The Almanac

Today is Tuesday, Nov. 6, the 310th day of 2001 with 55 to follow.

This is Election Day.

The moon is waning, moving toward its last quarter.

The morning stars are Venus, Jupiter and Saturn.

The evening stars are Mercury and Mars.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Scorpio. They include Belgian instrument-maker Adolphe Sax, inventor of the saxophone, in 1814; band leader and composer John Philip Sousa in 1854; Charles Henry Dow, co-founder of Dow Jones and Co. and first editor of The Wall Street Journal, in 1851; James Naismith, inventor of the game of basketball, in 1861; film director Mike Nichols in 1931 (age 70); actress Sally Field in 1946 (age 55); singer/songwriter Glenn Frey in 1948 (age 53); journalist Maria Shriver in 1955 (age 46); actors Lance Kerwin ("James at 15") in 1960 (age 41) and Ethan Hawke in 1970 (age 31); and TV personality Rebecca Romijn-Stamos in 1972 (age 29).

On this date in history:

In 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected 16th president of the United States.

In 1869, in the first formal intercollegiate football game, Rutgers beat Princeton, 6-4.

In 1917, the Bolshevik revolution began in Russia. Because it took place under the old czarist calendar, it is known as the October Revolution.

In 1952, the United States exploded the world's first hydrogen bomb at Eniwetok Atoll in the Pacific.

In 1968, Richard Nixon was elected 37th president of the United States, defeating Democrat Hubert Humphrey.

In 1984, President Reagan was elected to a second term, winning 49 states.

In 1986, President Reagan signed the landmark immigration reform bill, the first U.S. immigration law authorizing penalties for employers who hire illegal aliens.

In 1990, in the general election, the Democrats wrested governorships from Republicans in Texas and Florida, but lost a third key race in California.

Also in 1990, a gunman opened fire as Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev presided over the Revolution Day parade. Gorbachev was not hurt.

In 1991, Ukraine signed the Soviet economic-union treaty at the Kremlin.

In 1992, a presidential commission called on Congress to restore laws against women combat pilots repealed the previous year.

In 1993, the ruling New Zealand National Party won a one-seat majority in general elections.

In 1994, George Foreman, 45, became the oldest boxer to win a championship fight in any weight class by knocking out Michael Moore in Las Vegas to claim the International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Association heavyweight titles.

In 1995, numerous world leaders gathered in Jerusalem for the funeral of assassinated Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

In 1996, the Republican and Democratic Party chairmen met at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., to "bury the hatchet."

In 1997, President Clinton and three of the four living former Presidents of the United States attended the dedication of the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum at Texas A&M University at College Station, Texas. Nancy Reagan stood in for her husband, who could not attend.

A thought for the day: John Maynard Keyes said, "Words ought to be a little wild for they are the assault of thought on the unthinking."