May sixth

Today's Highlight in History:
On May sixth, 1937, the hydrogen-filled German dirigible "Hindenburg" burned and crashed in Lakehurst, New Jersey, killing 35 of the 97 people on board and a Navy crewman on the ground.

On this date:
In 1861, Arkansas seceded from the Union.

In 1889, the Paris Exposition formally opened, featuring the just-completed Eiffel Tower.

In 1910, Britain's King Edward the Seventh died.

In 1935, the Works Progress Administration began operating.

In 1942, during World War Two, some 15,000 Americans and Filipinos on Corregidor surrendered to the Japanese.

In 1954, medical student Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile during a track meet in Oxford, England, in three minutes, 59.4 seconds.

In 1960, Britain's Princess Margaret married Anthony Armstrong-Jones, a commoner, at Westminster Abbey. (They divorced in 1978.)

In 1992, actress Marlene Dietrich died at her Paris home at age 90.

In 1994, former Arkansas state worker Paula Jones filed suit against President Clinton, alleging he'd sexually harassed her in 1991. (Jones reached a settlement with Clinton in November 1998.)

In 1994, Britain's Queen Elizabeth the Second and French President Francois Mitterrand formally opened the Channel Tunnel between their countries.

Ten years ago: Freed American hostage Frank Reed told a news conference in Arlington, Virginia, that he had been savagely beaten by his captors in Lebanon after two unsuccessful escape attempts.

Five years ago: Friends and relatives of the Oklahoma City bombing victims made a somber pilgrimage to the site of the attack to say goodbye to their loved ones. In London, thousands of World War Two veterans celebrated the 50th anniversary of V-E Day. Long-shot "Thunder Gulch" won the 121st Kentucky Derby.

One year ago: Russia and the major Western powers set aside their differences over NATO airstrikes and drafted a joint plan to end the Kosovo conflict. President Clinton met with Kosovo refugees in Germany, listening to chilling stories of murder, rape and terror and promising them, "You will go home again in safety and in freedom." Reversing decades of overwhelming loyalty to Britain's governing Labor Party, Scottish and Welsh voters elected strong nationalist oppositions to their first separate assemblies of modern times.

"How glorious it is -- and also how painful -- to be an exception."

-- Alfred de Musset, French author (1810-1857).