December 16
1653 - Oliver Cromwell became lord protector of England, Scotland and Ireland.
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.
1809 - Napoleon Bonaparte was divorced from the Empress Josephine by an act of the French Senate.
1811 - The first of the powerful New Madrid earthquakes, with an estimated magnitude of 7.7, struck the central Mississippi Valley.
1905 - The entertainment trade publication Variety came out with its first weekly issue.
1916 - Gregory Rasputin, the monk who had wielded powerful influence over the Russian court, was murdered by a group of noblemen.
1920 - One of the deadliest earthquakes in history hit the Gansu province in China. The 8.6 magnitude quake killed an estimated 200,000 people.
1944 - The Battle of the Bulge during World War II began as German forces launched a surprise counterattack against Allied forces in Belgium.
1950 - President Harry S. Truman proclaimed a national state of emergency in order to fight "Communist imperialism".
1960 - 134 people were killed when a United Air Lines DC-8 and a TWA Super Constellation collided over New York City.
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 - Reputed organized-crime chief Paul Castellano was shot to death outside a New York City restaurant.
1990 - Jean-Bertrand Aristide was elected president of Haiti in the country's first democratic elections.
1991 - The U.N. General Assembly rescinded its 1975 resolution equating Zionism with racism.
1998 - President Bill Clinton ordered a sustained series of airstrikes against Iraq by American and British forces in response to Saddam Hussein's continued defiance of U.N. weapons inspectors.
2000 - Colin Powell was selected by President-elect George W. Bush to become the first African American secretary of state.
2007 - British forces formally handed over to Iraq responsibility for Basra, the last Iraqi region under their control.
2009 - Iran test-fired a missile capable of hitting Israel and parts of Europe.
2010 - Larry King concluded his CNN talk show after a 25-year run.
2010 - The House joined the Senate in passing a massive bipartisan tax package preventing a big New Year’s Day tax hike for millions of Americans.
2015 - The Federal Reserve raised interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade, lifting its key rate by a quarter-point to a range of 0.25 percent to 0.5 percent.
2019 - House Democrats laid out their impeachment case against President Donald Trump; a sweeping report from the House Judiciary Committee said Trump had “betrayed the Nation by abusing his high office to enlist a foreign power in corrupting democratic elections.”
2019 - Boeing said it would temporarily stop producing its grounded 737 Max jet as it struggled to get approval from regulators to put the plane back in the air; it had been grounded since March after two deadly crashes.
2019 - "The Rise of Skywalker," the conclusion of the third trilogy of the "Star Wars" movie franchise, had its world premiere.
Birthdays
21 - Jasmine Armfield (actress)
27 - Stephan James (actor)
32 - Anna Popplewell (actress)
33 - Hallee Hirsh (actress)
35 - Amanda Setton (actress)
36 - Theo James (actor)
38 - Zoe Jarman (actor)
39 - Krysten Ritter (actress)
41 - Brodie Lee (professional wrestler)
45 - Jonathan Scarfe (actor)
50 - Daniel Cosgrove (actor)
53 - Miranda Otto (actress)
55 - JB Smoove (actor/comedian)
57 - Benjamin Bratt (actor)
59 - Jon Tenney (actor)
59 - Sam Robards (actor)
61 - Alison LaPlaca (actress)
74 - Benny Andersson (singer)
79 - Lesley Stahl (journalist)
82 - Liv Ullmann (actress)
83 - Joyce Bulifant (actress)
=========================================
Today in Sports History - December 16
1929 - The Chicago Blackhawks played their first game at Chicago Stadium. They beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 3-1.
1945 - The Cleveland Rams defeated the Washington Redskins 15-14 to win the NFL Championship Game; it was also the last game for the Rams in Cleveland before the franchise relocated to Los Angeles the following season.
1962 - Y.A. Tittle of the New York Giants sets a single-season NFL record of 33 touchdown passes.
1967 - Wilt Chamberlain of the Philadelphia 76ers scores 68 points in a game against the Chicago Bulls.
1972 - The Miami Dolphins became the first NFL team to go unbeaten and untied in a 14-game regular season.
1973 - O.J. Simpson of the Buffalo Bills broke Jim Brown's single-season NFL rushing record of 1,863 yards; Simpson also became the first player to rush for more than 2,000 yards in a season, ending the regular season with 2,003 yards.
1979 - Roger Staubach (Dallas Cowboys) played his last regular season game. The Cowboys came from behind to win the game in the last five minutes.
1990 - Warren Moon of the Houston Oilers threw for 527 yards against the Kansas City Chiefs.
1991 - The Tampa Bay Lightning and Ottawa Senators were officially granted membership in the NHL.
1995 - FOX aired a fight between Mike Tyson and Buster Mathis Jr. Tyson knocked Mathis out in the third round. The fight brought in Fox's highest Nielsen rating to date.
2001 - The Detroit Lions won their first game of the 2001-2002 season against the Minnesota Vikings. The Lions, after the win, had the record 1-12.
2001 - An instant replay decision led to a bottle-throwing melee in a game between the Cleveland Browns and the Jacksonville Jaguars. The decision disallowed a catch by the Browns with 48 seconds left in the game. The Jaguars won the game 15-10.
