February 6
Today in America's Present Past
1732 | Founding: General Charles Lee was born.
1756 | Founding: Vice-President Aaron Burr was born.
1778 | The Treaty of Amity and Commerce and the Treaty of Alliance between France and the United States were negotiated.
1788 | Statehood: Massachusetts granted statehood (through ratification).
1820 | Civil Rights: 86 African-American emigrants sailed from New York City to Sierra Leone, starting in present-day Liberia.
1820 | Entrepreneur Doc Durant was born.
1830 | General Marcellus Monroe Crocker was born.
1832 | Known as the First Sumatran Expedition, the USS Potomac destroyed the village of Quallah Battoo. It was the first U.S. military intervention in Southeast Asia, triggered by the pirating of the merchant ship Friendship.
1843 | Explorer Kit Carson weds Josefa Jaramillo.
1858 | SCOTUS: Justice Mahlon Pitney was born.
1861 | Civil War: The first session of the Confederate Congress occurs.
1862 | Civil War: Naval engagement between the USS Conestago and CSS Appleton Belle.
1862 | Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant captures Fort Henry, Tennessee.
1867 | Entrepreneur George Peabody establishes a fund to support poor-performing government schools.
1869 | “Uncle Sam” published in Harper’s Weekly as popularized into a national meme.
1874 | Architect Milton Bennett Medary was born.
1882 | The Knights of Columbus formed in New Haven, Connecticut.
1886 | Civil Rights: Seatle anti-Chinese riots start.
1891 | The Dalton Gang’s first “Great Train Robbery” occured near Earlimart, California.
1892 | Physician William Parry Murphy was born.
1894 | William Painter receives a patient for the bottle opener.
1899 | Spanish-American war ends.
1908 | General Edward Lansdale was born in Detroit, Michigan.
1911 | The Nation’s first “old age” home opens in Prescott, Arizona.
1911 | POTUS: President Ronald Reagan was born.
1917 | Actress Zsa Zsa Gabor was born.
1919 | Civil Rights: Seattle, Washington general strike starts.
1931 | Actor Rip Torn was born.
1933 | The 20th Amendment Ratified: (Commonly known as the “Lame Duck” Amendment). While the final state ratified on Jan 23, it was on February 6 that the Secretary of State officially certified the amendment, moving the Presidential Inauguration from March 4 to January 20.
1935 | “Monopoly” board game goes on sale.
1940 | Journalist Tom Brokaw was born.
1945 | WWII: U.S. forces bomb oil facilities in Germany.
1940 | Henry Kissinger weds Ann Fleischer.
1956 | Civil Rights: the University of Alabama suspends African-American students, claiming they cannot provide for their safety.
1959 | Jack Kirby files for an “integrated circuit patent.”
1962 | Musician Axl Rose was born.
1968 | POTUS: Former President Eisenhower shoots a hole-in-one on the golf course.
1971 | Alan Shepard was the first to hit a golf ball on the moon.
1972 | Civil Rights: Pharr, Texas riot.
1987 | The federal government bans smoking in government buildings.
1991 | Comedian Danny Thomas died.
1993 | Tennis pro Arthur Ashe died.
1993 | Senator Mitch McConnell weds Elaine Chao.
1994 | Cartoonist Jack Kirby died.
1995 | Poet James Ingram Merrill died.
1998 | POTUS: Washington National Airport is renamed Ronald Reagan National Airport.
2012 | Architect Norma Merrick Sklarek died.
2014 | TV: Jay Leno’s “The Tonight Show” concludes.