May 6
1527 - German troops began sacking Rome, bringing about the end of the Renaissance.
1529 - Babur defeated the Afghan Chiefs in the Battle of Ghagra, India.
1576 - The peace treaty of Chastenoy ended the fifth war of religion.
1682 - King Louis XIV moved his court to Versailles, France.
1835 - James Gordon Bennett published the "New York Herald" for the first time.
1840 - The first adhesive postage stamps went on sale in Great Britain.
1851 - The mechanical refrigerator was patented by Dr. John Gorrie.
1851 - Linus Yale patented the clock-type lock.
1861 - Arkansas became the ninth state to secede from the Union.
1877 - Chief Crazy Horse surrendered to U.S. troops in Nebraska.
1882 - The U.S. Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act. The act barred Chinese immigrants from the U.S. for 10 years.
1889 - The Universal Exposition opened in Paris, France, marking the dedication of the Eiffel Tower. Also at the exposition was the first automobile in Paris, the Mercedes-Benz.
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.
1935 - The Works Progress Administation began operations following and executive order signed by President Frankin D. Roosevelt.
1937 - The German airship Hindenburg crashed and burned in Lakehurst, NJ. Thirty-six people were killed.
1941 - Joseph Stalin assumed the Soviet premiership.
1941 - Bob Hope did 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 with a time of 3:59.4.
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 - A computerized sell order triggered a "flash crash" on Wall Street. The Dow Jones industrials lost nearly 1,000 points in less than a half hour.
2020 - New York City began nightly shut downs of its subway system to allow for additional cleaning and disenfecting of cars and stations due to the Covid-19 panedemic.
