On October 6, 1982, the Dow was up 37 points (+4.1%) in one day, from 907 to 944.  For the week of October 4-8, 1982, the Dow rose 79 (8.7%), to 986.85 on its way to 1,000 in short order.

On October 6, 1987, a Tuesday, the Dow Jones index fell 91.55 points, from 2640 to 2548, a record point drop in one day, up to that date.  But much bigger records were soon to fall.

Fallout from the Yom Kippur War

On October 6, 1973, Egyptian and Syrian forces launched a surprise attack against Israel on the holiest Jewish day, Yom Kippur.  Israel was caught off guard but eventually reversed the initial Arab gains, before a cease-fire ended the war two weeks later. Then came the OPEC oil embargo.

On October 6, 1974: President Ford urged the U.S. to "Whip Inflation Now" (WIN), handing out cute little WIN buttons to rally the nation.  But five years later, inflation was far from whipped.

On October 6, 1979, the Federal Reserve Board announced a raise in the discount rate, from 11% to 12%, as they proceeded to tighten the money supply, in order "to fight inflation."   Early in the next week, bond and stock prices fell, in the heaviest trading since 1929, as banks raised their Prime Rate to 14.5%.   That night, the new Pope (John Paul II) became the first Pope to meet a U.S. President at the White House.   (Maybe the Pope had better advice on whipping inflation.)

On October 6, 1981, Egyptian president Anwar el-Sadat was assassinated at a public military parade and rally in Cairo.  Extremists had not forgiven him for the Camp David peace accords.

European Wars: Hot and Cold

On October 6, 1499, the French king Louis XII occupied Milan.  Then, 300 years later…

On October 6, 1799, the French army beat the English and Russian armies at the Battle at Castricum, one of Napoleon's earliest victories.

Across the ocean, on October 6, 1781, the Americans and French began the siege of the British General Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia, effectively ending the Revolutionary War.

…And on October 6, 1949, East Germany was formed, comprising the Soviet sector.

Famous Firsts on October 6

• 1683: The first Mennonites arrived in America, on the Concord, settling in Pennsylvania.
• 1857: The American Chess Congress held their first national chess tournament, in New York. 
• Paul C. Morphy, 21, from New Orleans, Louisiana, won the first national title.
• 1866: The first train robbery in the U.S. (by the Reno Brothers) made off with $13,000.
• 1876: The American Library Association was organized, in Philadelphia.
• 1882: In the first Al-NL inter-league baseball game, Cincinnati (AA) beat Chicago (NL), 4-0.
• 1884: The U.S. Naval War College formed in Newport, Rhode Island.
• 1889: Thomas Edison showed his first motion picture.
• 1898: Gustav Mahler conducted his first concert with the Wiener (Vienna) Philharmonic.
• 1917: The word "jazz" was first used in the polite press, in the Literary Digest. 
• 1927: The first talkie, "The Jazz Singer," was shown, with a sound track, in New York City.
• 1949: President Truman signed the Mutual Defense Assistance Act, establishing NATO.
• 1951: Soviet leader Josef Stalin proclaimed that Russia had the atom bomb. Then, 10 years later…
• 1961: President Kennedy first advised Americans that they should build bomb shelters. 

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