On March 6, 1475, Renaissance artist Michelangelo was born in Caprese, Italy.
In 1836 the Alamo mission in San Antonio fell to the Mexican army after a 13-day siege. (All of the defenders, including Davy Crockett, were killed.)
In 1853 Verdi’s opera “La Traviata” premiered in Venice.
In 1933 a nationwide bank holiday declared by President Franklin D. Roosevelt went into effect.
In 1944 American bombers staged their first World War II raid on Berlin.
In 1945 Cologne, Germany, fell to the U.S. Army.
In 1953 Georgi Malenkov became Soviet premier after the death of Josef Stalin.
In 1965 the U.S. announced it was sending the first contingent of combat troops to fight the Viet Cong guerrillas in Vietnam.
In 1973 the U.S. reimposed mandatory price controls on the country’s biggest oil companies.
In 1981 Walter Cronkite signed off for the last time as anchor of “CBS Evening News.”
In 1987 189 people died when water rushed through the open bow doors of the British ferry Herald of Free Enterprise, causing it to capsize off the Belgian port of Zeebrugge.
