On May 6th...

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1541 King Henry VIII of England ordered an English-language Bible be placed in every church in England.

1682 King Louis XIV of France moved his court to Versailles.

1743 Seth Warner, leader of the Green Mountain Boys, was born.

1758 French statesman Robespierre was born.

1794 Toussaint L'Ouverture led Haitians in a revolt against French rule.

1835 The first issue of the New York Herald was published.

1837 John Deere invented the steel plow.

1840 The first postage stamp was issued in England.

1851 John Gorrie patented a refrigeration machine.
1851 Linus Yale patented the Yale lock.

1853 A train crash at Norwalk, Connecticut, killed 46 persons.

1856 Psychologist Sigmund Freud was born.
1856 Arctic explorer Robert E. Peary was born.

1859 Scientist Alexander von Humboldt died.

1861 Arkansas and Tennessee seceded from the Union.
1861 Jefferson Davis approved a bill declaring war between the Confederacy and the United States.
1861 Hindu poet Rabindranath Tagore was born.

1877 Poet Johan Ludvig Runeberg died.

1882 The U. S. Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act.

1884 Judah Philip Benjamin, lawyer, U. S. Senator, and Confederate Cabinet member, died.

1889 The Paris Exposition, featuring the just-completed Eiffel Tower, formally opened.

1895 Halma, ridden by Soup Perkins, won the Kentucky Derby.
1895 Silent film star Rudolph Valentino was born.

1896 Samuel P. Langley's steam-powered "airplane" made the first heavier-than-air flight.
1896 Ben Brush, ridden by Willie Simms, won the Kentucky Derby.

1902 The British ship SS Camorta sank off Rangoon, killing 739 persons.
1902 U.S. Rear Admiral William Thomas Sampson died.

1906 Tsar Nicholas II of Russia claimed the right to legislate by decree.

1907 Andy Minder rode Pink Star to victory in the Kentucky Derby.

1910 King Edward VII of Great Britain died.

1915 Orson Welles, radio, movie, and television producer and actor, was born.

1919 The Paris Peace Conference awarded German East Africa to the United Kingdom and France and German South West Africa to South Africa.
1919 Author L. Frank Baum died.

1927 Inventor Hudson Maxim died.

1931 Baseball player Willie Mays was born.

1933 Don Meade rode Brokers Tip to victory in the Kentucky Derby.

1934 Richard Shelby, U. S. Senator, was born.

1935 The Works Progress Administration was established.

1937 The German dirigible Hindenburg burned and crashed in Lakehurst, New Jersey, killing 35 of the 97 people on board and a Navy crewman on the ground.

1939 Johnstown, ridden by James Stout, won the Kentucky Derby.

1941 Bob Hope performed his first USO show, at California's March Field.

1942 Some 15,000 Americans and Filipinos on Corregidor surrendered to the Japanese.

1944 Conn McCreary rode Pensive to victory in the Kentucky Derby.

1945 Singer Jimmie Dale Gilmore was born.
1945 Rock singer Bob Seger was born.

1947 An Allied-imposed constitution went into effect in Japan.
1947 Actor Alan Dale was born.
1947 Actor Ben Masters was born.

1950 William Boland rode Middleground to victory in the Kentucky Derby.

1952 Actor Gregg Henry was born.
1952 Educator Maria Montessori died.

1953 British Prime Minister Tony Blair was born.

1954 Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile during a track meet in Oxford, England, with a time of 3:59.4.

1955 Tom Bergeron, television personality, was born.

1957 The U. S. Supreme Court ruled in two cases that a license to practice law may not be refused solely on the grounds of past membership in the Communist party.
1957 Italian Premier Antonio Segni and his Cabinet resigned.
1957 The last new episode of "I Love Lucy" aired on CBS-TV.

1959 A painting by Pablo Picasso sold for $154,000 at Sothrby's in London, England.

1960 Britain's Princess Margaret married Anthony Armstrong-Jones at Westminster Abbey.
1960 U. S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of 1960.
1960 Actress Roma Downey was born.
1960 Rock singer John Flansburgh was born.

1961 John Sellers rode Carry Back to victory in the Kentucky Derby.
1961 Actor George Clooney was born.
1961 Actor Clay O'Brien was born.

1964 Rock singer-musician Tony Scalzo was born.

1965 Actress Leslie Hope was born.

1967 Bobby Ussery rode Proud Clarion to victory in the Kentucky Derby.
1967 Rock musician Mark Bryan was born.

1968 The John Hancock Center in Chicago, Illinois, was topped out.

1970 Yuchiro Miura skied down Mount Everest.

1971 Rock musician Chris Shiflett actress.

1972 Ron Turcotte rode Riva Ridge to victory in the Kentucky Derby.

1976 A magnitude 6.5 earthquake killed about 1,000 people in northeastern Italy.

1978 South African troops entered Angola.
1978 Steve Cauthen rode Affirmed to victory in the Kentucky Derby.

1979 About 65,000 persons demonstrated against nuclear power in Washington, D. C.

1983 Actress Adrianne Palicki was born.

1987 Mario Andretti set a one-lap speed record at Indianapolis of 218.204 miles per hour.

1989 Pat Valenzuela rode Sunday Silence to victory in the Kentucky Derby.

1991 Seppo Raty set a javelin throw record of 301' 9".

1994 The Channel Tunnel between Great Britain and France was formally opened.
1994 Lennox Lewis TKO'd Phil Jackson in the eighth round for the heavyweight boxing title.

1995 Gary Stevens rode Thunder Gulch to victory in the Kentucky Derby.

1997 The Bank of England was given independence from political control.

2000 Fusaichi Pegasus, ridden by Kent Desormeaux, won the Kentucky Derby.

2001 During a trip to Syria, Pope John Paul II became the first Pope to visit a mosque.

2002 Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn was shot and killed by an animal rights activist.
2002 Elon Musk founded SpaceX.

2003 Kmart Corporation emerged from bankruptcy after more than 15 months of Chapter 11 protection.

2006 Edgar Prado rode Barbaro to victory in the Kentucky Derby.

2013 Long-time Italian politician Giulio Andreotti died.

2017 A bus crash in the Arusha region of Tanzania killed 35 persons.
2017 John Velasquez rode Always Dreaming to victory in the Kentucky Derby.

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This page was last updated on May 06, 2018.