What Happened on November 6

Presidential Election Returns

1860 — Lincoln Wins Presidency on 40 Percent Vote

The Republican's 180 electoral votes bested the 123 combined for Douglas, Breckinridge and Bell.

NEW YORK, November 6 — Forty percent of the popular vote has elected Abraham Lincoln sixteenth President of the United States, a plurality without precedent in the annals of the Republic. The Republican standard-bearer carried the free states of the North and West, amassing 180 electoral votes against the combined 123 won by his three rivals.

Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, running on the Northern Democratic ticket, took but twelve electoral votes, though he outpolled Lincoln in several slave states. Vice President John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky, the Southern Democrat, captured seventy-two electoral votes, while John Bell of Tennessee, the Constitutional Union candidate, won thirty-nine.

The returns confirm what the campaign foretold: the Democratic Party, split between its Northern and Southern wings, could not unite against the Illinois rail-splitter.

• Abraham Lincoln is elected the 16th president of the United States with only 40% of the popular vote, defeating John C. Breckinridge, John Bell, and Stephen A. Douglas in a four-way race.

Source: Wikipedia — Abraham Lincoln

Eastern Front Communiqué

1943 — Red Army Drives Nazis From Kyiv; Ukrainian Front Triumphs

The 1st Ukrainian Front liberates the ancient capital after German occupation

MOSCOW, November 6 — The 1st Ukrainian Front has liberated Kyiv from German occupation. Soviet forces stormed the ancient capital of the Ukraine, driving the Wehrmacht from positions held since the autumn of 1941. The fall of Kyiv marks the first liberation of a major Soviet city on the Dnieper River and opens the path to the western Ukraine.

• World War II: The 1st Ukrainian Front liberates Kyiv from German occupation.

Source: Wikipedia — World War II

Western Front Cable

1917 — Canadians Storm Passchendaele Ridge; 15,654 Casualties in Sixteen Days; Nine Victoria Crosses Awarded

The Canadian Corps secured the ridge on November 6 after sixteen days of fighting in the morass of shell-crater and mud.

LONDON, November 6 — Through a treacherous morass of shell-crater and mud, the Canadian Corps has captured Passchendaele, ending the Second Battle of Passchendaele after sixteen days of fighting. The ridge, an objective of the 4th Canadian Division since Crest Farm fell on 30 October, was secured this morning.

• The Canadian Corps captured Passchendaele on November 6, 1917, ending the campaign.
• The Second Battle of Passchendaele cost the Canadian Corps 15,654 casualties with over 4,000 dead in 16 days.
• Nine Victoria Crosses were awarded to Canadians for actions during the Second Battle of Passchendaele.
• The Passchendaele Canadian Memorial sits at Crest Farm, an objective captured by the 4th Canadian Division on 30 October 1917.
• The Canadian Corps advanced across a treacherous morass to capture and hold the Passchendaele ridge in Oct.–Nov. 1917.

Source: Wikipedia — World War I

North Sea Air Disaster

1986 — Chinook Crash Kills 45; Deadliest Civilian Helicopter Accident on Record

The Boeing 234LR went down 2.5 miles east of Sumburgh Airport

SUMBURGH, November 6 — The deadliest civilian helicopter crash on record has claimed 45 lives. A British International Helicopters Boeing 234LR Chinook plunged into the North Sea 2.5 miles east of Sumburgh Airport this morning. The aircraft, a civilian variant of the military twin-rotor workhorse, was carrying oil workers to offshore platforms. No survivors have been reported. The cause remains under investigation.

• Sumburgh disaster: A British International Helicopters Boeing 234LR Chinook crashes 2.5 miles (4.0 km) east of Sumburgh Airport killing 45 people. It is the deadliest civilian helicopter crash on record.

Source: Wikipedia — 1986 British International Helicopters Chinook crash

Capitol Hill

2012 — Baldwin Makes History as First Openly Gay U.S. Senator

Seven-term House veteran elected in 2012 to Senate chamber where no openly LGBTQ member had sat before

WASHINGTON, November 6 — The arc of American politics bent toward a long-deferred milestone Tuesday when Tammy Baldwin claimed victory in Wisconsin, becoming the first openly gay politician elected to the United States Senate.

Baldwin, who served seven terms in the House before her 2012 Senate run, will join a chamber where no openly LGBTQ member had sat before. Only four openly LGBTQ individuals have served in the Senate as of January 2025.

