This day in history
Today is Tuesday, Dec. 6, the 340th day of 2022. There are 25 days left in the year.
Birthdays: Comedy performer David Ossman is 86. Actor Patrick Bauchau is 84. Country singer Helen Cornelius is 81. Actor James Naughton is 77. Former transportation secretary Ray LaHood is 77. Actor JoBeth Williams is 74. Actor Tom Hulce is 69. Actor Wil Shriner is 69. Actor Kin Shriner is 69. Comedian Steven Wright is 67. Singer Tish Hinojosa is 67. R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck is 66. The Pixies drummer David Lovering is 61. Singer Tish Hinojosa is 67. Writer-director Judd Apatow is 55. Tennis player CoCo Vandeweghe is 31. NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo is 28.
▶ In 1790, Congress moved to Philadelphia from New York.
▶ In 1865, the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery, was ratified as Georgia became the 27th state to endorse it.
▶ In 1907, the worst mining disaster in US history occurred as 362 men and boys died in a coal mine explosion in Monongah, W. Va.
▶ In 1917, some 2,000 people were killed when an explosivesladen French cargo ship, the Mont Blanc, collided with the Norwegian vessel Imo at the harbor in Halifax, Nova Scotia, setting off a blast that devastated the Canadian city. Medical supplies and doctors rushed in from Boston to help. Finland declared its independence from Russia.
▶ In 1922, the Anglo-Irish Treaty, which established the Irish Free State, came into force one year to the day after it was signed in London.
▶ 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 1947, Everglades National Park in Florida was dedicated by President Truman.
▶ In 1957, America’s first attempt at putting a satellite into orbit failed as Vanguard TV3 rose about 4 feet off a Cape Canaveral launch pad before crashing down and exploding.
▶ In 1962, 37 coal miners were killed in an explosion at the Robena No. 3 Mine operated by US Steel in Carmichaels, Pa.
▶ In 1969, a free concert by The Rolling Stones at the Altamont Speedway in Alameda County, California, was marred by the deaths of four people, including one who was stabbed by a Hell’s Angel working security.
▶ In 1973, House minority leader Gerald R. Ford was sworn in as vice president, succeeding Spiro T. Agnew.
▶ In 1989, 14 women were shot to death at the University of Montreal by a man who then took his own life.
▶ In 2017, President Trump declared Jerusalem to be Israel’s capital, defying warnings from the Palestinians and others around the world that he would be destroying hopes for Mideast peace. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he would seek reelection, putting him on track to become Russia’s longest-serving ruler since Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.
▶ Last year, the Biden administration reinstated a Trump-era policy to make asylum-seekers wait in Mexico for hearings in US immigration court.