General events on July 6th

In 1699, Captain William Kidd, NY businessman turned pirate, was captured in Boston and extradited to England.
In 1905, John Walker's fingerprints were the first ones to be exchanged by police officials in Europe and America. Law enforcement units in London and St. Louis, MO completed the exchange. But did they catch him?
In 1942, 60 years ago, Anne Frank, age 13, and her family go into hiding with four others from the Nazis in the "Secret Annex" at 263 Prinsengracht (Prince's Canal), Amsterdam.
In 1957, the Harry S. Truman Library was established in Independence, Missouri.
In 1971, White House Plumbers unit formed to plug news leaks.
In 1987, 15 years ago, The U.S. fines Chrysler Corporation $1.5 million for 811 violations of worker safety regulations.
In 1992, 10 years ago, the Group of Seven industrial nations opened their 18th annual economic summit in Munich, Germany.

Government and Politics on July 6th

In 1535, Sir Thomas More was executed in England for treason. He was sainted on May 19, 1935. So England got less of More, eh?
In 1776, the Declaration of Independence was announced on the front page of the "PA Evening Gazette"
In 1785, Congress resolves US currency named "dollar" & adopts decimal coinage.
In 1798, the Alien Enemies Act, the third of the Alien and Sedition Acts, which makes aliens "liable to be apprehended, restrained, ... & removed as alien enemies", passed in the U.S.
In 1854, the Republican Party came into being at a convention in Jackson, Michigan.
In 1895, This is the anniversary of one of the first sin taxes. On this date, the French government reduced taxes on healthful drinks and raised taxes on liquor.
In 1923, U.S.S.R. born, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was formed.
In 1932, first class postage goes back up to 3 cents from 2 cents.
In 1945, President Truman signed an executive order establishing the Medal of Freedom to be awarded to civilians for meritorious service.
In 1945, Nicaragua became the first nation to formally accept the United Nations Charter.
In 1961, Cecil Francis Poole became the first U.S. African American attorney in San Francisco, California.
In 1962, 40 years ago, Jamaica gains independence from Great-Britain.
In 1970, The first state "no fault" divorce law is enacted in California.
In 1975, the Federal Islamic Republic of the Comoros (Islands) declares its independence from France.
In 1981, a federal judge says Houston's anti-cross-dressing law is unconstitutional.
In 1983, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled retirement plans could not pay smaller monthly payments to women solely because of their gender, even though women generally live longer than men.
In 1984, President Reagan, in a TV interview, said it was a "probability" that many young people now paying into Social Security "will never be able to receive as much as they're paying."
In 1990, NATO leaders concluded two days of meetings in London, pledging to sharply reduce both nuclear and conventional defenses in Europe.
In 1994, President Clinton stopped in Latvia, then traveled to Poland as part of a four-nation European tour.
In 1995, the prosecution rested at the O.J. Simpson murder trial in Los Angeles. (AP says July 6 though I got e-mail saying it ended July 7.)
In 1996, President Clinton announced the biggest changes in the rules governing meat and poultry safety in 90 years.
In 1996, the Libertarians nominated financial counseling author Harry Browne for president.
In 1997, 5 years ago, for the first time since it was founded in 1929, Mexico's Institutional Revolutionary Party failed to win a majority in voting for the lower house of Congress.
In 1999, Ehud Barak took office as prime minister of Israel, pledging to seek peace with neighboring Arab countries.
In 1999, first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton announced she was forming an exploratory committee to look into running for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Daniel Patrick Moynihan, D-N.Y. No first lady had ever before sought public office.
In 2000, 2 years ago, The German parliament offered a formal apology to Nazi-era slave and forced laborers as it passed a bill setting up a five billion-dollar compensation fund.

