Today in History: December 6, 2007

IF AT FIRST YOU DON'T SUCCEED

Fifty years ago, on Dec. 6, 1957, America's first attempt at putting a satellite into orbit failed as Vanguard TV3 rose only about four feet off a Cape Canaveral launch pad before crashing back down and exploding.

On this date:

POLITICS

In 1790, Congress moved to Philadelphia from New York.

In 1889, Jefferson Davis, the first and only president of the Confederate States of America, died in New Orleans.

In 1921, British and Irish representatives signed a treaty in London providing for creation of an Irish Free State a year later on the same date.

In 1973, House Minority Leader Gerald R. Ford was sworn in as vice president, succeeding Spiro T. Agnew.

In 2002, Anti-war activist Philip Berrigan died in Baltimore at age 79.

LABOR HISTORY

In 1957, AFL-CIO members voted to expel the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. (The Teamsters were readmitted in 1987, but disaffiliated themselves from the AFL-CIO in 2005.)

In 1907, the worst mining disaster in U.S. history occurred as 362 men and boys died in a coal mine explosion in Monongah, W.Va.

TERRORISM

In 1982, 11 soldiers and six civilians were killed when an Irish National Liberation Army bomb exploded at a pub in Ballykelly, Northern Ireland.

In 1989, 14 women were shot to death at the University of Montreal's school of engineering by a man who then took his own life.

THE INTERNET

One year ago: Searchers found the body of San Francisco resident[and C-NET editor] James Kim in the Oregon mountains, two days after his wife and two daughters were rescued from their car (Kim had set out on foot to find help for his family).

CELEBRITIES

Five years ago: Actress Winona Ryder was sentenced to community service as part of a probationary term for stealing more than $5,500 worth of merchandise from a Saks Fifth Avenue store in Beverly Hills, Calif.

BIRTHDAYS

Jazz musician Dave Brubeck is 87. Comedy performer David Ossman is 71. Country singer Helen Cornelius is 66. Actor James Naughton is 62. Rhythm-and-blues singer Frankie Beverly (Maze) is 61. Former Sen. Don Nickles (R-Okla.) is 59. Actress JoBeth Williams is 59. Actor Tom Hulce is 54. Actor Kin Shriner is 54. Talk show host Wil Shriner is 54. Actor Miles Chapin is 53. Rock musician Rick Buckler (The Jam) is 52. Comedian Steven Wright is 52. Country singer Bill Lloyd is 52. Singer Tish Hinojosa is 52. Rock musician Peter Buck (R.E.M.) is 51. Rock musician David Lovering (Pixies) is 46. Actress Janine Turner is 45. Rock musician Ben Watt (Everything But The Girl) is 45. Writer-director Judd Apatow is 40. Rock musician Ulf "Buddha" Ekberg (Ace of Base) is 37. Actress Colleen Haskell is 31. Actress Lindsay Price is 31.


Today is Thursday, Dec. 6, the 340th day of 2007. There are 25 days left in the year.

Edits by Mondoreb
Source: AP - Today in History



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.