GMT 12/16/2017

Today in History December 16

1431--Henry VI of England is crowned King of France.

1653--Oliver Cromwell takes on dictatorial powers with the title of "Lord Protector."

1773--To protest the tax on tea from England, a group of young Americans, disguised as Indians, throw chests of tea from British ships in Boston Harbor.

1835--A fire in New York City destroys property estimated to be worth $20,000,000. It lasts two days, ravages 17 blocks, and destroys 674 buildings including the Stock Exchange, Merchants' Exchange, Post Office, and the South Dutch Church.

1863--Confederate General Joseph Johnston takes command of the Army of Tennessee.

1864--Union forces under General George H. Thomas win the battle at Nashville, smashing an entire Confederate army.

1930--In Spain, a general strike is called in support of the revolution.

1939--The National Women's Party urges immediate congressional action on equal rights.

1940--British troops carry out an air raid on Italian Somalia.

1944--Germany mounts a major offensive in the Ardennes Forest in Belgium. As the center of the Allied line falls back, it creates a bulge, leading to the name--the Battle of the Bulge.

1949--Chinese Communist leader Mao Tse-tung is received at the Kremlin in Moscow.

1950--President Harry Truman declares a state of National Emergency as Chinese communists invade deeper into South Korea.

1976--President Jimmy Carter appoints Andrew Young as Ambassador to the United Nations.

1978--Cleveland becomes the first U.S. city to default since the depression.

1998--The United States launches a missile attack on Iraq for failing to comply with United Nations weapons inspectors.

2003--President George W. Bush signs the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, which establishes the United States' first national standards regarding email and gives the Federal Trade Commission authority to enforce the act.


Born on December 16

1917--Arthur C. Clarke, English science fiction writer (2001: A Space Odyssey)



JOKE OF THE DAY

Why do men name their penises? 
Because the do not want a stranger to make 95 percent of their decisions