Today in History

Today is Thursday, Nov. 6, the 310th day of 2014. There are 55 days left in the year.

Today’s highlight:

On Nov. 6, 1984, President Ronald Reagan won re-election by a landslide over former Vice President Walter Mondale, the Democratic challenger.

On this date:

In 1814, Adolphe Sax, the inventor of the saxophone, was born in Dinant, Belgium.

In 1854, America’s “March King,” John Philip Sousa, was born in Washington, D.C.

In 1860, former Illinois congressman Abraham Lincoln defeated three other candidates for the presidency: John Breckinridge, John Bell and Stephen Douglas.

In 1861, Confederate President Jefferson Davis was elected to a six-year term of office.

In 1928, in a first, the results of Republican Herbert Hoover’s presidential election victory over Democrat Alfred E. Smith were flashed onto an electric wraparound sign on the New York Times building.

In 1934, Nebraska voters approved dissolving their two-chamber legislature in favor of a nonpartisan, single (or “unicameral”) legislative body, which was implemented in 1937.

In 1944, British official Lord Moyne was assassinated in Cairo, Egypt, by members of the Zionist Stern gang.

In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower won re-election, defeating Democrat Adlai E. Stevenson.

In 1962, Democrat Edward M. Kennedy was elected Senator from Massachusetts.

In 1977, 39 people were killed when the Kelly Barnes Dam burst, sending a wall of water through Toccoa Falls College in Georgia.

In 1990, about one-fifth of the Universal Studios backlot in southern California was destroyed in an arson fire.

In 2012, President Barack Obama was elected to a second term of office, defeating Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

Ten years ago: An Ivory Coast airstrike killed nine French peacekeepers and an American aid worker, prompting France to wipe out the country’s modest air force. The designers of SpaceShipOne, the first privately manned rocket to burst into space, were handed a $10 million check and the Ansari X Prize trophy.

Five years ago: President Barack Obama signed a $24 billion economic stimulus bill, hours after the government reported that the unemployment rate had hit 10.2 percent in Oct. 2009 for the second time since World War II.

One year ago: Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, testifying before the Senate Finance Committee on the nation’s health care law, was blistered by Republicans who bluntly challenged her honesty, pushed for her resignation and demanded unsuccessfully that she concede President Barack Obama had deliberately misled the public about his signature domestic program. At the Country Music Association Awards, Miranda Lambert won her fourth straight female vocalist of the year award while her husband, Blake Shelton, won album of the year and male vocalist — a category he also won for the fourth year in a row.

Today’s birthdays: Actress June Squibb (Film: “Nebraska”) is 85. Director Mike Nichols is 83. Country singer Stonewall Jackson is 82. Singer Eugene Pitt (The Jive Five) is 77. Singer P.J. Proby is 76. Country singer Guy Clark is 73. Actress Sally Field is 68. Pop singer-musician Glenn Frey (The Eagles) is 66. Singer Rory Block is 65. Jazz musician Arturo Sandoval is 65. TV host Catherine Crier is 60. News correspondent and former California first lady Maria Shriver is 59. Actress Lori Singer is 57. Actor Lance Kerwin is 54. Rock musician Paul Brindley (The Sundays) is 51. Education Secretary Arne Duncan is 50. Rock singer Corey Glover is 50. Actor Brad Grunberg is 50. Actor Peter DeLuise is 48. Actress Kelly Rutherford is 46. Actor Ethan Hawke is 44. Actress Thandie Newton is 42. Model-actress Rebecca Romijn (roh-MAYN’) is 42. Actress Zoe McLellan is 40. Actress Nicole Dubuc is 36. Actress Taryn Manning is 36. Actress Katie Leclere (LEH’-klehr) is 28. Singer-songwriter Ben Rector is 28. Actress Emma Stone is 26. Actress Mercedes Kastner is 25.

Thought for today: “Quotation is a serviceable substitute for wit.” — Oscar Wilde (1854-1900).

Associated Press