Today in History: Dec. 16

Today is Monday, Dec. 16, the 351st day of 2024. There are 15 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Dec. 16, 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.

Also on this date:

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 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.

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

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

In 2014, Taliban gunmen stormed a military-run school in the northwestern Pakistan city of Peshawar, killing at least 148 people, including more than 130 schoolchildren.

Today’s Birthdays: Artist Edward Ruscha is 87. Actor Liv Ullmann is 86. CBS news correspondent Lesley Stahl is 83. Pop singer Benny Andersson (ABBA) is 78. Rock singer-musician Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top) is 75. Actor Benjamin Bratt is 61. Filmmaker James Mangold is 61. Actor-comedian JB Smoove is 59. Actor Miranda Otto is 57. Actor Krysten Ritter is 43. Actor Theo James is 40. Actor Anna Popplewell is 36. Actor Stephan James is 31.