Today In History

Today is Monday, Dec. 6, the 340th day of 2021. There are 25 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

› 1865: The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, abolishing slavery, was ratified as Georgia became the 27th state to endorse it.

ON THIS DATE

› 1790: Congress moved to Philadelphia from New York.

› 1889: The Mark Twain novel “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court” was first published in England under the title “A Yankee at the Court of King Arthur” (it was published in the U.S. under its more familiar name four days later).

› 1907: The worst mining disaster in U.S. history occurred as 362 men and boys died in a coal mine explosion in Monongah, West Virginia.

› 1917: Some 2,000 people were killed when an explosives-laden French cargo ship, the Mont Blanc, collided with the Norwegian vessel Imo at the harbor in Halifax, Nova Scotia, setting off a blast that devastated the Canadian city. Finland declared its independence from Russia.

› 1922: The AngloIrish Treaty, which established the Irish Free State, came into force one year to the day after it was signed in London.

› 1957: America’s first attempt at putting a satellite into orbit failed as Vanguard TV3 rose about four feet off a Cape Canaveral launch pad before crashing down and exploding.

› 1962: Thirty-seven coal miners were killed in an explosion at the Robena No. 3 Mine operated by U.S. Steel in Carmichaels, Pennsylvania.

› 1969: A free concert by The Rolling Stones at the Altamont Speedway in Alameda County, California, was marred by the deaths of four people, including one who was stabbed by a Hell’s Angel.

› 1973: House minority leader Gerald R. Ford was sworn in as vice president, succeeding Spiro T. Agnew.

› 1989: Fourteen women were shot to death at the University of Montreal’s school of engineering by a man who then took his own life.

› 1998: In Venezuela, former Lt. Col. Hugo Chavez, who had staged a bloody coup attempt against the government six years earlier, was elected president.

› 2007: President George W. Bush announced a plan to freeze interest rates on subprime mortgages held by hundreds of thousands of homeowners.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Comedy performer David Ossman is 85. Actor Patrick Bauchau is 83. Country singer Helen Cornelius is 80. Actor James Naughton is 76. Former Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is 76. R&B singer Frankie Beverly (Maze) is 75. Former Sen. Don Nickles, R-Okla., is 73. Actor JoBeth Williams is 73. Actor Tom Hulce is 68. Actor Wil Shriner is 68. Actor Kin Shriner is 68. Actor Miles Chapin is

67. Rock musician Rick Buckler (The Jam) is

66. Comedian Steven Wright is 66. Country singer Bill Lloyd is 66. Singer Tish Hinojosa is 66. Rock musician Peter Buck (R.E.M.) is

65. Rock musician David Lovering (Pixies) is 60. Actor Janine Turner is

59. Rock musician Ben Watt (Everything But The Girl) is 59. Writer-director Judd Apatow is 54. Rock musician Ulf “Buddha” Ekberg (Ace of Base) is 51. Writer-director Craig Brewer is

50. Actor Colleen Haskell is 45. Actor Lindsay Price is 45. Actor Ashley Madekwe is 40. Actor Nora Kirkpatrick is 37. Christian rock musician Jacob Chesnut (Rush of Fools) is 32. Tennis player CoCo Vandeweghe is 30. NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo is 27.