What Happened On
Roy Orbison Dies of Heart Attack
December 6, 1988
Singer Roy Orbison dies of a heart attack at the age of 52. A month later, his song You Got It (1989) became his first #1 U.S. hit in nearly 25 years.
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
December 6, 1964
The classic television special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer premieres on NBC. It has aired every year since, making it the longest continuously running Christmas TV special in history. The story was based on the Johnny Marks song 
Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer which was itself based on the poem of the same name written in 1939 by Marks' brother-in-law, Robert L. May.
Marks specialized in Christmas songs, even though he was Jewish. He also wrote Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree (1958) and A Holly, Jolly Christmas (1962).
First U.S. Attempt to Launch a Satellite
December 6, 1957
The first U.S. attempt to launch a satellite ended in disaster when the rocket carrying it blew up several feet off the ground. The highly promoted Project Vanguard was part of the U.S. response to the Soviet's launch of Sputnik 1 two months earlier. Newspapers dubbed the event "Flopnik" and "Kaputnik." However, Project Vanguard continued and made a successful launch of Vanguard 1 the following March.
Bob Hunter wearing a 1939 model baseball batting helmet
Bob Hunter wearing a 1939 model baseball batting helmet
Baseball Helmets
December 6, 1955
The National League passes a rule requiring all players to wear a helmet while batting, going into effect for the 1956 season. The American League would soon follow suit; however, current players were grandfathered in and allowed to choose whether or not to wear a helmet. Bob Montgomery was the last major league player to bat without a helmet (1979).
Although not required at the time, Jackie Hayes was the first player to wear a batting helmet in a game (1940).
Loch Ness Monster
December 6, 1933
The first photo claiming to be of the Loch Ness Monster is published in the Daily Express. It had been taken by Hugh Gray the previous month.
Explosion and aftermath
Explosion and aftermath
Halifax Explosion
December 6, 1917
1,600 people are killed when a speeding Norwegian vessel collides with a French munitions ship carrying about 2,925 metric tons (about 3,224 short tons) of explosives in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The French munitions ship caught fire and exploded about 20 minutes after the collision. It was the largest man-made explosion up to that time, releasing the equivalent energy of roughly 2.9 kilotons of TNT (12,000 GJ). The explosion and the 60 foot (18 meters) high wave of water it caused destroyed much of the city, destroying every building within a 1.6 mile (2.6 km) radius. Hundreds of people who had been watching the fire from behind windows were blinded when the shock wave shattered the glass.
The death toll would have been higher, but railway dispatcher Patrick Vincent Coleman, after learning of the impending explosion, stayed behind to send warning telegraphs to incoming trains while his coworker fled. His message ended with "Guess this will be my last message. Good-bye boys." Coleman died in the blast, but his efforts halted all the incoming trains saving hundreds of lives.
The ships collided because the captain of the outgoing Norwegian ship was speeding through the harbor trying to make up time after a delayed departure. When the French munitions ship signaled he had the right of way, the Norwegian ship refused to yield, resulting in the collision.
After the disaster, the city of Boston, Massachusetts sent a train with supplies and relief workers. Nova Scotia thanked them by donating a Christmas tree to the city of Boston. Another was sent in 1971, starting a tradition that has continued every year since.
Washington Monument
December 6, 1884
Construction of the first national monument to honor George Washington is completed. Construction had begun in 1848, but was halted from 1854 to 1877 due to a lack of funds.
At 555 feet (169 meters) tall, it is the world's tallest stone structure and the world's tallest obelisk.
Photo Credit: André Karwath aka Aka
Photo Credit: André Karwath aka Aka
13th Amendment Abolishing Slavery Ratified
December 6, 1865
Georgia ratifies the amendment providing the necessary three-fourths (27 of 36 states) needed to ratify the amendment and make it official.
Mississippi initially rejected the 13 Amendment and didn't officially ratify it until 2013.
Ratification by the states was completed the following December.
First Woman Ivy League President
December 6, 1993
The University of Pennsylvania names Judith Rodin as its president.
