Today is Wednesday, May 6, the 127th day of 2020. There are 239 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On May 6, 1915, Babe Ruth hit his first major-league home run as a player for the Boston Red Sox.
On this date:
In 1863, the Civil War Battle of Chancellorsville in Virginia ended with a Confederate victory over Union forces.
In 1935, the Works Progress Administration began operating under an executive order signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
In 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.
In 1941, Josef Stalin assumed the Soviet premiership, replacing Vyacheslav 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.) Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II and French President Francois Mitterrand formally opened the Channel Tunnel between their countries.
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.
Today’s Birthdays: Baseball Hall of Famer Willie Mays is 89. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., is 86. Rock singer Bob Seger is 75. Singer Jimmie Dale Gilmore is 75. Gospel singer-comedian Lulu Roman is 74. Actor Alan Dale is 73. Actor Ben Masters is 73. Actor Richard Cox is 72. Actor Gregg Henry is 68. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is 67. TV personality Tom Bergeron is 65. Actress Roma Downey is 60. Rock singer John Flansburgh (They Might Be Giants) is 60. Actress Julianne Phillips is 60. Actor-director George Clooney is 59.
Thought for Today: “To know your ruling passion, examine your castles in the air.” — Richard Whately, English clergyman (1787-1863).
