December 6, 2016

120 years ago
1896

Born on this date
Ira Gershwin. U.S. songwriter. Mr. Gershwin, born Israel Gershowitz, wrote lyrics to songs with music by his brother George. His songs included I Got Rhythm; The Man I Love; and Someone to Watch Over Me. After George died in 1937, Ira teamed up with such composers as Kurt Weill, Jerome Kern, and Harold Arlen. He died on August 17, 1983 at the age of 86.

100 years ago
1916

Born on this date
Katya Budanova. U.S.S.R. military aviatrix. Miss Budanova and fellow Soviet pilot Lydia Litvyak were the best female flying aces of World War II. Miss Budanova had 11 victories in combat, but was fatally shot down by the German Luftwaffe at the age of 26 on July 19, 1943.

Kristjan Eldjarn. 3rd President of Iceland, 1968-1980. An archaeologist and not affiliated with a political party, Dr. Eldjarn was elected as Iceland's head of state with 65.6% of the vote in 1968, and was re-elected without opposition in 1972 and 1976. He retired from office in 1980 to devote himself to academic work, and died on September 13, 1982 at the age of 65.

Hugo Peretti. U.S. songwriter and record producer. Mr. Peretti and his cousin Luigi Creatore formed the duo Hugo & Luigi, who produced records for artists such as Jimmie Rodgers, Perry Como, and Sam Cooke. Among the songs they helped write was Can't Help Falling in Love, a major hit for Elvis Presley in late 1961-early 1962. Mr. Peretti died on May 1, 1986 at the age of 69.

War
The Central Powers captured Bucharest.

Transportation
The Canadian Pacific Railway completed the Connaught Tunnel, five miles through Macdonald Mountain in the Selkirk Range in British Columbia; it opened for traffic on December 9, 1916. Canada's longest rail tunnel took two years to blast, and cost $2 million; it was built to avoid the climb over Rogers' Pass, and eliminate 5 miles of snowsheds that protected the main line from frequent avalanches.

80 years ago
1936

Football
CRU
The Regina Roughriders, champions of the Western Interprovincial Football Union, decided not to play the Sarnia Imperials, winners of the previous day's eastern final, for the Grey Cup on December 12. The Roughriders had five American players on their roster who, under a ruling adopted by the CRU earlier in the year, were not eligible to play in the Grey Cup game. The Roughriders had originally refused to play for the Grey Cup under such a restriction, but had then changed their minds and agreed to accept the condition. However, when they did so, five members of the Western Canada Rugby Union's executive announced their resignations. Without the support of the WCRU, the Roughriders thought it best to decline to travel to Sarnia to play for the Grey Cup. The Imperials were thus the Grey Cup champions for the second time in the previous three years, and their eastern final win over the Ottawa Rough Riders on December 5 went into the record books as the Grey Cup game.

75 years ago
1941

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Chattanooga Choo Choo--Glenn Miller and his Orchestra (Vocal refrain by Tex Beneke and the Four Modernaires) (2nd week at #1)

Movies
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Corp. suspended the showing of Two-Faced Woman, which had opened in theatres on November 30, after December 16, 1941, pending revision of the film. The movie had been banned in Providence and Boston, and authorities in Chicago, Milwaukee, and Omaha had ordered cuts to be made in the film before it could play in those cities. Two-Faced Woman had also been condemned by the Catholic Legion of Decency and New York Roman Catholic Archbishop Francis Spellman.

War
The United Kingdom announced at 1 A.M. that a state of war with Finland, Hungary and Romania existed after those three countries had rejected a British ultimatum to halt their attacks on Russia. British Security Co-ordination (BSC) head William Stephenson opened Special Training School 103--better known as Camp X--near Whitby and Oshawa, Ontario, for the purpose of training Allied Secret Agents for the war. General Georgy Zhukov led Soviet troops in a strike with 100 divisions in a counterattack against the German force moving on Moscow.

Diplomacy
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt sent a personal message to Emperor Hirohito of Japan appealing for peace, amid reports that Japanese troops were sailing toward Thailand.

Defense
U.S. Navy authorities in the Panama Canal Zone reported that they were investigating rumours that Axis raiders disguised as Japanese merchant ships were using Port Callao, Peru as a base.

The U.S. Navy ordered six Finnish ships in American ports put under protective custody.

U.S. Navy Secretary Frank Knox said in his annual report that the Navy was "second to none."

Transportation
Two Pan Am Airways Clippers left Miami with a total of 30 passengers to inaugurate air service to Africa.

