February 6th
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 | Barbary War: U.S. destroys Sumatran village in response to piracy.
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 | First character of “Uncle Sam” published in Harper’s Weekly.
1874 | Architect Milton Bennett Medary was born.
1882 | The Knights of Columbus forms in New Haven, Connecticut.
1886 | Civil Rights: Seatle anti-Chinese riots start.
1891 | The Dalton Gang’s first “Great Train Robbery” occurs 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 | 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.
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 is 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 hosting of “The Tonight Show” concludes.