On June 5th, 1899, Alfred Dreyfus was acquitted. Although well-remembered in France and her colonies, this landmark trial is now largely forgotten by the American public. It deserves study.
On June 5th, 1912, U.S. Marines invaded Cuba for the third time. (One of what are commonly called The Banana Wars.)
On this day in 1661, Isaac Newton was admitted as a student to Trinity College, Cambridge.
Also on this day in 1942, the Elwood Ordnance Plant (near Joliet Illinois) exploded, killing 54 people, and injuring at least 40 others.
Mexican revolutionary Francisco Pancho Villa was born on June 5th, 1878.
This is also the birthday of novelist Ken Follett, in 1949, in Cardiff, Wales. He is best known as the author of Eye of the Needle, and Lie Down with Lions. – JWR
On this day in 1967, the Six Day War in Israel began.