History of 6 May
1910 – Kind Edward VII of England died. He was succeeded by his second son, George V.
1915 – Babe Ruth hit his first major league home run while playing for the Boston Red Sox.
1937 – The German airship Hindenburg crashed and burned in Lakehurst, NJ. Thirty-six people (of the 97 onboard) were killed
1941 – Joseph Stalin assumed the Soviet premiership.
1941 – Bob Hope gave his first USO show at California’s March Field.
1942 – During World War II, the Japanese seized control of the Philippines. About 15,000 Americans and Filipinos on Corregidor surrendered to the Japanese.
1945 – Axis Sally made her final propaganda broadcast to Allied troops.
1946 – The New York Yankees became the first major league baseball team to travel by plane.
1954 – British runner Roger Banister broke the four-minute mile.
1957 – U.S. Senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his book “Profiles in Courage”.
1959 – The Pablo Picasso painting of a Dutch girl was sold for $154,000 in London. It was the highest price paid (at the time) for a painting by a living artist.
1960 – Britain’s Princess Margaret married Anthony Armstrong Jones. They were divorced in 1978.
1960 – U.S. President Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of 1960.
1962 – The first nuclear warhead was fired from the Polaris submarine.
1981 – A jury of international architects and sculptors unanimously selected Maya Ying Lin’s entry for the design of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
1994 – The Channel Tunnel officially opened. The tunnel under the English Channel links England and France.
1994 – Former Arkansas state worker Paula Jones filed suit against U.S. President Clinton. The case alleged that he had sexually harassed her in 1991.
1997 – Army Staff Sgt. Delmar G. Simpson was sentenced to 25 years in prison for raping six trainees at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland.
1997 – Four health-care companies agreed to a settlement of $600 million to hemophiliacs who had contracted AIDS from tainted blood between 1978-1985.
1999 – Britain’s Labour Party won the largest number of seats in the first elections for Scotland’s new Parliament and Wales’ new Assembly.
1999 – A parole board in New York voted to release Amy Fisher. She had been in jail for 7 years for shooting her lover’s wife, Mary Jo Buttafuoco, in the face.
2001 – Chandra Levy’s parents reported her missing to police in Washington, DC. Levy’s body was found on May 22, 2002, in Rock Creek Park.
2002 – “Spider-Man” became the first movie to make more than $100 million in its first weekend.
2010 – In just 36 minutes, the Dow-Jones average plunged nearly 1000 points in what is known as the 2010 Flash Crash.
2013 – Three women missing for more than a decade are found alive in the U.S. city of Cleveland, Ohio.
Celebrating Birthday Today
- 1982 – Jason Witten, American football player
- 1983 – Dani Alves, Brazilian footballer
- 1983 – Ingrid Jonach, Australian author
- 1983 – Gabourey Sidibe, American actress
- 1983 – Trinley Thaye Dorje, Tibetan religious leader, the 17th Karmapa Lama
- 1983 – Fredrik Sjöström, Swedish ice hockey player
- 1984 – Anton Babchuk, Ukrainian ice hockey player
- 1984 – Juan Pablo Carrizo, the Argentinian footballer
- 1985 – Chris Paul, American basketball player
- 1986 – Goran Dragic, Slovenian basketball player
- 1987 – Dries Mertens, Belgian footballer
- 1987 – Meek Mill, American rapper
- 1987 – Adrienne Warren, American actress
- 1988 – Ryan Anderson, American basketball player
- 1989 – Dominika Cibulková, a Slovakian tennis player
- 1989 – Jesse Hughes, Canadian DJ, and producer
- 1990 – José Altuve, Venezuelan baseball player
- 1992 – Brendan Gallagher, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1992 – Byun Baekhyun, South Korean musician and actor, member of boy band EXO
- 1992 – Jonas Valančiūnas, Lithuanian professional basketball player
- 1993 – Gustavo Gómez, Paraguayan footballer
- 1994 – Mateo Kovačić, Austrian-Croatian footballer
- 1997 – Duncan Scott, Scottish swimmer
- 2019 – Archie Mountbatten-Windsor, British royal