On this day in History - May 6

• 0680 - Muawiyah I, dies (b. 0602). Umayyad caliph.
• 1501 - Pope Marcellus II was born (d. 1555) .
• 1502 - James Tyrrell, who was supposed to have confessed to murdering the Princes in the Tower, was executed (b. c. 1450).
• 1527 - Spanish and German troops sack Rome; some consider this the end of the Renaissance.
• 1540 - Juan Luis Vives dies in Valencia (b. 6 Mar 1540). Spanish philosopher.
• 1555 - Pope Marcellus II dies (b. 1501) .
• 1574 - Pope Innocent X was born (d. 1655) .
• 1682 - Louis XIV of France moves his court to Versailles.
• 1758 - Maximilien Robespierre was born (d. 1794) .
• 1758 - André Masséna was born (d. 1794). French soldier.
• 1769 - Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany was born (d. 1824) .
• 1816 - The American Bible Society is founded in New York City.
• 1828 - Estácio da Veiga was born. Portuguese archeologist.
• 1835 - James Gordon Bennett, Sr. publishes the first issue of the New York Herald.
• 1840 - The “penny black” stamp, issued in Great Britain, went into circulation as the first prepaid postage stamp in history.
• 1851 - A U.S. patent was issued to John Gorrie for his invention of an "Ice-making machine" (No. 8080). This was the first U.S. patent issued for a mechanical refrigerator.
• 1856 - Sigmund Freud was born in Freiberg, Moravia, Austrian Empire (now Príbor, Czech Republic).(d. 1939). Austrian psychiatrist, founder of psychoanalysis, best known for such works as Interpretation of Dreams (1900) and the New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis (1933).
• 1856 - Robert Peary was born (d. 1920). Explorer.
• 1859 - Alexander von Humboldt dies (b. 1769). German naturalist and explorer.
• 1861 - American Civil War: Arkansas secedes from the Union.
• 1861 - Rabindranath Tagore was born (d. 1941). Author. Nobel Prize in Literature 1913 .
• 1862 - Henry David Thoreau dies (b. 1817) . Author and philosopher .
• 1863 - American Civil War: The Battle of Chancellorsville ends, with a defeat of the Army of the Potomac under General Joseph Hooker by Confederate troops under Stonewall Jackson.
• 1868 - Tsar Nicholas II of Russia was born (d. 1918) .
• 1868 - Gaston Leroux was born (d. 1927). Writer.
• 1871 - Christian Morgenstern was born (d. 1914). Author.
• 1871 - (François-Auguste) Victor Grignard was born (d. 13 Dec 1935). French chemist and corecipient (with Paul Sabatier) of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1912, for his development of the Grignard reaction.
• 1877- Realizing that his people were weakened by cold and hunger, Chief Crazy Horse of the Oglala Sioux surrenders to United States troops in Nebraska.
• 1879 - Bedřich Hrozný was born (d. 1952). Czech orientalist and linguist.
• 1880 - Ernst Ludwig Kirchner was born (d. 1938). Painter.
• 1882 - Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germanywas born (d.1951). heir of Kaiser Wilhelm II.
• 1889 - The Eiffel Tower is officially opened to the public at the Universal Exposition in Paris.
• 1895 - Rudolph Valentino was born (d. 1926). Actor.
• 1900 - Auto de Carvalho was born. Brazilian paonter and writer.
• 1902 - Max Ophüls was born (d. 1957). Director.
• 1902 - Harry Golden was born (d. 1981). U.S. journalist.
• 1902 - Bret Harte dies (b. 1839). American author.
• 1904 - Moshe Feldenkrais was born (d. 1984). Founder of the Feldenkrais method .
• 1908 - Em Portugal, D. Manuel II subiu ao trono.
• 1910 - King Edward VII of the United Kingdom dies (b. 1841) .
• 1910 - George V becomes King of the United Kingdom upon the death of his father, Edward VII.
• 1911 - George Maledon dies. Hangman of 60 men.
• 1915 - Orson Welles was born (d. 1985). Director.
• 1915 - Theodore H. White was born (d. 1986). Writer.
