November 6

This Day in History

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Lead Story
U.N. condemns apartheid, 1962
American Revolution
John Carroll named first Catholic bishop in U.S., 1789
Automotive
President Clinton designates "Automobile National Heritage Area" in Detroit, 1998
Civil War
Jefferson Davis elected president of the Confederacy, 1861
Cold War
Renowned Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov visits United States, 1988
Crime
A woman ices her husband with anti-freeze, 1982
Disaster
Dam gives way in Georgia, 1977
General Interest
Abraham Lincoln elected president, 1860
Canadians take Passchendaele, 1917
Bolsheviks revolt in Russia, 1917
Hollywood
Downey stars in Less Than Zero, 1987
Literary
Playwright Thomas Kyd is baptized, 1558
Music
John Philip Sousa is born, 1854
Old West
Cabeza de Vaca discovers Texas, 1528
Presidential
Teddy Roosevelt travels to Panama, 1906
Sports
Art Modell announces Browns are moving to Baltimore, 1995
Vietnam War
General Minh takes over leadership of South Vietnam, 1963
South Vietnamese forces attack into Cambodia, 1970
World War I
British victory at Passchendaele , 1917
World War II
Stalin celebrates the Revolution's anniversary, 1941

Cold War

Nov 6, 1988:

Renowned Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov visits United States

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Soviet scientist and well-known human rights activist Andrei Sakharov begins a two-week visit to the United States. During his visit, he pleaded with the American government and people to support Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev's policies of glasnost (political openness) and perestroika (economic reforms), and so ensure the success of a new, more democratic, and friendlier Soviet system.

Sakharov had not always been a favorite of the Soviet government. During the late-1930s and 1940s, he was a respected physicist in the Soviet Union, and was part of the group of scientists who worked to develop Russia's first hydrogen bomb in the 1950s. By the late 1950s, however, he began to have serious doubts about Russia's open-air testing of nuclear weapons. He also began to protest for more scientific freedom in the Soviet Union. By the mid-1960s, he was openly criticizing the Stalinist legacy and current laws designed to muzzle political opponents. In 1968, he had an essay published in the New York Times calling for a system that merged socialism and capitalism. Because of this, Sakharov was stripped of his security clearance and job. In 1970, he co-founded the Moscow Committee for Human Rights. His work resulted in his winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1975.

Sakharov also urged the United States to pressure the Soviet Union concerning the latter's human rights policies, and harshly criticized Russia's invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. He and his wife were arrested and sentenced to internal exile. Despite his isolation, his supporters continued to smuggle his writings out of the country.

In December 1986, Gorbachev released Sakharov and his wife from exile. It was a pragmatic move on Gorbachev's part: He desired closer relations with the West, and Sakharov had become a hero to many in the United States and elsewhere. Sakharov became a spokesman for the reforms Gorbachev was trying to push through, and praised the construction of the new Soviet Union. His November 1988 trip to the United States was part of this effort. Nevertheless, he continued to press for more democracy in the Soviet Union. On December 14, 1989, shortly after delivering a speech denouncing Russia's one-party rule, Sakharov suffered a heart attack and died.

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Previous Day November 6 Calendar Next Day

This Week in History, Nov 6 - Nov 12

Nov 06, 1988
Renowned Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov visits United States
Nov 07, 1957
Gaither Report calls for more U.S. missiles and fallout shelters
Nov 08, 1960
John F. Kennedy elected president
Nov 09, 1989
East Germany opens the Berlin Wall
Nov 10, 1982
Leonid Brezhnev dies
Nov 11, 1973
Soviet Union refuses to play Chile in World Cup Soccer
Nov 12, 1982
Yuri Andropov assumes power in the Soviet Union

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