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Today in History 12/16 (Boston Tea Party)

Illustration of English tea chests thrown overboard in Boston Harbor by colonists in 1773 (© Dea Picture Library/Getty Images)(1773) Colonists throw British tea into Boston Harbor
Members of the underground Sons of Liberty, some dressed as Indians, throw 342 chests of tea off British ships to protest “tax tyranny,” or Britain’s Tea Act of 1773, which gave the East India Company a monopoly on the American tea trade. The Boston Tea Party will bring tensions between colonists and the British to a head.
The Boston Tea Party was a political and mercantile protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, Massachusetts, on December 16, 1773. The target was the Tea Act of May 10, 1773, which allowed the British East India company to sell tea from China in American colonies without paying taxes apart from those imposed by the Townshend Acts. American Patriots strongly opposed the taxes in the Townshend Act as a violation of their rights. Demonstrators, some disguised as Native Americans, destroyed an entire shipment of tea sent by the East India Company.
Address: 306 Congress St, Boston, MA 2210
Phone: 1 (866) 955-0667
Date: Dec 16, 1773


This iconic 1846 lithograph by Nathaniel Currier was entitled The Destruction of Tea at Boston Harbor; the phrase “Boston Tea Party” had not yet become standard. Contrary to Currier’s depiction, few of the men dumping the tea were actually disguised as Native Americans.
wiki/Boston_Tea_Party
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(1773) Colonists throw British tea into Boston Harbor.
Also on this day,

1893 | ‘New World Symphony’ as Dvořák premieres his symphony for the New World
Czech composer Antonín Dvořák, director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York, premieres his Symphony No. 9 at Carnegie Hall. Heavily influenced by African-American spirituals, the ‘New World Symphony’ is received with rapturous applause and will become one of the world’s most popular pieces of classical music.
1944 | The Battle of Bulge begins in Belgium
In the heavily forested Ardennes region, German forces launch a surprise counterattack and push deep into the American line, creating a 50-mile wide “bulge” in the Allied front. The battle will continue for a month and will be the deadliest one for US troops in World War II.
1985 | Mobster ‘Big Paul’ killed as Mob boss Paul Castellano is gunned down in NYC
The “Howard Hughes of the Mob,” head of the Gambino crime family, is killed along with Thomas Bilotti outside a steak house on the orders of John Gotti. Gotti will assume leadership of the family, though will later be found guilty of the murders and will be sentenced to life in prison in 1992.

Today in History 12/16/17

American soldiers pass an abandoned German Tiger tank as they patrol outside La Gleize, Belgium, late December 1944 or early January 1945 (© Peter J. Carroll/AP)(1944) The Battle of Bulge begins in Belgium
In the heavily forested Ardennes region, German forces launch a surprise counterattack and push deep into the American line, creating a 50-mile wide "bulge" in the Allied front. The battle will continue for a month and will be the deadliest one for US troops in World War II.
The Battle of the Bulge was the last major German offensive campaign on the Western Front during World War II. It was launched through the densely forested Ardennes region of Wallonia in eastern Belgium, northeast France, and Luxembourg, towards the end of World War II. The surprise attack caught the Allied forces completely off guard. American forces bore the brunt of the attack and incurred their highest casualties of any operation during the war. The battle also severely depleted Germany's armored forces, and they were largely unable to replace them. German personnel and, later, Luftwaffe aircraft also sustained heavy losses.
Start date: Dec 16, 1944
End date: Jan 25, 1945

Map of the opening of the salient, the start of the Battle of the Bulge
Map showing the swelling of "the Bulge" as the German offensive progressed creating the nose-like salient during 16–25 December 1944.   Front line, 16 December   Front line, 20 December   Front line, 25 December   Allied movements   German movements

wiki/Battle_of_the_Bulge
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Today in History 12/11 (King Edward VIII)

The Duke of Windsor and Mrs. Bessie Wallis Warfield Simpson pose for photographers in a garden of the Chateau de Cande, France, May 7, 1937 (© AP)(1936) Britain’s King Edward VIII abdicates for love
King Edward VIII gives up the throne to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson. The Church of England, officials, and the public have largely condemned the match (though Winston Churchill gave his OK.) But, as Edward says, he can’t carry out his duties “without the help and support of the woman I love.”
In 1936, a constitutional crisis in the British Empire arose when King-Emperor Edward VIII proposed to marry Wallis Simpson, an American socialite who was divorced from her first husband and was pursuing the divorce of her second.
Statement of Abdication
Instrument of abdication signed by Edward VIII and his three brothers, Albert, Henry and George, 10 December 1936
wiki/Edward_VIII_abdication_crisis
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(1936) Britain’s King Edward VIII abdicates for love.
Also on this day,

1941 | Axis at war with US as Germany and Italy declare war on the United States
Four days after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, the two other Axis powers, Germany and Italy, declare war on the United States. The US responds in kind. Meanwhile, Adolf Hitler declares that the three Axis powers “will continue in closest cooperation with a view to establishing a new and just order.”
1944 | Brenda Lee, ‘Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree’ singer is born
Brenda Lee (nee Brenda Mae Tarpley) is born in Atlanta. She’ll start singing professionally by age 6 and go on to have huge hits with ‘I’m Sorry’ and ‘Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.’ Lee will eventually be inducted into the Rock and Roll, Country and Rockabilly halls of fame.
2008 | Billionaire Bernie Madoff is arrested at his NYC penthouse
Feds arrest Madoff after his sons told authorities about his $65 billion Ponzi scheme. Until his arrest, Madoff was a well-respected financier who managed money for A-list clients. His ruse is the biggest financial fraud in US history and will get Madoff 150 years in prison.

Today in History 12/11/17

Adolf Hitler speaking in Germany on December 11, 1941 (© Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)(1941) Germany and Italy declare war on the United States
Four days after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, the two other Axis powers, Germany and Italy, declare war on the United States. The US responds in kind. Meanwhile, Adolf Hitler declares that the three Axis powers "will continue in closest cooperation with a view to establishing a new and just order."
On 11 December 1941, four days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the United States declaration of war against the Japanese Empire, Nazi Germany declared war against the United States, in response to what was claimed to be a series of provocations by the United States government when the US was still officially neutral during World War II. The decision to declare war was made by Adolf Hitler, apparently offhand, almost without consultation. Later that day, the United States declared war on Germany.
Berlin, Reichstagssitzung, Rede Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler delivers a speech at the Kroll Opera House to the men of the Reichstag on the subject of Roosevelt and the war in the Pacific, declaring war on the United States. Next to Hitler in the government benches (from right to left) are Joachim von Ribbentrop, Erich Raeder, Walther von Brauchitsch, Wilhelm Keitel, Wilhelm Frick and Joseph Goebbels. In the second row (from right to left) are Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk, Walther Funk, Richard Walther Darré, Bernhard Rust, Hanns Kerrl, Hans Frank, Julius Dorpmüller, Arthur Seyss-Inquart and Fritz Todt. In the third row (from right to left) are Alfred Rosenberg, Otto Meißner and Johannes Popitz.

wiki/German_declaration_of_war_against_the_United_States_%281941%29
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