Religious Riots
December 6, 1992
Hindu fundamentalist destroy the three-story 16th century Muslim Babri Mosque claiming it was built on the birth-site of the Hindu god Rama. This led to riots killing about 2,000 people.
First Successful U.S. Human Heart Transplant
December 6, 1967
Performed by a team led by Dr. Adrian Kantrowitz. It was also the world's first pediatric heart transplant. The infant lived for only six hours.
Christiaan Barnard had performed the world's first successful human heart transplant three days earlier in South Africa.
Finland
December 6, 1917
Finland declares its independence from Russia.
Birthdays
Wally Cox
Born December 6, 1924 d. 1973
American comedian. TV: Mr. Peepers (1952-55, title role) and Underdog (1964-67, voice of Underdog: "There's no need to fear-Underdog is here").
Agnes Moorehead as Endora
Agnes Moorehead as Endora
Agnes Moorehead
Born December 6, 1900 d. 1974
American Emmy-winning actress. Film: Citizen Kane (1941) and The Magnificent Ambersons (1943). TV: Bewitched (1964-72, Samantha's mother Endora) and the Twilight Zone episode The Invaders (1961). Her death was attributed to radiation exposure received from an A-bomb test near the filming of the movie The Conqueror in 1953. By 1980, of the 220 members of the cast and crew, 91 of them had developed some form of cancer and 46 had died of the disease.
Photo Credit: Life
Photo Credit: Life
Alfred Eisenstaedt
Born December 6, 1898 d. 1995
German-born American photographer. He took the famous picture of a sailor kissing a nurse in Times Square on V-J Day that appeared on the cover of Life magazine.
Ryan White
Born December 6, 1971 d. 1990
American AIDS victim. He became a national symbol when he was barred from the Indiana public school system (1985).
Steven Wright
Born December 6, 1955
American Oscar-winning comedian. Quote: "I intend to live forever. So far, so good." He won and fellow producer Dean Parisot won an Academy Award for their 30-minute short film The Appointments of Dennis Jennings. Directed by Parisot, it starred Wright and Rowan Atkinson.
Albums: I Have a Pony (1985).
Tom Hulce
Born December 6, 1953
American actor. Film: National Lampoon's Animal House (1978) and Amadeus (1984, title role).
Dave Brubeck
Born December 6, 1920 d. 2012
American jazz musician. Considered one of the foremost exponents of cool jazz.
Music: Time Out (1959, one of the best-selling jazz albums of all time and contains the classic hit Take Five).
Baby Face Nelson (George Nelson)
Born December 6, 1908 d. 1934
American criminal, member of John Dillinger's gang.
Ira Gershwin
Born December 6, 1896 d. 1983
American Pulitzer-winning lyricist. He collaborated with his brother George Gershwin for Funny Face (1927), Strike Up The Band (1929), Of the I Sing (1931, Pulitzer).
Robert Winship Woodruff
Born December 6, 1889 d. 1985
American businessman. As president of Coca-Cola (1923-55), he changed it from a faltering debt-ridden business into a multi-million dollar empire. Six weeks after his death Coca-Cola announced it was changing its 99-year-old formula.
William S. Hart
Born December 6, 1864 d. 1946
American silent Western actor. Known as "Two-Gun Bill."
Luigi Lablache
Born December 6, 1794 d. 1858
Italian opera singer. He sang at the funerals of Franz Joseph Haydn (1809), Ludwig van Beethoven (1827) and Frederic Chopin (1849).
Henry VI
Born December 6, 1421 d. 1471
King of England (1422-61, 1470-71).
Deaths
Werner Klemperer
Died December 6, 2000 b. 1920
German Emmy-winning actor. Klemperer won an Emmy as Colonel Klink in TV's Hogan's Heroes (1965-71). In 1933, he and his family fled from the Nazis.
Other members of the cast also escaped the Nazis, including
• Robert Clary (LeBeau) who says he spent three years in a concentration camp, his parents and other family members were killed there, and that he has an identity tattoo from the camp on his arm ("A-5714").
• John Banner (Sgt. Schultz), who was also Jewish, had been held in a pre-war concentration camp before fleeing to the U.S. His family members who remained in Vienna all perished in Nazi concentration camps.
