On this day, Nov. 6
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.
1861 James Naismith, the inventor of the sport of basketball, was born in Almonte, Ontario, Canada.
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.
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 co-creator, Martha Rountree.
1977 39 people were killed when the Kelly Barnes Dam in Georgia burst, sending a wall of water through Toccoa Falls College. 1984 President Ronald Reagan won reelection by a landslide over former Vice President Walter Mondale, the Democratic challenger.
1990 About one-fifth of the Universal Studios backlot in southern California was destroyed in an arson fire.
2001 Billionaire Republican Michael Bloomberg won New York City’s mayoral race, defeating Democrat Mark Green. 2012 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; Mr. Obama also received 51% of the popular vote as opposed to 47% for Mr. Romney.
2014 The march toward same-sex marriage across the U.S. hit a roadblock when a federal appeals court upheld laws against the practice in four states: Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee. (A divided U.S. Supreme Court overturned the laws in June 2015.)
2015 President Barack Obama rejected the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, declaring it would undercut U.S. efforts to clinch a global climate change deal at the center of his environmental legacy.
2016 FBI Director James Comey abruptly announced that Hillary Clinton should not face criminal charges related to newly discovered emails from her tenure at the State Department.
2020 The federal agency that oversees U.S. election security pushed back at unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud, saying that local election offices had detection measures that “make it highly difficult to commit fraud through counterfeit ballots.” Sen. Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, said President Donald Trump was “damaging the cause of freedom” and inflaming “destructive and dangerous passions” by claiming, without foundation, that the election was rigged and stolen from him.
Today’s Birthdays: Actor June Squibb, 93. Singer P.J. Proby, 84. Actor Sally Field, 76. Singer Rory Block, 73. Jazz musician Arturo Sandoval, 73. TV host Catherine Crier, 68. News correspondent and former California first lady Maria Shriver, 67. Actor Lori Singer, 65. Actor Lance Kerwin, 62. Former Education Secretary Arne Duncan, 58. Rock singer Corey Glover, 58. Actor Brad Grunberg, 58. Actor Peter DeLuise, 56. Actor Kelly Rutherford, 54. Author Colson Whitehead, 53. Actor Ethan Hawke, 52. Chef/TV judge Marcus Samuelsson, 52. Actor Thandiwe Newton, 50. Model-actor Rebecca Romijn, 50. Actor Zoe McLellan, 48. Actor Nicole Dubuc, 44. Actor Taryn Manning, 44. Retired NBA star Lamar Odom, 43. Actor Patina Miller, 38. Actor Katie Leclerc, 36. Singer-songwriter Ben Rector, 36. Singer-songwriter Robert Ellis, 34. Actor Emma Stone, 34. U.S. Olympic swimming gold medalist Bobby Finke, 23.