War, Crime and Disaster events on July 6th

In 1775, Congress issues "Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking up Arms," detailing grievances but denying any intention to separate from Britain.
In 1777, during the American Revolution, British forces led by Gen. John Burgoyne captured Fort Ticonderoga.
In 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo becomes effective, ending the Mexican-American War.
In 1892, Striking steel workers in Homestead, PA, fire on scabs, killing 7.
In 1917, during World War I, Arab forces led by T.E. Lawrence captured the port of Aqaba (AH'-kah-buh) from the Turks.
In 1928, Worlds largest hailstone 1 1/2 lbs (17') falls in Potter Nebraska.
In 1936, 114 degrees F (46 degrees C), Moorhead, Minnesota (state record).
In 1936, 121 degrees F (49 degrees C), Steele, North Dakota (state record).
In 1943, second day of battle at Kursk: 25,000 German killed.
In 1943, US destroyer William D Porter [Willie Dee] launched.
In 1944, Army Lieutenant Jack Roosevelt Robinson, when boarding a military bus at Fort Hood, is told to sit in the back of the bus. He refuses. (He is later court martialed, but is acquitted.).
In 1944, US general Patton landed in France.
In 1944, "The Day the Clowns Cried" occured in Hartford, Conn., when a fire engulfed a Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus big top; the fire and an ensuing stampede in the main tent combine to a hazardous situation; it killed 169, injured 487.
In 1949, a freak heat wave sent the central coast of Portugal to 158 degrees F for 2 minutes.
In 1967, the Biafran (bee-AF'-ruhn) War erupted as Nigerial foprces invade; about 600,000 people died during the two-and-a-half-year war.
In 1987, 15 years ago, the first of three massacres by Sikh extremists over two days took place in India as gunmen attacked a bus with Hindu passengers. Seventy-two people were killed in the attacks in Punjab and Haryana.
In 1988, North Sea off Scotland: 166 workers killed in explosion and fire on Occidental Petroleu's Piper Alpha rig in North Sea off Scottish coast; 64 survivors rescued. It is the world's worst offshore oil disaster.
In 1989, the U.S. Army destroyed its last Pershing 1-A missiles at an ammunition plant in Karnack, Texas, under terms of the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty.
In 1989, a Palestinian grabbed the steering wheel of an Israeli bus, causing a crash that claimed 15 lives.
In 1991, President Bush sent a personal message to Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, urging a stronger effort to conclude arms control talks.
In 1993, the flooded Mississippi River was closed to barge traffic from Sioux CIty, Iowa, to St. Louis.
In 1994, Fourteen firefighters were killed while battling a several-day-old blaze on Storm King Mountain in Colorado.
In 1996, a Delta MD-88 jetliner's left engine blew apart during an aborted takeoff from Pensacola, Fla., sending metal pieces ripping into the cabin, killing a mother and her son.
In 2000, 2 years ago, The body of 19-year-old Cory Erving, son of basketball star Julius "Dr. J" Erving, was found in his car at the bottom of a Florida pond; he'd been missing since May 28th.

Royalty and Religious events on July 6th

In 1439, Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholics sign the Decree of Union at the Council of Florence, creating an official union between the two churches. Popular sentiment in Constantinople was against the decree, and when the city was captured by the Turks the union ceased some 7 years later.
In 1483, Coronation of Richard III, and Anne, King and Queen of England
In 1519, Charles I, King of Spain, elected as Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
In 1893, British King George V marries princess Victoria of Teck (Queen Mary).

Human Achievement and Science events on July 6th

In 1536, Jacques Cartier returns to France from his second voyage
In 1669, LaSalle leaves Montreal on his way to discover and explore the Ohio River.
In 1858, The shoe manufacturing machine was patented by Lyman Blake of Abington, MA. on this day.
In 1885, French scientist Louis Pasteur successfully tested an anti-rabies vaccine on a boy who had been bitten by an infected dog. The boy grew up and became director of the Pasteur Institute.
In 1886, Horlick's of Wisconsin offered the first malted milk to the public.
In 1903, George Wyman arrives in NYC by motorcycle 51 days out of SF.
In 1908, Robert Peary's expedition sails from NYC for the north pole.
In 1919, a British dirigible, the R-34, landed in New York, becoming the first airship to cross the Atlantic Ocean (108 hr).
In 1976, Soyuz 21 carries 2 cosmonauts to Salyut 5 space station.
In 1997, 5 years ago, the rover Sojourner rolled down a ramp from the Mars Pathfinder lander onto the Martian landscape to begin inspecting the soil and rocks of the Red Planet.