• Leon Askin (German General Burkhalter) was in a pre-war French internment camp and his parents were killed at Treblinka.
Roy Orbison
Died December 6, 1988 b. 1936
American Hall of Fame Grammy-winning singer. Music: Oh, Pretty Woman (1964, #1).
While touring in England in 1968, his home in Hendersonville, Tennessee burned down killing his two eldest sons.
He died in 1988 of heart attack at age 52. One month after his death, his song You Got It (1989) became his first #1 U.S. hit in nearly 25 years.
President of the Confederacy
Jefferson Davis
Died December 6, 1889 b. 1808
American politician, president of the Confederacy during the U.S. Civil War (1861-65) and 23rd U.S. Secretary of War (1853-57). At the end of the Civil War, Davis was imprisoned and charged with treason, although he was never brought to trial. His image is portrayed on Stone Mountain, Georgia.
Inventor of the Pencil
Nicolas-Jacques Conté
Died December 6, 1805 b. 1755
French painter. He invented the modern pencil. He developed the process of combining powdered graphite with clay and pressing it between two wooden halves.
See also: The discovery of the rubber eraser.
Holly came from Miami, F-L-A "Take a Walk on the Wild Side"
Holly Woodlawn (Haroldo Danhakl)
Died December 6, 2015 b. 1946
Puerto Rican transgender actress of Andy Warhol movies. She was immortalized in Lou Reed's 1972 hit Walk on the Wild Side ("Holly came from Miami, F-L-A").
According to her memoir, A Low Life in High Heels, when 15 years old, Woodlawn ran away from home, leaving Florida heading north, where she met Warhol in New York City.
Film: Trash (1970) and Women in Revolt (1972).
Pete Rozelle
Died December 6, 1996 b. 1926
American football executive, NFL commissioner (1960-89). He created the Super Bowl (1966) and presided over the merger with the AFL.
Don Ameche (Dominic Felix Amici)
Died December 6, 1993 b. 1908
American Oscar-winning actor. Film: The Story of Alexander Graham Bell (1939), Trading Places (1983), and Cocoon (1985, Oscar).
Frances Bavier
Died December 6, 1989 b. 1902
American Emmy-winning actress. TV: The Andy Griffith Show (1960-68, Aunt Bee). Film: The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951, Mrs. Barley, a guest in the boarding house).
Bavier left a $100,000 trust fund for the police force in Siler City, North Carolina, to provide Christmas bonuses every year for all the police personnel.
Danny Thomas and Sheldon Leonard created The Andy Griffith Show as an episode of The Danny Thomas Show, titled Danny Meets Andy Griffith, with the intention of spinning it off into its own show. During this pilot episode, it was revealed that Opie's mother died when Opie was "the least little speck of a baby." In the first episode, Andy's Aunt Bee comes to help raise Opie, as she had also helped raise Andy.
Burr Tillstrom
Died December 6, 1985 b. 1917
American Emmy-winning puppeteer. TV: Kukla, Fran, and Ollie (creator and operator of the puppets). The show was ad-libbed and soon had more adult viewers than children.
Béla Schick
Died December 6, 1967 b. 1877
Hungarian-born American pediatrician. He developed the Schick test (1913) for diphtheria, which led to effective inoculation against the disease.
Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter
Died December 6, 1949 b. 1888
American blues and folk musician, "King of the 12-string guitar." Music: wrote Goodnight Irene, The Midnight Special, and The Rock Island Line.
Anthony Trollope
Died December 6, 1882 b. 1815
English novelist. He was one of the most successful and prolific English novelists of the Victorian era. Writings: Chronicles of Barsetshire. He is also responsible for introducing the familiar red pillar mailboxes in Britain (1853).
Clement VI
Died December 6, 1352 b. 1291
French-born religious leader, 198th Pope (1342-52).
Leo V
Died December 6, 903 b. ????
Italian religious leader, 118th Pope (July - Sept. 903). He was overthrown and imprisoned by Cardinal Christopher, who then took the papal seat, but was soon displaced by Sergius III.