1968
On October 5, 1947, President Harry Truman (1884-1972) made
the first-ever televised presidential address from the White House,
asking Americans to cut back on their use of grain in order to help starving Europeans.
At the time of Truman’s food-conservation speech, Europe was
still recovering from World War II and suffering from famine. He
worried that if the U.S. didn’t provide food aid, his administration’s Marshall Plan for European economic recovery would fall apart.
Truman asked farmers and distillers to reduce grain use and
requested that the public voluntarily forgo meat on Tuesdays,
eggs and poultry on Thursdays and save a slice of bread each
day. The food program was short-lived, as ultimately the Marshall
Plan succeeded in helping to spur economic revitalization and
growth in Europe.
Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins is 82 years old today.
Welsh actor Anthony Hopkins is best known for his portrayal of the
ingenious serial killer Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs
(1991), a role that won him the Academy Award for Best Actor. He
has also played roles in The Mask of Zorro (1998) and Nixon (1995).
Hopkins turned to TV in 2016 upon landing a starring role on HBO’s
series Westworld. He was encouraged by actor Richard Burton to
pursue acting at age 15.
Around 12:15 a.m. PDT on June 5, 1968, Sirhan Sirhan fired a .22
caliber Iver-Johnson Cadet revolver at Senator Robert Kennedy
and the crowd surrounding him in the Ambassador Hotel in Los
Angeles shortly after Kennedy had finished addressing supporters
in the hotel’s main ballroom (above).
Sirhan Sirhan (center) is led away from the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles moments after the shooting of Robert F. Kennedy