TODAY IN HISTORY
ON DEC 6...
In 1790 Congress moved from New York to Philadelphia.
In 1875 mystical poet Evelyn Underhill was born in Wolverhampton, England.
In 1884 Army engineers completed construction of the Washington Monument.
In 1886 poet Joyce Kilmer was born in New Brunswick, N.J. In 1896 lyricist Ira Gershwin was born in New York.
In 1889 Jefferson Davis, the first and only president of the Confederate States of America, died in New Orleans; he was 81.
In 1898 Alfred Eisenstaedt, the photographer whose pioneering images for Life magazine helped define American photojournalism, was born in what is now Tczew, Poland.
In 1920 jazz pianist Dave Brubeck was born in Concord, Calif.
In 1921 British and Irish representatives signed a treaty in London providing for creation of an Irish Free State a year later on the same date.
In 1923 a presidential address was broadcast on radio for the first time as President Calvin Coolidge spoke to a joint session of Congress. In 1941 influential modern artist and sculptor Bruce Nauman was born in Fort Wayne, Ind.
In 1947 Everglades National Park in Florida was dedicated by President Harry S. Truman.
In1957 America’s first attempt at putting a satellite into orbit blew up on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Fla. Also in 1957 AFL-CIO members voted to expel the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
In 1969 a concert by the Rolling Stones at the Altamont Speedway in Livermore, Calif., was marred by the deaths of four people, including one who was stabbed by a Hell’s Angel.
In 1973 House minority leader Gerald R. Ford was sworn in as vice president, succeeding Spiro T. Agnew.
In 1982, 11 soldiers and six civilians were killed when an Irish National Liberation Army bomb exploded in a pub in Ballykelly, Northern Ireland.
In 1988 rock ’n’ roll pioneer Roy Orbison died near Nashville; he was 52.
In 1989, 14 women were shot to death at the University of Montreal’s school of engineering by a man who then took his own life. Also in 1989 Egon Krenz resigned as leader of East Germany.
In 1992 thousands of Hindu extremists destroyed a mosque in India, setting off two months of Hindu-Muslim rioting that claimed at least 2,000 lives.
In 1994 former Associate Attorney General Webster Hubbell pleaded guilty to defrauding his former law partners and clients of nearly $400,000. Also in 1994
Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen announced his resignation. Also in 1994 Orange County, Calif., filed for bankruptcy protection due to investment losses of about $2 billion.
In 1995 New York Times columnist James “Scotty” Reston died in Washington; he was 86.
In 1996 stock markets around the world plunged after comments by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan were taken to mean that U.S. stock prices were too high. Also in 1996 former NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle died in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.; he was 70.
In 1999 SabreTech, an aircraft maintenance company, was convicted of mishandling the oxygen canisters blamed for the cargo hold fire that caused the 1996 ValuJet crash in the Everglades that killed 110 people. (Eight of the nine counts were later thrown out on appeal.)
In 2000 actor Werner Klemperer (“Hogan’s Heroes”) died in New York; he was 80.
In 2001 the House, by a one-vote margin, gave President George W. Bush more power to negotiate global trade deals.
In 2002 President George W. Bush pushed Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill and economic adviser Larry Lindsey from their jobs in a Cabinet shake-up. Also in 2002 actress Winona Ryder was sentenced to community service as part of a probationary term for stealing more than $5,500 worth of merchandise from a Saks Fifth Avenue store in Beverly Hills.
In 2003 a U.S. warplane in pursuit of a “known terrorist” attacked a village in eastern Afghanistan, mistakenly killing nine children. Also in 2003 Army became the first team to finish 0-13 in major college history after a 34-6 loss to Navy.
In 2004 militants struck the U.S. Consulate in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, with explosives and machine guns; nine people were killed in the attack; al-Qaida claimed responsibility. Also in 2004 Ohio certified President George
W. Bush’s 119,000 vote victory over John Kerry, even as the Kerry campaign and third-party candidates prepared to demand a statewide recount.
In 2005 an Iranian military transport plane crashed in a Tehran suburb as it was trying to make an emergency landing, killing at least 115 people, including 21 on the ground. Also in 2005 Philadelphia won the first NHL scoreless game that was decided by a shootout, beating Calgary 1-0.
In 2013 North Korea released Merrill Newman, 85, a U.S. veteran detained since Oct. 26 who apologized to Pyongyang for his alleged crimes during the Korean War.
In 2017 President Donald Trump announced that the United States would recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, triggering days of violence in the Middle East. Also in 2017 the Skirball Fire near Los Angeles closes Interstate 405 as thousands are forced to evacuate.