📜 This Day in History

December 6

• 963Leo VIII was ordained a bishop, claiming the Holy See as an antipope supported by Otto the Great.
• 1865Slavery in the United States was officially abolished with the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
• 1917World War I: USS Jacob Jones became the first American destroyer to be sunk by enemy action when it was torpedoed by German submarine SM U-53.
• 1956In what became known as the Blood in the Water match at the Melbourne Olympics, the Hungarian water polo team defeated the Soviet Union 4–0 against the background of the Hungarian Revolution.
• 1988Self-government was granted to the Australian Capital Territory.
• 2017Under President Donald Trump, the United States government officially recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Born on this day

• 1421Henry VI of England (died 1471)
• 1778Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac, French physicist and chemist (died 1850)
• 1898Gunnar Myrdal, Swedish sociologist and economist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1987)
• 1942Peter Handke, Austrian author and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate