TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT 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.

ALSO ON THIS DATE 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.

1905

The entertainment trade publication Variety came out with its first weekly issue.

1950

President Harry S. Truman proclaimed a national state of emergency in order to fight “world conquest by Communist imperialism.”

1960

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

1976

The government halted its swine flu vaccination program following reports of paralysis apparently linked to the vaccine.

1980

Harland Sanders, founder of the Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant chain, died in Shelbyville, Kentucky, at age 90.

1982

Environmental Protection Agency head Anne M. Gorsuch became the first Cabinet-level officer to be cited for contempt of Congress for refusing to submit documents requested by a congressional committee.

1985

At services in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, President Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy, offered condolences to families of 248 soldiers killed in the crash of a chartered plane in Newfoundland.

1991

The U.N. General Assembly rescinded its 1975 resolution equating Zionism with racism by a vote of 111-25.

2000

President-elect George W. Bush selected Colin Powell to become the first AfricanAmerican secretary of state.