TODAY IN HISTORY

Sunday, May  06, 2012 AP Highlight in History:  On May 6, 1937, the hydrogen-filled German dirigible Hindenburg burned and crashed in Lakehurst, N.J., killing 36 of the 97 people on board and a Navy crewman on the ground. Radio reporter Herb Morrison's eyewitness account   AP Photo/Philadelphia Public Ledger
On this date in: 1840 A tornado that touched down in eastern Louisiana and crossed the Mississippi River into Natchez, Miss., killed 317 people - most of them on boats in the river. 1856 Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, was born in Freiberg, Moravia (present-day Pribor, Czech Republic). 1861 Arkansas seceded from the Union. 1882 Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, which barred Chinese immigrants from the United States for 10 years. 1889 The Paris Exposition opened, featuring the just-completed Eiffel Tower. 1910 Britain's King Edward VII died. 1915 Babe Ruth of the Boston Red Sox hit the first of his 714 major league home runs in a 4-3 loss to the New York Yankees at the Polo Grounds. 1942 Some 15,000 Americans and Filipinos on Corregidor surrendered to the Japanese during World War II. 1954 Roger Bannister became the first athlete to run a mile in less than four minutes, finishing in 3:59.4 during a track meet in Oxford, England. AP Photo 1960 Britain's Princess Margaret married Anthony Armstrong Jones, a commoner, at Westminster Abbey. (They divorced in 1978.) 2001 Pope John Paul II, during a trip to Syria, became the first pope to enter a mosque. 2002 Right-wing Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn was shot and killed in Hilversum, Netherlands. 2002 "Spider-Man" became the first movie to make more than $100 million in its opening weekend. 2004 The final first-run episode of "Friends" aired on NBC. 2007 Conservative Nicolas Sarkozy was elected president of France.		Video Highlights of This Day in History Today's Birthdays: Actor George Clooney turns 51 years old today. AP Photo/Dan Steinberg Name Profession Age Richard Shelby U.S. senator, R-Ala. 78 Bob Seger Rock musician 67 Alan Dale Actor 65 Tony Blair Former British prime minister 59 Tom Bergeron TV host ("Dancing with the Stars") 57 Roma Downey Actress ("Touched by an Angel") 52 Martin Brodeur Hockey player 40 Adrianne Palicki Actress ("Friday Night Lights") 29 Gabourey Sidibe Actress ("Precious") 29 Baseball Hall of Famer Willie Mays turns 81 years old years old today. AP Photo/Eric Risberg