Today in History: November 6, Abraham Lincoln wins presidency

Audio By Carbonatix

Today is Thursday, Nov. 6, the 310th day of 2025. There are 55 days left in the year.

Today 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.

Also on this date:

In 1861, an unopposed Jefferson Davis was elected to a six-year term as president of the Confederate States of America, after serving much of the year as its provisional president.

In 1888, Republican presidential candidate Benjamin Harrison won the electoral vote over incumbent Democrat Grover Cleveland, despite Cleveland gaining 90,000 more total votes; it would be the last time the popular vote winner would lose the election until 2000.

In 1947, “Meet the Press,” the longest-running television show in America, made its debut on NBC; the host was the show’s co-creator, Martha Rountree.

In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower won reelection, defeating Democratic nominee Adlai Stevenson II for the second time.

In 1977, 39 people, mostly students, 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 reelection by a landslide over former Vice President Walter Mondale. The Democratic challenger won just one state, his native Minnesota.

In 2012, President Barack Obama won reelection, vanquishing Republican former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney with 332 electoral votes to Romney’s 206.

In 2022, a passenger plane crashed into Lake Victoria as it approached an airport in Tanzania, killing 19 people aboard.

Today’s Birthdays: Actor Sally Field is 79. Jazz musician Arturo Sandoval is 76. Author Michael Cunningham is 73. Journalist-author Maria Shriver is 70. Author Colson Whitehead is 56. Actor Ethan Hawke is 55. Actor Thandiwe (tan-DEE’-way) Newton is 53. Model-actor Rebecca Romijn (roh-MAYN’) is 53. Actor Taryn Manning is 47. Actor Emma Stone is 37. Comedian-actor Bowen Yang is 35. Olympic swimming gold medalist Bobby Finke is 26.