• Tammy Baldwin was the first openly gay person elected to the U.S. Senate.
• Baldwin previously served in the House before being elected to the Senate in 2012.
• As of January 2025, only four openly LGBTQ people have served in the U.S. Senate.
• Baldwin is one of two openly LGBTQ people elected to both the House and Senate, alongside Kyrsten Sinema.

Source: Wikipedia — Tammy Baldwin

War Production

1944 — Hanford Reactor Begins Plutonium Output for U.S. Arsenal

The B Reactor, which physicist Chien-Shiung Wu helped ready by diagnosing xenon-135 poisoning, achieved criticality on September 26, 1944, and now manufactures plutonium for the atomic program.

RICHLAND, Wash., November 6 — Physicist Chien-Shiung Wu identified the xenon-135 poisoning that had stalled America's first large-scale nuclear reactor, and now the B Reactor at the Hanford Site moves from trial to production, beginning plutonium manufacture for the nation's atomic program.

The reactor achieved criticality September 26, 1944, after overcoming the poisoning problem.

• The B Reactor achieved criticality on September 26, 1944, at the Hanford Site near Richland, Washington.
• It was the first large-scale nuclear reactor ever built, operating at 250 megawatts thermal.
• The reactor was cooled by water pumped from the Columbia River at 75,000 US gallons per minute.
• Plutonium from the B Reactor was used in the Trinity test and the Fat Man bomb dropped on Nagasaki.
• The reactor core weighed 1,200 short tons and contained 2,004 aluminum tubes for fuel.

Source: Wikipedia — B Reactor

New Delhi Bureau

1976 — Nearly 800 Men in Uttawar Village Subjected to Mass Vasectomy During India's Emergency

Forced sterilizations carried out in Palwal district, Haryana — operation part of Indira Gandhi's population control drive

NEW DELHI, November 6 — The single most arresting figure to emerge from India's Emergency is 798: the number of men in Uttawar village, Palwal district, Haryana, who were subjected to mass vasectomy by government order.

The forced sterilizations occurred during the Emergency imposed by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, whose administration has made population control a centerpiece of its authoritarian program. The village operation represents the most concentrated single-day use of compulsory vasectomy yet reported.

The men had no choice in the matter. Officials arrived with medical teams and performed the procedures en masse.

• Uttawar forced sterilisations: Mass vasectomy of nearly 800 men of Uttawar village, Palwal district, Haryana during India's Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi.

Source: Wikipedia — Uttawar forced sterilisations

College Athletics

1869 — Rutgers Defeats Princeton 6–4 in First Intercollegiate Football Contest Ever Played

New Brunswick hosts novel match — twenty-five players per side, round ball, no running with ball in hand permitted

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J., November 6 — Rutgers College defeated the College of New Jersey 6–4 this afternoon in the first official intercollegiate American football game ever contested, establishing a novel athletic rivalry between the two institutions.

Twenty-five men represented each side on the field behind the Rutgers chapel. The contest employed a round ball and prohibited running with the ball in hand; kicking and batting advanced the sphere toward goal.

Rutgers scored her six points through superior facility at this new mode of play. The College of New Jersey, lately known abroad as Princeton University, managed four.

• In New Brunswick, New Jersey, Rutgers College defeats Princeton University (then known as the College of New Jersey), 6–4, in the first official intercollegiate American football game.

Source: Wikipedia — New Brunswick, New Jersey

Andean Affairs

1985 — M-19 Guerrillas Storm Bogotá Palace of Justice; Judges, Staff Held Hostage in Bold Raid on Colombia's Highest Court

Armed militants of the 19th of April Movement seize the marble halls of justice — magistrates and employees taken captive — government forces surround the complex as crisis unfolds

BOGOTÁ, November 6 — Black smoke rose this morning from the neoclassical columns of the Palace of Justice as masked gunmen of the M-19 guerrilla movement blasted their way through security barriers and seized control of Colombia's highest tribunal. The raiders, numbering an estimated 35 to 40 fighters, stormed the building shortly after the court opened its session, disarming guards and taking dozens of magistrates, clerks, and visitors hostage within the marble corridors.

The 19th of April Movement, a leftist insurgency that has plagued the Andean republic for nearly a decade, announced through intermediaries that the action protests the government's refusal to extradite accused drug traffickers to the United States.

• Colombian conflict: leftist guerrillas of the 19th of April Movement seize control of the Palace of Justice in Bogotá.

Source: Wikipedia — Palace of Justice siege