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There are many events that happened on this date in history. Here are just a few of them!

February 6 is the 37th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 328 days remain until the end of the year (329 in leap years).

EVENTS

1685 – James II of England and VII of Scotland is proclaimed King upon the death of his brother Charles II.

1778 – American Revolutionary War: In Paris the Treaty of Alliance and the Treaty of Amity and Commerce are signed by the United States and France signaling official recognition of the new republic.

1778 – New York became the third state to ratify the Articles of Confederation.

1788 – Massachusetts becomes the sixth state to ratify the United States Constitution.

1833 – Otto becomes the first modern King of Greece.

1843 – The first minstrel show in the United States, The Virginia Minstrels, opens (Bowery Amphitheatre in New York City).

1862 – American Civil War: Forces under the command of Ulysses S. Grant and Andrew H. Foote give the Union its first victory of the war, capturing Fort Henry, Tennessee in the Battle of Fort Henry.

1899 – Spanish–American War: The Treaty of Paris, a peace treaty between the United States and Spain, is ratified by the United States Senate.

1919 – The American Legion is founded.

1919 – The five-day Seattle General Strike begins, as more than 65,000 workers in the city of Seattle, Washington, walk off the job.

1922 – The Washington Naval Treaty is signed in Washington, D.C., limiting the naval armaments of United States, Britain, Japan, France, and Italy.

1952 – Elizabeth II becomes Queen of the United Kingdom and her other Realms and Territories and Head of the Commonwealth upon the death of her father, George VI. At the exact moment of succession, she was in a tree house at the Treetops Hotel in Kenya.

1959 – At Cape Canaveral, Florida, the first successful test firing of a Titan intercontinental ballistic missile is accomplished.

1976 – In testimony before a United States Senate subcommittee, Lockheed Corporation president Carl Kotchian admits that the company had paid out approximately $3 million in bribes to the office of Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka.

1978 – The Blizzard of 1978, one of the worst Nor'easters in New England history, hit the region, with sustained winds of 65 mph and snowfall of four inches an hour.

1988 – Michael Jordan makes his signature slam dunk from the free throw line inspiring Air Jordan and the Jumpman logo.

1998 – Washington National Airport is renamed Ronald Reagan National Airport.

2018 – SpaceX's Falcon Heavy, a super heavy launch vehicle, makes its maiden flight.

2021 – U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken suspends agreements with Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras to send asylum seekers back to their home countries.

2023 – Two earthquakes measuring Mww 7.8 and 7.5 struck near the border between Turkey and Syria with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XII (Extreme). The earthquakes resulted in numerous aftershocks and a death toll of 57,658 people.

BIRTHS

1665 – Anne, Queen of Great Britain, Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland (d. 1714)

1756 – Aaron Burr, American colonel and politician, 3rd Vice President of the United States (d. 1836)

1833 – J. E. B. Stuart, American general (d. 1864)

1895 – Babe Ruth, American baseball player and coach (d. 1948)

1911 – Ronald Reagan, American actor and politician, 40th President of the United States (d. 2004)

1912 – Eva Braun, German wife of Adolf Hitler (d. 1945)

1917 – Zsa Zsa Gabor, Hungarian-American actress and socialite (d. 2016)

1931 – Rip Torn, American actor (d. 2019)

1931 – Mamie Van Doren, American actress and model

1940 – Tom Brokaw, American journalist and author

1943 – Fabian Forte, American pop singer and actor

1945 – Bob Marley, Jamaican singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1981)

1950 – Natalie Cole, American singer-songwriter and actress (d. 2015)

1962 – Axl Rose, American singer-songwriter and producer

1966 – Rick Astley, English singer-songwriter

1967 – Anita Cochran, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer

1985 – Kris Humphries, American basketball player

DEATHS

1952 – George VI of the United Kingdom (b. 1895)

1989 – Barbara W. Tuchman, American historian and author (b. 1912)

1990 – Jimmy Van Heusen, American pianist and composer (b. 1913)

1991 – Danny Thomas, American actor, producer, and humanitarian (b. 1914)

1993 – Arthur Ashe, American tennis player and sportscaster (b. 1943)

1994 – Joseph Cotten, American actor (b. 1905)

1994 – Jack Kirby, American author and illustrator (b. 1917)

1995 – James Merrill, American poet and playwright (b. 1926)

1998 – Falco, Austrian pop-rock musician (b. 1957)

1999 – Jimmy Roberts, American tenor (b. 1924)

2007 – Frankie Laine, American singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1913)

2009 – James Whitmore, American actor (b. 1921)

2011 – Gary Moore, Irish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1952)

2021 – George Shultz, American politician, Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of Labor (b. 1920)

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