginning the Six-Day War. By June 10 Israel had captured the Sinai Peninsula, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and the Golan Heights.
First AIDS Cases Reported
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention publishes a report of five unusual pneumonia cases in Los Angeles — the first official recognition of what would become the AIDS epidemic, one of the deadliest disease pandemics in recorded history.
Tank Man Faces Down the Tanks
An unidentified man stands alone in the path of a column of advancing tanks near Tiananmen Square the morning after the crackdown, halting them for over half an hour. Photographs of the moment became among the most iconic images of the 20th century.
Bose–Einstein Condensate First Created
American physicists Eric Cornell and Carl Wieman create the first Bose–Einstein condensate — a new state of matter predicted by Einstein in 1925 — at the University of Colorado, opening a new frontier in quantum physics. They shared the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Born on This Day
John Maynard Keynes
British Economist
The most influential economist of the 20th century, Keynes's ideas — that governments should spend their way out of recessions rather than cut budgets — shaped the post-war economic consensus and underpin government fiscal policy across the democratic world to this day. His General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money (1936) changed economics permanently.
Federico García Lorca
Spanish Poet & Playwright
The greatest Spanish-language poet of the 20th century, Lorca fused Andalusian folk tradition with modernist imagery in collections like Gypsy Ballads and Poet in New York. A gay man who made no secret of his identity, he was arrested and shot by Nationalist forces at the start of the Spanish Civil War at the age of 38.
Pancho Villa
Mexican Revolutionary General
One of the most prominent figures of the Mexican Revolution, Villa led the División del Norte in battles against federal troops and became a folk hero among Mexico's poor. His 1916 raid on Columbus, New Mexico was the only foreign military attack on U.S. soil between the War of 1812 and Pearl Harbor.
Adam Smith
Scottish Economist & Philosopher (baptised this day, Old Style; birth date unknown)
The founder of modern economics, Smith's The Wealth of Nations (1776) provided the intellectual foundation for free-market capitalism, introducing concepts like the division of labour and the "invisible hand" of market forces that still shape economic policy worldwide.
Dennis Gabor
Hungarian-British Physicist, Inventor of Holography
The electrical engineer and physicist who invented holography in 1947 while working to improve the electron microscope, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1971. His invention underpins modern security printing, data storage, and medical imaging.
Elena Cornaro Piscopia
First woman to receive a doctoral degree
A Venetian noblewoman and scholar, Elena Cornaro Piscopia was fluent in seven languages and versed in mathematics, philosophy, and theology. In 1678 she became the first woman in history to earn a doctorate, awarded by the University of Padua after the local bishop refused to allow a woman to receive a theology degree.
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