TODAY IN HISTORY

Today is Tuesday, Feb. 6, the 37th day of 2024. There are 329 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY

On Feb. 6, 1952, Britain’s King George VI, 56, died at Sandringham House in Norfolk, England; he was succeeded as monarch by his 25-year-old elder daughter, who became Queen Elizabeth II.

ON THIS DATE

■ In 1778, during the American Revolutionary War, the United States won official recognition and military support from France with the signing of a Treaty of Alliance in Paris.

■ In 1788, Massachusetts became the sixth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

■ In 1815, the state of New Jersey issued the first American railroad charter to John Stevens, who proposed a rail link between Trenton and

New Brunswick. (The line, however, was never built.)

■ In 1862, during the

Civil War, Fort Henry in Tennessee fell to Union forces.

■ In 1899, a peace treaty between the United States and Spain was ratified by the U.S. Senate.

■ In 1911, Ronald Wilson Reagan, the 40th president of the United States, was born in Tampico, Illinois.

■ In 1922, Cardinal Archille Ratti was elected pope; he took the name Pius XI.

■ In 1933, the 20th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the so-called “lame duck” amendment, was proclaimed in effect by Secretary of State Henry Stimson.

■ In 1993, tennis Hall of Famer and human rights advocate Arthur Ashe died in New York at age 49.

■ In 1998, Carl Wilson, a founding member of The Beach Boys, died in Los

Angeles at age 51.

■ In 2000, first lady

Hillary Rodham Clinton launched her successful candidacy for the U.S. Senate.

■ In 2008, the Bush White House defended the use of the interrogation technique known as waterboarding, saying it was legal, not torture, and had saved American lives.

■ In 2013, toy maker Hasbro Inc. announced that Monopoly fans had voted online to add a cat token to the board game, replacing the iron.

■ In 2018, casino mogul Steve Wynn resigned as chairman and CEO of

Wynn Resorts amid sexual misconduct allegations.

■ In 2021, George P.

Shultz, who was President Ronald Reagan’s secretary of state as part of a long career in public service, died at his California home; he was 100.

■ In 2022, Queen Elizabeth II celebrated the 70th anniversary of her ascendance to the British throne, an unprecedented reign that made her a symbol of stability in the United Kingdom.

■ In 2023, a powerful

7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Turkey and Syria, toppling thousands of buildings and trapping residents under mounds of rubble; the death toll would eventually be more than 50,000.

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