October 6 is the 279th day of the year (280th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 86 days remaining until the end of the year.
- 1582 – Because of the implementation of the Gregorian calendar, this day is skipped in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain.
- 1683 – German immigrant families found Germantown in the colony of Pennsylvania, marking the first major immigration of German people to America.
- 1884 – The Naval War College of the United States Navy is founded in Newport, Rhode Island.
- 1927 – Opening of The Jazz Singer, the first prominent talking movie.
- 1945 – Baseball: Billy Sianis and his pet billy goat are ejected from Wrigley Field during Game 4 of the 1945 World Series (see Curse of the Billy Goat).
- 1976 – New Premier Hua Guofeng orders the arrest of the Gang of Four and associates and ends the Cultural Revolution in the People's Republic of China.
- 1977 – The first prototype of the MiG-29, designated 9-01, makes its maiden flight.
- 1979 – Pope John Paul II becomes the first pontiff to visit the White House.
- 1981 – Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat is assassinated.
- 1995 – 51 Pegasi is discovered to be the first major star apart from the Sun to have a planet (and extrasolar planet) orbiting around it.
- 2000 – Yugoslav president Slobodan Milošević resigns.
- 2007 – Jason Lewis completes the first human-powered circumnavigation of the globe.