This Day in History May 6
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
This Day in History
May 6
1935 President Franklin Roosevelt signs an executive order creating the WPA, a Depression relief program that provided jobs for unemployed men in American cities
1937 The airship Hindenburg, the largest ever built and the pride of Nazi Germany, bursts into flames in Lakehurst, New Jersey, killing 36 people
1940 John Steinbeck wins the Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Grapes of Wrath, which tells the story of an Oklahoma family’s struggles during the Great Depression
1954 In England, 25-year-old Roger Bannister becomes the first human to run a mile in less than four minutes
1960 Musician John Flansburgh of alternative rock duo They Might Be Giants is born in Lincoln, Massachusetts
1992 Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev gives a speech about the end of the Cold War in Fulton, Missouri, the same site where Winston Churchill gave his “Iron Curtain” speech in 1946
1994 The “Chunnel,” a 31- mile tunnel under the English Channel connecting England and France, officially opens
2004 The final episode of the sitcom Friends airs on NBC
2005 Audioslave, a supergroup made up of former members of Soundgarden and Rage Against the Machine, becomes the first U.S. rock act to perform a free outdoor concert in Cuba when the band plays at La Tribuna in Havana
2013 Three women are rescued from a house in Cleveland, Ohio, where they had been imprisoned by a man for many years
2019 Duchess Meghan, wife of British Prince Harry, gives birth to a son— they name him Archie Harrison Mountbatten- Windsor
2020 New York City’s subway system shuts down between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. for disinfecting during the coronavirus pandemic—this continues each day until overnight service begins a gradual reopening on February 22, 2021
2020 A salon owner in Texas is sentenced to seven days in jail for reopening her salon April 24 in defiance of the state’s coronavirus restrictions
2020 A federal judge rules that New York must hold its Democratic primary on June 23—the state had delayed and then canceled the primary because of the coronavirus and the fact that all Democratic candidates besides Joe Biden had dropped out of the race
2020 The number of COVID-19 cases tied to outbreaks at meatpacking plants in the U.S. reaches 10,000—at least 170 plants in 29 states have had at least one worker test positive for the virus, and at least 45 workers have died
2020 To help children cope with coronavirus shutdowns, Spotify releases a free audiobook recording of the first chapter of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone read by Daniel Radcliffe, the actor who played Harry in the movies—additional chapters, read by other celebrities, are released each week through June
2020 President Trump signs a proclamation in the Oval Office honoring nurses for National Nurses Week— Americans feel a heightened admiration for the work of nurses because of the coronavirus pandemic
2021 National Nurses Week starts today and runs through May 12, nursing pioneer Florence Nightingale’s birthday
2021 Yesterday at 2:15 p.m., Phoenix reached 100 degrees for the first time in 2021—the average high for this time of year is 91 degrees, and the average first 100-degree day of the year is May 2
2021 A woman from the African nation of Mali gave birth to nonuplets (nine babies) Tuesday in Morocco, where she had been flown in March for more specialized care—the babies were born at 30 weeks and weighed between 1.1 and 2.2 pounds—only two sets of nonuplets have previously been recorded, in Australia in 1971 and Malaysia in 1999, but none of the babies survived more than a few days
2021 Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is expected to sign a controversial election reform bill today—it limits drop boxes, restricts third- party voter registration efforts, and requires voters sign up for vote-by-mail in more frequent intervals
2021 Tickets for shows on Broadway in New York City go on sale today, with shows resuming September 14— Broadway was forced to shut down more than a year ago because of the pandemic
2021 Peloton agreed yesterday to recall 125,000 treadmills and apologized for having fought the federal government’s request to do so—the equipment came under scrutiny in the death of a 6- year-old child and reports of 72 people, pets, and objects being pulled under the rear of the exercise machines
You can also read
