Today In History

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 overboard to protest tea taxes.

In 1770: Composer Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany.

In 1944: the World War II Battle of the Bulge began as German forces launched a surprise counterattack against Allied forces in Belgium.

In 1950: President Truman proclaimed a national state of emergency in order to fight “Communist imperialism.”

In 1985: Reputed organized-crime chief Paul Castellano was shot to death outside a New York City restaurant.

In 1991: The U.N. General Assembly rescinded its 1975 resolution equating Zionism with racism by a vote of 111-25.