January 6
Today in America's Present Past
1580 | Explorer John Smith was born.
1759 | POTUS: George Washington wed Martha Dandridge Custis.
1785 | Revolutionary War hero Haym Salomon died.
1811 | Politician Charles Sumner was born.
1832 | Civil Rights: New England Anti-Slavery Society was founded.
1836 | Harriet Beecher Stowe wed Calvin Ellis Stowe.
1838 | A public demonstration of the telegraph was given by Samuel Morse.
1853 | POTUS: President-elect Franklin Pierce’s train to Washington, D.C. derailed, killing his 11-year-old son.
1863 | Entrepreneur James Plimpton patented four-wheeled roller skates.
1878 | Poet Carl Sandburg was born.
1893 | The Great Northern Railway connects Seattle, Washington, and the East Coast.
1893 | POTUS: Republican President Harrison authorized construction of a National Cathedral.
1896 | Entrepreneur Abraham Pritzker was born.
1901 | Entrepreneur Philip Danforth Armour died.
1912 | Statehood: New Mexico joined the Union.
1915 | Author John Lilly was born.
1919 | POTUS: President Theodore Roosevelt died.
1925 | Entrepreneur John DeLorean was born.
1930 | Packard produced the first diesel engine in an automobile.
1931 | Thomas Edison filed for a patent on an electroplating device.
1941 | POTUS: Democrat President Roosevelt gave his “Four Freedoms” Address.
1944 | Journalist Ida Tarbell died.
1945 | POTUS: George H.W. Bush wed Barbara Pierce.
1949 | Film Director Victor Fleming died.
1956 | Author Elizabeth Strout was born.
1967 | Vietnam War: U.S. Marines launch Operation Deckhouse Five on the Mekong Delta.
1968 | Film Director John Singleton was born.
1971 | Berkley scientists create the first synthetic growth hormone.
1973 | TV: “Schoolhouse Rock” debuted.
1975 | TV: “Wheel of Fortune” debuted.
1994 | Nancy Kerrigan was attacked outside the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Detroit, Michigan.
2005 | Civil Rights: Homicide suspect in 1964 killings was identified as Edgar Ray Killen and arrested.
2011 | Entrepreneur Don Tyson died.
2021 | Election riot at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.
2022 | Actor Sidney Poitier died.