Today in History

Today is Friday, Nov. 6, the 311th day of 2020. There are 55 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Nov. 6, 1860, former Illinois congressman Abraham Lincoln of the Republican Party was elected President of the United States as he defeated John Breckinridge, John Bell and Stephen Douglas.

On this date:

In 1854, America's "March King," John Philip Sousa, was born in Washington, D.C.

In 1861, James Naismith, the inventor of the sport of basketball, was born in Almonte, Ontario, Canada.

In 1893, composer Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky died in St. Petersburg, Russia, at age 53.

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

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

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

In 1986, former Navy radioman John A. Walker Jr., the admitted head of a family spy ring, was sentenced in Baltimore to life imprisonment. (Walker died in prison in 2014 at age 77.)

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

In 1997, former President George H.W. Bush opened his presidential library at Texas A&M University; among the guests of honor was President Clinton, the man who'd sent him into retirement.

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

In 2014, the march toward same-sex marriage across the U.S. hit a roadblock when a federal appeals court upheld laws against the practice in four states: Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee. (A divided U.S. Supreme Court overturned the laws in June 2015.)

In 2016, FBI Director James Comey abruptly announced that Democrat Hillary Clinton should not face criminal charges related to newly discovered emails from her tenure at the State Department.

Ten years ago: President Barack Obama opened his 10-day Asia trip on a somber note in Mumbai, India, where he memorialized victims of devastating terror attacks two years earlier, declaring, "We'll never forget." A Yemeni judge ordered police to find Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical U.S.-born cleric, "dead or alive" after the al-Qaida-linked preacher failed to appear at his trial for his role in the killing of foreigners. (Al-Awlaki was killed in a U.S. drone strike in the mountains of Yemen on Sept. 30, 2011.)

Five years ago: President Barack Obama rejected the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, declaring it would undercut U.S. efforts to clinch a global climate change deal at the center of his environmental legacy. (President Donald Trump would reverse the Obama decision.)

One year ago: Democrats announced that they would launch public impeachment hearings the following week; first to testify would be William Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine. In its latest step away from a nuclear accord with world powers, Iran said it would start injecting uranium gas at midnight into 1,044 centrifuges at the underground Fordo facility. The Senate gave final congressional approval to a bill making some types of animal cruelty a federal felony.

Today's Birthdays: Actor June Squibb is 91. Country singer Stonewall Jackson is 88. Singer P.J. Proby is 82. Actor Sally Field is 74. Singer Rory Block is 71. Jazz musician Arturo Sandoval is 71. TV host Catherine Crier is 66. News correspondent and former California first lady Maria Shriver is 65. Actor Lori Singer is 63. Actor Lance Kerwin is 60. Rock musician Paul Brindley (The Sundays) is 57. Former Education Secretary Arne Duncan is 56. Rock singer Corey Glover is 56. Actor Brad Grunberg is 56. Actor Peter DeLuise is 54. Actor Kelly Rutherford is 52. Actor Ethan Hawke is 50. Chef/TV judge Marcus Samuelsson is 50. Actor Thandie Newton is 48. Model-actor Rebecca Romijn is 48. Actor Zoe McLellan is 46. Actor Nicole Dubuc is 42. Actor Taryn Manning is 42. Retired NBA star Lamar Odom is 41. Actor Patina Miller is 36. Actor Katie Leclerc is 34. Singer-songwriter Ben Rector is 34. Singer-songwriter Robert Ellis is 32. Actor Emma Stone is 32. Actor Mercedes Kastner is 31.