Today in History: May 6, the Hindenburg crashes
Today in History
Today is Saturday, May 6, the 126th day of 2023. There are 239 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On May 6, 1937, the hydrogen-filled German airship Hindenburg caught fire and crashed while attempting to dock at Lakehurst, New Jersey; 35 of the 97 people on board were killed along with a crewman on the ground.
On this date:
In 1882, President Chester Alan Arthur signed the Chinese Exclusion Act, which barred Chinese immigrants from the U.S. for 10 years (Arthur had opposed an earlier version with a 20-year ban).
In 1910, Britain’s Edwardian era ended with the death of King Edward VII; he was succeeded by George V.
In 1935, the Works Progress Administration began operating under an executive order signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
In 1941, Josef Stalin assumed the Soviet premiership, replacing Vyacheslav (VEE’-cheh-slav) M. Molotov. Comedian Bob Hope did his first USO show before an audience of servicemen as he broadcast his radio program from March Field in Riverside, California.
In 1942, during World War II, some 15,000 American and Filipino troops on Corregidor island surrendered to Japanese forces.
In 1954, medical student Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile during a track meet in Oxford, England, in 3:59.4.
In 1994, former Arkansas state worker Paula Jones filed suit against President Bill Clinton, alleging he’d sexually harassed her in 1991. (Jones reached a settlement with Clinton in November 1998.)
In 2004, President George W. Bush apologized for the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by American soldiers, calling it “a stain on our country’s honor”; he rejected calls for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s resignation.
In 2006, Lillian Gertrud Asplund, the last American survivor of the sinking of the Titanic, died in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, at age 99.
In 2010, a computerized sell order triggered a “flash crash” on Wall Street, sending the Dow Jones industrials to a loss of nearly 1,000 points in less than half an hour.
In 2013, kidnap-rape victims Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight, who went missing separately about a decade earlier while in their teens or early 20s, were rescued from a house just south of downtown Cleveland. (Their captor, Ariel Castro, hanged himself in prison in September 2013 at the beginning of a life sentence plus 1,000 years.)
In 2020, New York City began shutting down its subway system overnight to allow for additional cleaning and disinfecting of cars and stations amid the pandemic. President Donald Trump reversed course on plans to wind down his COVID-19 task force; he said the force would shift its focus toward rebooting the economy and developing a vaccine.
Ten years ago: Grammy-winning singer Lauryn Hill was sentenced by a federal judge in Newark, New Jersey, to three months in prison for failing to pay about $1 million in taxes over the previous decade. Italian statesman Giulio Andreotti, 94, died in Rome.
Five years ago: The number of homes destroyed by Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano reached 26, as scientists reported lava spewing more than 200 feet into the air. Lebanon’s Iranian-backed Hezbollah group scored major gains in parliamentary elections, as the main Western-backed faction headed by Prime Minister Saad Hariri lost a third of its seats. Actor Ashley Judd sued disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein, alleging sexual harassment and defamation.
One year ago: The United Nations raced to rescue more civilians from the tunnels under a besieged steel plant in Mariupol and the city at large, even as fighters holed up at the sprawling complex made their last stand to prevent Moscow’s complete takeover of the strategic port. In Cuba, a powerful explosion apparently caused by a natural gas leak killed at least nine people and injured 40 when it blew away outer walls from a luxury hotel in the heart of Havana. No tourists were staying at the 96-room Hotel Saratoga because it was undergoing renovations. It was revealed that America’s employers added 428,000 jobs in the previous month, extending a streak of solid hiring that defied punishing inflation, chronic supply shortages, the Russian war against Ukraine and much higher borrowing costs.
Today’s Birthdays: Baseball Hall of Famer Willie Mays is 92. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., is 89. Rock singer Bob Seger is 78. Singer Jimmie Dale Gilmore is 78. Gospel singer-comedian Lulu Roman is 77. Actor Alan Dale is 76. Actor Richard Cox is 75. Actor Gregg Henry is 71. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is 70. TV personality Tom Bergeron is 68. Actor Roma Downey is 63. Rock singer John Flansburgh (They Might Be Giants) is 63. Actor Julianne Phillips is 63. Actor-director George Clooney is 62. Actor Clay O’Brien is 62. Rock singer-musician Tony Scalzo (Fastball) is 59. Actor Leslie Hope is 58. Actor Geneva Carr (TV: “Bull”) is 57. Rock musician Mark Bryan (Hootie and the Blowfish) is 56. Rock musician Chris Shiflett (Foo Fighters) is 52. Actor Stacey Oristano is 44. Model/TV personality Tiffany Coyne is 41. Actor Adrianne Palicki is 40. Actor Gabourey Sidibe (GA’-bah-ray SIH’-duh-bay) is 40. Actor-comedian Sasheer Zamata is 37. Rapper Meek Mill is 36. Houston Astros infielder Jose Altuve is 33. Actor-singer Naomi Scott is 30. Actor Noah Galvin is 29.
