Today in history
Today is Monday, Nov. 6, the 310th day of 2017. There are 55 days left in the year.
Today’s highlight
On Nov. 6, 1977, 39 people were killed when the Kelly Barnes Dam in Georgia burst, sending a wall of water through Toccoa Falls College.
On this date
In 1860, former Illinois congressman Abraham Lincoln of the Republican Party was elected President of the United States as he defeated John Breckinridge, John Bell and Stephen Douglas.
In 1861, Confederate President Jefferson Davis was elected to a six-year term of office.
In 1906, Republican Charles Evans Hughes was elected governor of New York, defeating newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst.
In 1928, in a first, the results of Republican Herbert Hoover’s presidential election victory over Democrat Alfred E. Smith were flashed onto an electric wraparound sign on the New York Times building.
In 1934, Nebraska voters approved dissolving their two-chamber legislature in favor of a nonpartisan, single (or “unicameral”) legislative body, which was implemented in 1937.
In 1947, “Meet the Press” made its debut on NBC; the first guest was James A. Farley, former postmaster general and former Democratic National Committee Chair; the host was the show’s cocreator, Martha Rountree.
In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower won re-election, defeating Democrat Adlai E. Stevenson.
In 1962, Democrat Edward M. Kennedy was elected Senator from Massachusetts.
In 1976, Benjamin L. Hooks was chosen to be the new executive director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, succeeding Roy Wilkins.
In 1984, President Ronald Reagan won re-election by a landslide over former Vice President Walter Mondale, the Democratic challenger.
In 1986, former Navy radioman John A. Walker Jr., the admitted head of a family spy ring, was sentenced in Baltimore to life imprisonment. (Walker died in prison in 2014 at age 77.)
In 1990, about one-fifth of the Universal Studios backlot in southern California was destroyed in an arson fire.
Ten years ago: Six lawmakers were killed by a suicide bomber in northern Afghanistan during a visit to a sugar factory; 61 students also died as a result of the bombing and shots fired by guards. Country singer Hank Thompson died in Keller, Texas, at age 82. George Osmond, father of Donny and Marie Osmond and patriarch to the family’s singing group The Osmond Brothers, died in Provo, Utah, at age 90.
Five years ago: President Barack Obama rolled to reelection, vanquishing Republican Mitt Romney as he picked up 332 electoral votes compared to 206 for the former Massachusetts governor; Obama also received 51 percent of the popular vote as opposed to 47 percent for Romney.
One year ago: FBI Director James Comey abruptly announced that Democrat Hillary Clinton should not face criminal charges related to newly discovered emails from her tenure at the State Department. Eritrea’s Ghirmay Ghebreslassie (ghir-MY’ geb-rahSLAH’-say) and Kenya’s Mary Keitany (kuh-TAHN’ee) won the New York City Marathon.