Daily List

Today in History, May 6th

On May 6, 1937, the airship Hindenburg burned at Lakehurst, New Jersey, killing 36. Plus Bannister's four-minute mile and the Channel Tunnel.

By Today in History Updated November 10, 2026 3 min read Sources checked

Published May 6, 2026 · Last updated November 10, 2026

May 6 is best known for 1937, when the German airship Hindenburg burst into flames while landing at Lakehurst, New Jersey, killing 36 people. The same date saw Roger Bannister run the first sub-four-minute mile in 1954 and the Channel Tunnel officially open between England and France in 1994.

The big story: The Hindenburg burns at Lakehurst (1937)

At 804 feet long, the Hindenburg was the biggest airship ever built and a floating showpiece for Nazi Germany. It held up its enormous bulk with hydrogen, a gas that burns very easily. On May 3, 1937, it left Frankfurt for the U.S. with 36 passengers and 61 crew. Three days later, as it eased toward its mooring mast at Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey, it caught fire, most likely when a spark lit the hydrogen. The ship fell about 200 feet and was consumed in seconds. Thirteen passengers, 22 crew members and one man on the ground crew died; the rest, remarkably, got out. Radio reporter Herb Morrison happened to be recording at the field, and his anguished “Oh, the humanity!” aired across the country. The disaster ended public faith in passenger airships, and none of the great rigid airships survived World War II.

More events on May 6

Year	What happened
1876	Thomas Gainsborough’s portrait Duchess of Devonshire sold at Christie’s in London for a record price. About three weeks later, the thief Adam Worth stole it from the buyer’s gallery.
1935	President Franklin Roosevelt signed an executive order creating the Works Progress Administration, which gave millions of jobless Americans work building roads, schools and airports.
1940	John Steinbeck won the Pulitzer Prize for The Grapes of Wrath, his novel about an Oklahoma farm family heading to California.
1942	After months of shelling on Corregidor, Lt. Gen. Jonathan Wainwright surrendered all U.S. forces in the Philippines to Japan.
1954	British medical student Roger Bannister ran a mile in 3 minutes 59.4 seconds at Oxford, the first mile ever run in under four minutes.
1994	Queen Elizabeth II and French President François Mitterrand officially opened the Channel Tunnel, linking England and France under the sea.
2004	The final episode of Friends aired on NBC, watched by an estimated 51.1 million people.
2023	King Charles III was crowned in a ceremony led by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, eight months after becoming king.

Born on May 6

1758: Maximilien Robespierre, leader of the French Revolution, born in Arras, France.
1856: Sigmund Freud, founder of psychoanalysis, born in Freiberg, Moravia (now Příbor, Czech Republic).
1915: Orson Welles, actor and director of Citizen Kane, born in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
1931: Willie Mays, baseball star, born in Westfield, Alabama.