What Happened on May 6th in History
30 historical events on this date
Hindenburg disaster: The German zeppelin Hindenburg catches fire and is destroyed within a minute while attempting to dock at Lakehurst, New Jersey. Thirty-six people are killed.
The Hindenburg disaster was an airship accident that occurred on May 6, 1937, in Manchester Township, New Jersey, United States. The LZ 129 Hindenburg was a German commercial passenger-carrying...
John Steinbeck is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Grapes of Wrath.
John Ernst Steinbeck was an American writer and novelist. He won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen...
At California's March Field, Bob Hope performs his first USO show.
California is a U.S. state in the Western United States that lies on the Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, and Nevada and Arizona to the east; it also shares an international border...
The first flight of the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt.
The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt is a World War II-era fighter aircraft produced by the American company Republic Aviation from 1941 through 1945. One of the main United States Army Air Forces (USAAF)...
World War II: On Corregidor, the last American forces in the Philippines surrender to the Japanese.
World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated. Tanks and aircraft played major...
World War II: Axis Sally delivers her last propaganda broadcast to Allied troops.
Mildred Elizabeth Gillars was an American broadcaster employed by Nazi Germany to disseminate Axis propaganda during World War II. Following her capture in post-war Berlin, Gillars became the first...
World War II: The Prague Offensive, the last major battle of the Eastern Front, begins.
The Prague offensive was the last major military operation of World War II in Europe. The offensive was fought on the Eastern Front from 6 May to 11 May 1945. Fought concurrently with the Prague...
EDSAC, the first practical electronic digital stored-program computer, runs its first operation.
The Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator (EDSAC) was an early British computer. Inspired by John von Neumann's seminal First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC, the machine was constructed by...
Roger Bannister becomes the first person to run the mile in under four minutes.
Sir Roger Gilbert Bannister was an English neurologist and middle-distance athlete who ran the first sub-4-minute mile.
More than 20Â million viewers watch the first televised royal wedding when Princess Margaret marries Antony Armstrong-Jones at Westminster Abbey.
The wedding of Princess Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones took place on Friday, 6 May 1960 at Westminster Abbey in London. Princess Margaret was the younger sister of Queen Elizabeth II, while...
Myra Hindley and Ian Brady are sentenced to life imprisonment for the Moors murders in England.
The Moors murders were a series of child killings committed by Ian Brady and Myra Hindley in and around Manchester, England, between July 1963 and October 1965. The five victims â Pauline Reade,...
Deniz GezmiĹ, Yusuf Aslan and HĂźseyin Ä°nan are executed in Ankara after being convicted of attempting to overthrow the Constitutional order.
Deniz GezmiĹ was a Turkish Marxist-Leninist revolutionary, student leader, and political activist in Turkey in the late 1960s. He was one of the founding members of the People's Liberation Army of...
During a lull in fighting, 100,000 Armenians gather in Beirut for the 60th anniversary commemorations of the Armenian genocide.
On May 6, 1975, a massive gathering took place in the Lebanese capital Beirut, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Armenian genocide. Some 100,000 people participated in the march, which was...
The 6.5 Mw⯠Friuli earthquake affects Northern Italy with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), leaving 900â978 dead and 1,700â2,400 injured.
The 1976 Friuli earthquake, also known in Italy as Terremoto del Friuli and Orcolat, occurred on 6 May 1976, at 21:00:13 with a moment magnitude of 6.5 and a maximum EMS intensity of X. The shock...
The Hitler Diaries are revealed as a hoax after being examined by new experts.
The Hitler Diaries were a series of sixty volumes of journals purportedly written by Adolf Hitler, but forged by Konrad Kujau between 1981 and 1983. The diaries were purchased in 1983 for...
One hundred and three Korean Martyrs are canonized by Pope John Paul II in Seoul.
The Korean Martyrs were the victims of religious persecution against Catholics during the 19th century in Korea. Among them are 103 Saints and 124 Blesseds officially recognized by the Catholic...
All thirty-six passengers and crew are killed when Widerøe Flight 710 crashes into Mt. Torghatten in Brønnøy.
Widerøe Flight 710, known as the Torghatten Accident, was a controlled flight into terrain into the mountain of Torghatten in Brønnøy Municipality, Norway. The Widerøe-operated de Havilland Canada...
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and French President François Mitterrand officiate at the opening of the Channel Tunnel.
Elizabeth II was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during her lifetime and was the...
The body of former CIA director William Colby is found washed up on a riverbank in southern Maryland, eight days after he disappeared.
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and...
The Bank of England is given independence from political control, the most significant change in the bank's 300-year history.
The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker and debt...
Kerry Wood strikes out 20 Houston Astros to tie the major league record held by Roger Clemens. He threw a one-hitter and did not walk a batter in his fifth career start.
Kerry Lee Wood is an American former baseball pitcher who played 14 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Indians, and New York Yankees. Wood first came to...
Steve Jobs of Apple Inc. unveils the first iMac.
Steven Paul Jobs was an American businessman, inventor, and investor. A pioneer of the personal computer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s, Jobs co-founded Apple Inc. with his early business partner...
The first elections to the devolved Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly are held.
Devolution is the statutory delegation of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to govern at a subnational level, such as a regional or local level. It is a form of administrative...
During a trip to Syria, Pope John Paul II becomes the first pope to enter a mosque.
Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic (SAR), is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north and...
Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn is assassinated following a radio interview at the Mediapark in Hilversum.
Wilhelmus Simon Petrus Fortuijn, known as Pim Fortuyn was a Dutch politician, author, civil servant, businessman, sociologist, and academic who founded the party Pim Fortuyn List in 2002.
The final episode of the television sitcom Friends is aired.
"The Last One" is the series finale of the American sitcom Friends. Originally shown in its entirety, the episode's two parts were classified as the seventeenth and eighteenth episodes of the tenth...
In just 36 minutes, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunges nearly 1,000 points in what is known as the 2010 Flash Crash.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), Dow Jones, or simply the Dow, is a stock market index of 30 prominent companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States.
Three women, kidnapped and missing for more than a decade, are found alive in Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States.
Between 2002 and 2004, Ariel Castro abducted Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry, and Gina DeJesus from the roads of Cleveland, Ohio, United States, and later held them captive in his home at 2207 Seymour...
The coronation of Charles III and Camilla as King and Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms is held in Westminster Abbey, London.
The coronation of Charles III and his wife, Camilla, as king and queen of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms, took place on Saturday, 6 May 2023 at Westminster Abbey. Charles...
Eight people are killed and seven injured in a mass shooting in Allen, Texas. The perpetrator is killed by a police officer.
On May 6, 2023, a mass shooting occurred at Allen Premium Outlets, an outlet center in Allen, Texas, United States. Nine people, including the perpetrator, were killed during the shooting, the...