This Day in History: Nov. 6

On this day, Nov. 6 …

1860: Abraham Lincoln, a Republican former congressman from Illinois, is elected president of the United States as he defeats John Breckinridge, John Bell and Stephen Douglas.

Also on this day:

• 1814: Adolphe Sax, inventor of the saxophone, is born in Dinant, Belgium.
• 1861: Confederate President Jefferson Davis is elected to a six-year term of office.
• 1956: President Dwight D. Eisenhower wins re-election, defeating Democrat Adlai E. Stevenson.
• 1984: President Ronald Reagan wins re-election by a landslide over former Vice President Walter Mondale, the Democratic challenger.
• 1986: Former Navy radioman John A. Walker Jr., the admitted head of a family spy ring, is sentenced in Baltimore to life imprisonment.

Structures in the back lot of Universal Studios burn in the Universal City section of Los Angeles on Nov. 6, 1990. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

• 1990: About one-fifth of the Universal Studios backlot in Southern California is destroyed in an arson fire.
• 1997: Former President George H.W. Bush opens his presidential library at Texas A&M University.
• 2001: Billionaire Michael Bloomberg wins New York City’s mayoral race, defeating Democrat Mark Green.
• 2009: President Obama signs a $24 billion economic stimulus bill, hours after the government reported that the unemployment rate had hit 10.2 percent in Oct. 2009 for the second time since World War II.
• 2012: President Barack Obama is elected to a second term, defeating Republican challenger Mitt Romney.
• 2016: FBI Director James Comey announces that Democrat Hillary Clinton should not face criminal charges related to newly discovered emails from her tenure at the State Department.
• 2018: Democrats seize the House majority in the midterm elections, but Republicans gain ground in the Senate and preserved key governorships, beating back a “blue wave” that never fully materializes.