• 1919 - L. Frank Baum dies (b. 1856) . Writer.
• 1920 - Ross Hunter was born (d. 1996). Producer.
• 1920 - Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, was born (d. 2004). First Prime Minister and later President of Fiji .
• 1921 - Erich Fried was born (d. 1988). Author.
• 1925 - Hanns Dieter Hüsch was born. Cabaretist .
• 1931 - Willie Mays was born in Westfield, Alabama. Baseball Hall of Famer .
• 1932 - O presidente francês Paul Doumer é assassinado em Paris por um exilado russo .
• 1935 - New Deal: Executive Order 7034 creates the Works Progress Administration (WPA).
• 1937 - 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.
• 1937 - Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter, was born. Boxer .
• 1940 - John Steinbeck is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Grapes of Wrath.
• 1941 - At California's March Field Bob Hope performs his first USO show.
• 1942 - World War II: On Corregidor, the last American forces in the Philippines surrender to the Japanese.
• 1943 - Almeida Faria was born in Montemor-O-Novo. Portuguese writer.
• 1945 - World War II: Axis Sally delivers her last propaganda broadcast to Allied troops (first was on December 11, 1941).
• 1945 - Bob Seger was born. Rock music singer .
• 1945 - Jimmie Dale Gilmore was born. Musician, country singer, songwriter.
• 1947 - Martha Nussbaum was born. Philosopher.
• 1949 - Maurice Maeterlinck dies (b. 1862). Poet, playwright, essayist ( Nobel Prize 1911).
• 1949 - Johannes Andreas Brinkman dies. Dutch architect.
• 1952 - Maria Montessori dies (b. 1870). Educator.
• 1953 - Tony Blair was born. Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. British Labour Party he became in 1997 the youngest British prime minister since 1812, and in 2005 he led his party to its third successive general election victory.
• 1954 - Roger Bannister becomes the first person to run the mile in under four minutes.
• 1955 - Tom Bergeron was born. Game show host .
• 1960 - John Flansburgh was born. Musician .
• 1961 - George Clooney was born. Actor .
• 1961 - Lucian Blaga dies (b. 1895). Romanian poet, playwright, philosopher.
• 1962 - Guillermo León Valencia is elected President of Colombia
• 1964 - Dana Hill was born. Actress .
• 1966 - Myra Hindley and Ian Brady are sentenced to life imprisonment for the Moors Murders in England.
• 1970 - George Rivas was born. Texas 7 ringleader .
• 1972 - Martin Brodeur was born. Hockey player .
• 1974 - Portugal PPD (Partido Popular Democrático) is founded
• 1976 - José Guerra Vicente dies. Portuguese composer.
• 1976 - Ivan De La Peña was born. Spanish footballer.
• 1981 - A jury of architects and sculptors unanimously selects Maya Ying Lin's design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial from 1,421 other entries.
• 1984 - León Febres Cordero ganha as eleições presidenciais no Equador.
• 1986 - Laura Alves Magno dies in Lisbon (b. 8 Sep 1922). Portuguese actress.
• 1987 - William Casey dies (b. 1913). Head of the Central Intelligence Agency
• 1989 - In Lausanne, Switzerland, Riva win the thirty-fourth Eurovision Song Contest for Yugoslavia singing "Rock me".
• 1992 - Marlene Dietrich, dies (b. 1901). Actress.
• 1994 - Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and French President François Mitterrand inaugurate the opening of the Chunnel – a tunnel under the English Channel linking England and France for the first time since the end of the Great Ice Age.
• 1999 - In New York, a parole board votes to release Amy Fisher, in prison for the last 7 years for shooting her lover's wife.
• 2002 - Renúncia do primeiro-ministro francês Lionel Jospin.
• 2002 - Jean-Pierre Raffarin becomes Prime Minister of France.
• 2002 - The World Wrestling Federation changes their name to World Wrestling Entertainment after losing a court battle with the World Wildlife Fund.
• 2004 - President Bush apologizes for the humiliation suffered by Iraqi prisoners at the hands of U.S. troops.
• 2004 - The last episode of the popular television sitcom Friends airs.
• Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel (2005) .
• No Pants Day in 2005