Labour
The United Brotherhood of Welders, Cutters and Helpers threatened to call a nationwide strike of its 75,000 members unless U.S. President Roosevelt halted alleged American Federation of Labor discrimination against the union, which was seeking autonomy.

Track and field
NCAA
The Big Ten athletic conference in Chicago abolished the javelin event as harmful because it frequently caused back and shoulder injuries among contestants.

70 years ago
1946

Radio
Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan station CHAB moved from 1220 to 800 kilohertz, its present home.

War
Chinese Communists notified U.S. mediator General George Marshall that they would note resume negotiations with the Nationalists until the dissolution of the "illegal" Constitutional Assembly in Nanking.

The Council of Foreign Ministers completed negotiation in New York on all questions relating to the Italian, Romanian, Hungarian, and Finnish peace treaties, and decided to present the treaties for signature in early February 1947.

Politics and government
A subcommittee of the United Nations Trusteeship Council overrode Soviet objections and assigned control of Western Samoa to New Zealand; Rwanda-Urundi to Belgium; New Guinea to Australia; Tanganyika and the British Cameroons to the United Kingdom; and French Togoland and the French Cameroons to France.

Soviet military authorities forbade meetings of the Berlin Council of Aldermen, claiming that it must first be approved by all Allied commanders.

A British cabinet conference on India broke down in London as Muslim League leader Mohammed Ali Jinnah refused to change his stand on the Muslim boycott of the forthcoming Indian Constituent Assembly.

Economics and finance
The Yugoslavian National Assembly approved a law nationalizing 42 industries, with owners paid in state bonds.

60 years ago
1956

Hit parade
#1 single in France (IFOP): Je vais revoir ma blonde--Darío Moreno

Died on this date
B. R. Ambedkar, 65. Indian politician. Dr. Ambedkar, a member of the Labour Party, was India's first Indian Minister of Law and Justice, holding the position from 1947-1951 in the cabinet of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

Defense
Iceland announced her withdrawal of the request for the withdrawal of American forces from the country's NATO bases.

Soviet Foreign Minister Dmitri Shepilov admitted that the U.S.S.R. had sent Syria "a small amount of arms," but denied that this was "a threat to peace."

Politics and government
Haitian President Paul Magloire resigned at the end of his six-year term, but immediately reassumed office with the support of the Army.

Disasters
Fire destroyed much of the downtown of Hedley, British Columbia.

Olympics
Ervin Zádor scored 2 goals, but left late in the game with blood flowing from a cut over his eye after being punched by Soviet player Valentin Prokopov as Hungary defeated the U.S.S.R. 4-0 in men's water polo competition at the Summer Olympics in Melbourne. The match occurred against the backdrop of the recent and unsuccessful Hungarian Revolution, which had been crushed by invading Soviet troops.



The Australian team of Dawn Fraser, Faith Leech, Sandra Morgan, and Lorraine Crapp won the gold medal in the women's 400-metre freestyle relay swimming event in the world-record time of 4:17.1.

50 years ago
1966

On television tonight
The Fugitive, starring David Janssen, on ABC
Tonight's episode: The Devil's Disciples, with guest stars Lou Antonio, Bruce Dern, and Diana Hyland



Quentin Durgens M.P., starring Gordon Pinsent, on CBC
Tonight's episode: A Question of Privilege

This was the first episode of the series about a member of the House of Commons from Moose River, Ontario. The program had begun as Mr. Member of Parliament in 1965 as a short-run series within the drama anthology The Serial, but was now a series on its own, beginning a three-year run.

Music
The Beatles were in studio two at Abbey Road in London, where they began recording the song When I'm Sixty-Four.

40 years ago
1976

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Money, Money, Money--ABBA (4th week at #1)

#1 single in Japan (Oricon Singles Chart): Kita no Yadokara--Harumi Miyako

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Europa (Earth's Cry Heaven's Smile)-- Santana (2nd week at #1)

Died on this date
João Goulart, 57. 24th President of Brazil, 1961-1964; 14th Vice President of Brazil, 1956-1961. "Jango" Goulart was the first president of the Partido Trabalhista Brasileiro (PTB) (Brazilian Labour Party), founded in 1945. He was first elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1950, and was Minister of Labour in the cabinet of President Getulio Vargas from 1953-1954. As the running mate of President Juscelino Kubitschek, Mr. Goulart was elected Vice President in 1956 and re-elected in 1960, succeeding to the presidency upon the resignation of President Jânio Quadros. Mr. Goulart pursued a policy of state economic interventionism and friendly relations with Communist governments, and was deposed in a military coup on March 31, 1964. He went into exile, first in Uruguay, then in Argentina. Mr. Uruguay died of a reported heart attack, but suspicions remain that he was assassinated; he was regarded as the last left-wing President of Brazil until Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took office in 2003.

Football
NFL
Oakland 35 Cincinnati 20

30 years ago
1986

Hit parade
#1 single in Italy (FIMI): Notorious--Duran Duran (4th week at #1)

#1 single in Flanders (Ultratop 50): Don't Leave Me This Way--The Communards (4th week at #1)

#1 single in the Netherlands (De Nederlandse Top 40): Walk Like an Egyptian--Bangles

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): The Final Countdown--Europe (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): The Final Countdown--Europe

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): The Next Time I Fall--Peter Cetera with Amy Grant

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 You Give Love a Bad Name--Bon Jovi
2 Human--Human League
3 The Next Time I Fall--Peter Cetera with Amy Grant
4 The Way it Is--Bruce Hornsby and the Range
5 True Blue--Madonna
6 Hip to Be Square--Huey Lewis and the News
7 Everybody Have Fun Tonight--Wang Chung
8 Word Up--Cameo
9 Walk Like an Egyptian--Bangles
10 Love Will Conquer All--Lionel Richie

Singles entering the chart were Open Your Heart by Madonna (#47); We're Ready by Boston (#59); Ballerina Girl by Lionel Richie (#73); I Need Your Loving by the Human League (#84); I'll Be Alright Without You by Journey (#85); Can't Help Falling in Love by Corey Hart (#86); Jimmy Lee by Aretha Franklin (#88); and Crazay by Jesse Johnson (featuring Sly Stone (#90).

Canada’s Top 10 (RPM)
1 Amanda--Boston
2 Two of Hearts--Stacey Q
3 The Next Time I Fall--Peter Cetera with Amy Grant
4 The Lady in Red--Chris de Burgh
5 True Blue--Madonna
6 Human--Human League
7 To Be a Lover--Billy Idol
8 Spirit in the Sky--Doctor and the Medics
9 Stand by Me--Ben E. King
10 (Forever) Live and Die--Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark

Singles entering the chart were This is the Time by Billy Joel (#88); Graceland by Paul Simon (#91); Stay the Night by Benjamin Orr (#92); Somewhere Out There by Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram (#94); Miami by Bob Seger (#95); Touch Me (I Want Your Body) by Samantha Fox (#96); All I Wanted by Kansas (#97); and Shot in the Dark by Haywire (#98). Stand by Me was a reissue of the 1961 hit and was from the 1986 movie of the same name.

25 years ago
1991

Died on this date
Richard Stone, 78. U.K. economist. Sir Richard was awarded the 1984 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences "for having made fundamental contributions to the development of systems of national accounts and hence greatly improved the basis for empirical economic analysis."

War
In Croatia, forces of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) bombarded Dubrovnik after laying siege to the city for seven months.

20 years ago
1996

Hit parade
#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): Breathe--The Prodigy (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Breathe--The Prodigy

Died on this date
Pete Rozelle, 70. U.S. football executive. Alvin Ray Rozelle worked in publicity with the University of San Francisco and the Los Angeles Rams before becoming the Rams' general manager in 1957. The team had little success on the field, but became financially successful. Three months after the death of Bert Bell, Mr. Rozelle was the surprise choice to become the National Football League's new commissioner. Mr. Rozelle held the position until November 1989, and was largely responsible for the NFL becoming one of the most successful businesses in the United States. He promoted policies of revenue-sharing, achieved a merger with the rival American Football League, and proposed Monday Night Football, which has been a television staple since 1970. Mr. Rozelle died of brain cancer; he was inducted into the Professional Football Hall of Fame in 1985, while still serving as commissioner.

Radio
Radio-Canada International announced that it would have to stop broadcasting on March 31, 1997 unless a new source of funds coulf be found. A campaign to save RCI was temporarily successful; it was backed by Heritage Minister Sheila Copps, who said that Canada's voice to the world must not die.

10 years ago
2006

Space
NASA revealed photographs taken by Mars Global Surveyor suggesting the presence of liquid water on Mars.

War
The bipartisan Iraq Study Group concluded that U.S. President George W. Bush's war policies had failed in almost every regard, and said the situation in Iraq was "grave and deteriorating."