On This Day December 6

1993
First woman Ivy League president: The University of Pennsylvania names Judith Rodin as its president.

1992
The three-story 430-year-old Muslim Mosque of Babri is destroyed by Hindu fundamentalist claiming it was built on the birth-site of the Hindu god Rama. This led to riots killing over 1,200 people.

1967
First successful U.S. human heart transplant: Performed by a team led by Dr. Adrian Kantrowitz.

1957
First U.S. attempt to launch a satellite: It blew up several feet off the ground.

1923
First U.S. radio network is established, when six stations are connected by wire.

1917
Halifax, Nova Scotia explosion: A French munitions ship loaded with over 67 tons of explosives is struck by another ship. The ensuing explosion killed 1,600 people and destroyed much of the city.

1884
Washington Monument: Construction of the first national monument to honor George Washington is completed. It had begun in 1848.

1971 d. 1990
Ryan White, American AIDS victim. He became a national symbol when he was barred from the Indiana public school system (1985).

1953
Tom Hulce, American actor. Film: National Lampoon's Animal House (1978) and Amadeus (1984, title role).

1924 d. 1973
Wally Cox, American comedian. TV: Mr. Peepers (title role) and Underdog (voice of Underdog: "There's no need to fear-Underdog is here").

1908 d. 1934
Baby Face Nelson (George Nelson), American criminal, member of John Dillinger's gang.

1906 d. 1974
Agnes Moorehead, American Emmy-winning actress. Film: Citizen Kane (1941), and The Magnificent Ambersons (1943). TV: Bewitched (Samantha's mother Endora). Her death was attributed to radiation exposure received from an A-bomb test near the filming of the movie The Conqueror in 1953.

1898
Alfred Eisenstaedt, German-born American photographer. He took the famous picture of a sailor kissing a nurse in Times Square on VJ day that appeared on the cover of Life magazine.

1896 d. 1983
Ira Gershwin, American Pulitzer-winning lyricist, collaborated with his brother George for Funny Face (1927), Strike Up The Band (1929), Of the I Sing (1931, Pulitzer).

1889 d. 1985
Robert Winship Woodruff, 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.

1794 d. 1858
Luigi Lablache, Italian opera singer. He sang at the funerals of Franz Joseph Haydn (1809), Ludwig van Beethoven (1827) and Frederic Chopin (1849).

2000 b. 1920
Werner Klemperer, German Emmy-winning actor. TV: Hogan's Heroes (Emmy, as Colonel Klink). He and his family fled the Nazis in 1933.

1989 b. 1902
Frances Bavier, American actress. TV: The Andy Griffith Show (Aunt Bee).

1988 b. 1936
Roy Orbison, American singer. Music: Oh, Pretty Woman (1964, #1).

1985 b. 1917
Burr Tillstrom, American Emmy-winning puppeteer. TV: Kukla, Fran, and Ollie (creator and operator of the puppets).

1967 b. 1877
Béla Schick, Hungarian-born American pediatrician. He developed the Schick test (1913) for diphtheria, which led to effective inoculation against the disease.

1949 b. 1889
Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter, American blues and folk musician, "King of the 12-string guitar." Music: wrote Goodnight Irene, The Midnight Special, and The Rock Island Line.

1882 b. 1815
Anthony Trollope, 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).

1352 b. 1291
Clement VI, French-born religious leader, 198th Pope (1342-52).

903 b. ????
Leo V, 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.

December 6

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