This day in history
Today is Tuesday, Feb. 6, the 37 th day of 2024. There are 329 days left in the year.
Birthdays: Actor Mamie Van Doren is 93. Actor Mike Farrell is 85. Former NBC News anchorman Tom Brokaw is 84. Singer Fabian is 81. Actor Michael Tucker is 79. Director-writer Jim Sheridan is 75. Actor Kathy Najimy is 67. Rock drummer Simon Phillips is 67. Actor-director Robert Townsend is 67. Actor Barry Miller is 66. Rock singer Axl Rose of Guns N’ Roses is 62. Singer Rick Astley is 58. Actor Josh Stewart is 47. Actor Ben Lawson is 44. Actor Anna Diop is 36. R&B singer/actor Tinashe is 31.
➤ 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 US Constitution.
➤ In 1899, a peace treaty between the United States and Spain was ratified by the US Senate.
➤ In 1911, Ronald Wilson Reagan, the 40th president of the United States, was born in Tampico, Ill.
➤ In 1922, Cardinal Archille Ratti was elected pope; he took the name Pius XI.
➤ In 1933, the 20th Amendment to the Constitution, the socalled “lame duck” amendment, was proclaimed in effect by Secretary of State Henry Stimson.
➤ In 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.
➤ In 1978, it started snowing around 7 a.m. By the time it ended 32 hours later, the Blizzard of ‘78 had dumped 27 inches of snow on Boston (and twice that amount on some South Shore towns), forcing hundreds of motorists to abandon their cars on major arteries, destroying 2,000 homes, and claiming the lives of 29 Massachusetts residents.
➤ In 1993, tennis Hall of Famer and human rights advocate Arthur Ashe died in New York at age 49.
➤ 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 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.
➤ Last year, 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.