TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT May 6, 1937

The hydrogen-filled German airship Hindenburg caught fire and crashed while attempting to dock at Lakehurst, N.J.; 35 of the 97 people on board were killed along with a crewman on the ground.

ON THIS DATE 1935

The Works Progress Administration began operating under an executive order signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

1954

Medical student Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile during a track meet in Oxford, England, in 3:59.4.

2010

A computerized sell order triggered a “flash crash” on Wall Street, sending the Dow Jones industrials to a loss of nearly 1,000 points in less than half an hour.