Today In History - December 6

963 Leo VIII is elected Pope
1196 The Northern Dutch coast is flooded: "Saint-Nicolaas Flood"
1240 The Mongols, under Batu Khan, occupy and destroy Kiev
1424 Don Alfonso V of Aragon grants Barcelona the right to exclude Jews
1491 King Charles VIII of France marries Anna of Bretagne
1492 Haiti is discovered by Columbus at Mole Saint Nicolas
1527 Pope Clemens VII fleas to Orvieto
1534 Quito, Ecuador is founded by the Spanish
1631 The first predicted transit of Venus (Kepler) is observed
1641 Don Francisco de Mello is appointed land guardian of South Netherlands
1648 Pride's Purge: Thomas Pride prevents 96 Presbyterians from sitting in the English parliament
1745 Bonnie Prince Charlies' army retreats to Scotland
1756 British troops under Robert Clive occupy Fulta, India
1768 The first edition of the "Encyclopedia Brittanica" is published: Scotland
1790 The Congress meets in Philadelphia, the new temporary U.S. capital
1820 US President James Monroe is re-elected
1822 The veterinary school in Utrecht opens
1825 President John Adams suggests the establishment of a U.S. observatory
1833 HMS Beagle, with Charles Darwin aboard, departs Rio de la Plata
1843 The Amsterdam-Utrecht railway opens
1849 Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery in Maryland
1862 President Lincoln orders the hanging of 39 Santee Sioux Indians
1864 Battle of Deveaux's Neck, SC
1865 The 13th Amendment is ratified abolishing slavery
1866 The Chicago water supply tunnel into Lake Michigan is completed
1870 Joseph H. Rainey becomes the first black in House of Representatives
1875 The 44th Congress (1875-77) convenes
1876 City of Anaheim is incorporated for the 2nd time
1876 The first crematorium in the U.S. begins operation: Washington, PA
1876 The US Electoral College picks Representative Hayes as President, even though Tilden won
1877 The first sound recording is made: Thomas Edison
1877 The Washington Post publishes its first edition
1882 Atmosphere of Venus detected during transit
1884 The aluminum capstone is set atop Washington Monument, Wash, DC
1896 D T Suzuki found the awakening at Engakuji temple, in Kamakura
1904 Theodore Roosevelt confirms the Monroe-doctrine
1907 Coal mine explosions in Monongah, WV, kill 361 people
1912 China votes for universal human rights
1914 German troops overrun Lodz
1916 The German army occupies Bucharest
1917 Finland declares its independence from Russia
1917 The French ammunition ship "Mont Blanc" explodes in Halifax and kills 1,700 people
1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty is signed
1922 The first constitution of Irish Free State comes into operation
1922 The first electric power line commercial carrier in the U.S.: Utica, New York
1923 The first presidential address is broadcast on radio: President Calvin Coolidge
1925 Italy, Britain and Egypt sign the Jaghbub Accord
1929 Turkey introduces female suffrage
1933 Ban on James Joyce' "Ulysses" in the U.S. is lifted
1938 117 Spanish knights return to the Netherlands
1940 Gestapo arrest German resistance fighter and poster artist Helen Ernst
1940 Pietro Badoglio resigns as Viceroy of Ethiopia
1941 Dutch and British pilots see a Japanese invasion fleet at Singapore
1941 King Leopold of Belgium marries Lilian Baels
1941 New York City Council agrees to build Idlewild Airport in Queens
1942 Queen Wilhelmina announces Dutch Commonwealth
1942 RAF bombs Philips factory
1944 The US 95th Infantry division reaches Westwall
1950 Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Mirabile illud
1952 The Czech government tells Israeli ambassador that he's persona non grata
1955 NY psychologist Joyce Brothers won the "$64,000 Question" on boxing
1956 Nelson Mandela and 156 others are arrested for political activities in South Africa
1957 AFL-CIO votes to expel the Teamsters
1957 The first U.S. attempt to launch a satellite fails – the Vanguard rocket blows up
1957 Indonesia begins nationalizing Dutch possessions
1962 The US abandons Skybolt ballistic missile program
1964 President Segni of Italy resigns
1965 Two trucks crashed into a crowd of dancers in Sotouboua, Togo killing 125 people
1966 Polio vaccination becomes obligatory in Belgium
1967 The U.S.S.R. performs nuclear test at Sary Shagan U.S.S.R.
1969 300,000 people attend Altamont California rock concert feature Rolling Stones
1969 The U.S.S.R. performs nuclear test
1971 Lewis Franklin Powell is confirmed as Supreme Court justice
1973 Bahrain's constitution goes into effect
1973 Gerald Ford is sworn-in as the first unelected VP: succeeds Spiro T. Agnew
1974 George Harrison releases "Ding Dong, Ding Dong"
1975 Senator Robert Dole and Elizabeth Hanford marry
1976 War criminal Pieter Menten is arrested in Zurich
1977 South Africa grants Bophuthatswana its independence
1978 Spain adopts a constitution
1980 Jim Bakker rapes Jessica Hahn
1980 NASA launches Intelsat V
1982 Bomb attack on Londonderry, North Ireland: 17 people are killed
1982 Senator Ted and Joan Kennedy divorce
1983 A bomb is planted on a bus in Jerusalem: kills 6 Israelis
1984 France performs a nuclear test
1984 Hijackers aboard a Kuwaiti jetliner kill a second hostage
1986 France performs a nuclear test at Muruora Island
1987 Three Satanist Missouri teenagers bludgeon a comrade to death for "fun"
1988 Arafat meets prominent American Jews in Stockholm, Sweden
1988 Carlos Andres Perez is re-elected president of Venezuela
1988 Nelson Mandela is transferred to Victor Vester Prison, Capetown
1989 Canadian mass murder: Marc Lepine kills 14 women at the University of Montreal
1990 Saddam Hussein announces release of all foreign hostages
1990 Shoeless Joe Jackson's signature is sold for $23,100
1991 "Star Trek VI-Undiscovered Country" premieres
1992 300,000 Hindus destroy a mosque of Babri, India and 4 people die
1994 The Maltese Falcon is auctioned for $398,590
1994 Orange County, California files for bankruptcy
1994 Warner Brothers announces a 5th TV network to begin broadcasting on Jan 11, 1995
1995 The 6th Billboard Music Awards
1995 Singer Michael Jackson collapses while rehearsing for an HBO special
1998 The JC Penney Golf Classic is played

Today In History - December 6

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