Today in History

Today is Saturday, Dec. 16, the 350th day of 2023. There are 15 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Dec. 16, 1944, the World War II Battle of the Bulge began as German forces launched a surprise attack against Allied forces through the Ardennes Forest in Belgium and Luxembourg. (The Allies were eventually able to turn the Germans back.)

On this date:

In 1653, Oliver Cromwell became lord protector of England, Scotland and Ireland.

In 1773, the Boston Tea Party took place as American colonists boarded a British ship and dumped more than 300 chests of tea into Boston Harbor to protest tea taxes.

In 1907, 16 U.S. Navy battleships, which came to be known as the "Great White Fleet," set sail on a 14-month round-the-world voyage to demonstrate American sea power.

In 1950, President Harry S. Truman proclaimed a national state of emergency in order to fight "world conquest by Communist imperialism."

In 1960, 134 people were killed when a United Air Lines DC-8 and a TWA Super Constellation collided over New York City.

In 1991, the U.N. General Assembly rescinded its 1975 resolution equating Zionism with racism by a vote of 111-25.

In 2000, President-elect George W. Bush selected Colin Powell to become the first African-American secretary of state.

In 2001, after nine weeks of fighting, Afghan militia leaders claimed control of the last mountain bastion of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida fighters, but bin Laden himself was nowhere to be seen.

In 2011, in San Francisco, eight years of being investigated for steroid allegations ended for home run king Barry Bonds with a 30-day sentence to be served at home. (Bonds never served the sentence; his conviction for obstruction of justice was overturned.)

In 2012, President Barack Obama visited Newtown, Connecticut, the scene of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre; after meeting privately with victims' families, the president told an evening vigil he would use "whatever power" he had to prevent future shootings.

In 2013, Ray Price, one of country music's most popular and influential singers and bandleaders, died in Mount Pleasant, Texas at age 87.

In 2014, Taliban gunmen stormed a military-run school in the northwestern Pakistan city of Peshawar, killing at least 148 people, mostly children.

In 2019, House Democrats laid out their first impeachment case against President Donald Trump; a sweeping report from the House Judiciary Committee said Trump had "betrayed the Nation by abusing his high office to enlist a foreign power in corrupting democratic elections."

In 2020, the first COVID-19 vaccinations were underway at U.S. nursing homes, where the virus had killed 110,000 people.

Today's Birthdays: Civil rights attorney and co-founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center Morris Dees is 87. Actor Joyce Bulifant is 86. Actor Liv Ullmann is 85. CBS news correspondent Lesley Stahl is 82. Pop musician Tony Hicks (The Hollies) is 78. Pop singer Benny Andersson (ABBA) is 77. Rock singer-musician Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top) is 74. Rock musician Bill Bateman (The Blasters) is 72. Actor Xander Berkeley is 68. Actor Alison LaPlaca is 64. Actor Sam Robards is 62. Actor Jon Tenney is 62. Actor Benjamin Bratt is 60. Actor-comedian JB Smoove is 58. Actor Miranda Otto is 56. Actor Daniel Cosgrove is 53. R&B singer Michael McCary is 52. Actor Jonathan Scarfe is 48. Actor Krysten Ritter is 42. Actor Zoe Jarman is 41. Country musician Chris Scruggs is 41. Actor Theo James is 39. Actor Amanda Setton is 38. Rock musician Dave Rublin (American Authors) is 37. Actor Hallee Hirsh is 36. Actor Anna Popplewell is 35. Actor Stephan James is 30.