6 February 1951

Mary Gaudron became the first woman to be appointed a justice of the High Court of Australia.

Lockheed Corporation president Carl Kotchian admitted that the company had paid out approximately US$3 million in bribes to the office of Japanese prime minister Kakuei Tanaka.

The aircraft carrying the Manchester United football team crashed while attempting to take off from Munich-Riem Airport in West Germany, killing 8 players and 23 people in total (news reel featured).

A train derailed while crossing a temporary wooden trestle in Woodbridge, New Jersey, causing 85 deaths.

Representatives from France, Italy, Japan, the United States, and the United Kingdom signed the Washington Naval Treaty (pictured), agreeing to limits on naval construction in the hopes of preventing an arms race.

World War I: More than 65,000 workers in Seattle began a five-day general strike to gain higher wages after two years of wage controls in the United States.

Finland established its modern system of secular municipalities, separate from church parishes.

Union forces earned one of their first important victories in the American Civil War at the Battle of Fort Henry in western Tennessee.

The first ship of the American Colonization Society departed from New York for West Africa with 86 African-American emigrants aboard to found the colony of Liberia.

British official Stamford Raffles signed a treaty with Sultan Hussein Shah of Johor, establishing Singapore as a trading post for the East India Company.

Napoleonic Wars: A British naval squadron captured or destroyed five French ships of the line at the Battle of San Domingo (pictured) in the Caribbean Sea.

Massachusetts became the sixth state to ratify the constitution of the United States.

France and the United States signed the Treaty of Amity and Commerce and the Treaty of Alliance, respectively establishing commercial and military ties between the two nations.

Domingo de Salazar, a Spanish Dominican friar, was appointed the first bishop of Manila.

Vistahm and Vinduyih deposed their brother-in-law Hormizd IV, King of Kings of the Sasanian Empire.

Two earthquakes measuring Mww 7.8 and 7.5 struck near the border between Turkey and Syria with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XII (Extreme). The earthquakes resulted in numerous aftershocks and a death toll of 57,658 people.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken suspends agreements with Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras to send asylum seekers back to their home countries.

SpaceX's Falcon Heavy, a super heavy launch vehicle, makes its maiden flight.

An earthquake of magnitude 6.6 strikes southern Taiwan, killing 117 people.

Stephen Harper becomes Prime Minister of Canada.

Second Chechen War: Russia captures Grozny, Chechnya, forcing the separatist Chechen Republic of Ichkeria government into exile.

Washington National Airport is renamed Ronald Reagan National Airport.

Willamette Valley Flood: Floods in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, United States, causes over US$500 million in property damage throughout the Pacific Northwest.

Birgenair Flight 301 crashed off the coast of the Dominican Republic, killing all 189 people on board. This is the deadliest aviation accident involving a Boeing 757.