This day in history

[November 06, 2008]  (AP)  Today is Thursday, Nov. 6, the 311th day of 2008. There are 55 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history

On Nov. 6, 1860, former Illinois congressman Abraham Lincoln defeated three other candidates for the presidency: John Breckinridge, John Bell and Stephen Douglas.

On this date:

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

In 1888, Benjamin Harrison won the presidential election, defeating incumbent Grover Cleveland with enough electoral votes, even though Cleveland led in the popular vote.

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

In 1900, President McKinley was re-elected, beating Democrat William Jennings Bryan.

In 1906, Republican Charles Evans Hughes was elected governor of New York, defeating newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst.

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

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

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

In 1976, Benjamin L. Hooks was chosen to be the new executive director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, succeeding Roy Wilkins.

In 1977, 39 people were killed when an earthen dam burst, sending a wall of water through Toccoa Falls College in Georgia.

Ten years ago: Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, D-N.Y., announced he would not run for re-election in 2000. Two suicide bombers were killed when they set off blasts in a crowded open-air market in Jerusalem, injuring a couple of dozen bystanders.

Five years ago: President Bush signed an $87.5 billion package approved by Congress for Iraq and Afghanistan. Federal judges in New York and California blocked a new ban on certain late-term abortions, a day after President Bush signed it into law. The U.S. Mint unveiled the new nickel.

One year ago: 2007 became the deadliest year for U.S. troops in Iraq, with at least 853 military deaths. Six lawmakers were killed by a suicide bomber in northern Afghanistan during a visit to a sugar factory; 61 students also died as a result of the bombing and shots fired by guards. Country singer Hank Thompson died in Keller, Texas, at age 82. George Osmond, father of Donny and Marie Osmond and patriarch to the family's singing group The Osmond Brothers, died in Provo, Utah, at age 90.

Today's birthdays: Director Mike Nichols is 77. Country singer Stonewall Jackson is 76. Singer Eugene Pitt (The Jive Five) is 71. Singer P.J. Proby is 70. Country singer Guy Clark is 67. Actress Sally Field is 62. Pop singer-musician Glenn Frey (The Eagles) is 60. Singer Rory Block is 59. Jazz musician Arturo Sandoval is 59. TV host Catherine Crier is 54. California's first lady, broadcast journalist Maria Shriver, is 53. Actress Lori Singer is 51. Actor Lance Kerwin is 48. Rock musician Paul Brindley (The Sundays) is 45. Rock singer Corey Glover is 44. Actor Peter DeLuise is 42. Actress Kelly Rutherford is 40. Actor Ethan Hawke is 38. Actress Thandie Newton is 36. Model-actress Rebecca Romijn is 36. Actress Zoe McLellan is 34. Actress Nicole Dubuc is 30. Actress Mercedes Kastner is 19.

Thought for today: "No one is so eager to gain new experience as he who doesn't know how to make use of the old ones." -- Marie Ebner von Eschenbach, Austrian writer (1830-1916).=

[Associated Press]

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