2006 - During a game in New York, a fight occurred between multiple players for the Denver Nuggets and the New York Knicks. Ten players were ejected from the game. The NBA suspended several players and both teams were fined $500,000.
2013 - Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston wins the Heisman Trophy.
2019 - Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints breaks Peyton Manning's NFL record for career touchdown passes with his 539th during a game against the Indianapolis Colts in which Brees went 29-of-30 (a record 96.7% completion rate) for 307 yards and 4 TDs.
1653 - Oliver Cromwell became lord protector of England, Scotland and Ireland.
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.
1809 - Napoleon Bonaparte was divorced from the Empress Josephine by an act of the French Senate.
1811 - The first of the powerful New Madrid earthquakes, with an estimated magnitude of 7.7, struck the central Mississippi Valley.
1905 - The entertainment trade publication Variety came out with its first weekly issue.
1916 - Gregory Rasputin, the monk who had wielded powerful influence over the Russian court, was murdered by a group of noblemen.
1920 - One of the deadliest earthquakes in history hit the Gansu province in China. The 8.6 magnitude quake killed an estimated 200,000 people.
1944 - The Battle of the Bulge during World War II began as German forces launched a surprise counterattack against Allied forces in Belgium.
1950 - President Harry S. Truman proclaimed a national state of emergency in order to fight "Communist imperialism".
1960 - 134 people were killed when a United Air Lines DC-8 and a TWA Super Constellation collided over New York City.
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 - Reputed organized-crime chief Paul Castellano was shot to death outside a New York City restaurant.
1990 - Jean-Bertrand Aristide was elected president of Haiti in the country's first democratic elections.
1991 - The U.N. General Assembly rescinded its 1975 resolution equating Zionism with racism.
1998 - President Bill Clinton ordered a sustained series of airstrikes against Iraq by American and British forces in response to Saddam Hussein's continued defiance of U.N. weapons inspectors.
2000 - Colin Powell was selected by President-elect George W. Bush to become the first African American secretary of state.
2007 - British forces formally handed over to Iraq responsibility for Basra, the last Iraqi region under their control.
2009 - Iran test-fired a missile capable of hitting Israel and parts of Europe.
2010 - Larry King concluded his CNN talk show after a 25-year run.
2010 - The House joined the Senate in passing a massive bipartisan tax package preventing a big New Year’s Day tax hike for millions of Americans.
2015 - The Federal Reserve raised interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade, lifting its key rate by a quarter-point to a range of 0.25 percent to 0.5 percent.
2019 - House Democrats laid out their impeachment case against President Donald Trump; a sweeping report from the House Judiciary Committee said Trump had “betrayed the Nation by abusing his high office to enlist a foreign power in corrupting democratic elections.”
2019 - Boeing said it would temporarily stop producing its grounded 737 Max jet as it struggled to get approval from regulators to put the plane back in the air; it had been grounded since March after two deadly crashes.
2019 - "The Rise of Skywalker," the conclusion of the third trilogy of the "Star Wars" movie franchise, had its world premiere.
Birthdays
21 - Jasmine Armfield (actress)
27 - Stephan James (actor)
32 - Anna Popplewell (actress)
33 - Hallee Hirsh (actress)
35 - Amanda Setton (actress)
36 - Theo James (actor)
38 - Zoe Jarman (actor)
39 - Krysten Ritter (actress)
41 - Brodie Lee (professional wrestler)
45 - Jonathan Scarfe (actor)
50 - Daniel Cosgrove (actor)
53 - Miranda Otto (actress)
55 - JB Smoove (actor/comedian)
57 - Benjamin Bratt (actor)
59 - Jon Tenney (actor)
59 - Sam Robards (actor)
61 - Alison LaPlaca (actress)
74 - Benny Andersson (singer)
79 - Lesley Stahl (journalist)
82 - Liv Ullmann (actress)
83 - Joyce Bulifant (actress)
=========================================
Today in Sports History - December 16
1929 - The Chicago Blackhawks played their first game at Chicago Stadium. They beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 3-1.
1945 - The Cleveland Rams defeated the Washington Redskins 15-14 to win the NFL Championship Game; it was also the last game for the Rams in Cleveland before the franchise relocated to Los Angeles the following season.
1962 - Y.A. Tittle of the New York Giants sets a single-season NFL record of 33 touchdown passes.
1967 - Wilt Chamberlain of the Philadelphia 76ers scores 68 points in a game against the Chicago Bulls.
1972 - The Miami Dolphins became the first NFL team to go unbeaten and untied in a 14-game regular season.
1973 - O.J. Simpson of the Buffalo Bills broke Jim Brown's single-season NFL rushing record of 1,863 yards; Simpson also became the first player to rush for more than 2,000 yards in a season, ending the regular season with 2,003 yards.
1979 - Roger Staubach (Dallas Cowboys) played his last regular season game. The Cowboys came from behind to win the game in the last five minutes.
1990 - Warren Moon of the Houston Oilers threw for 527 yards against the Kansas City Chiefs.
1991 - The Tampa Bay Lightning and Ottawa Senators were officially granted membership in the NHL.
1995 - FOX aired a fight between Mike Tyson and Buster Mathis Jr. Tyson knocked Mathis out in the third round. The fight brought in Fox's highest Nielsen rating to date.
2001 - The Detroit Lions won their first game of the 2001-2002 season against the Minnesota Vikings. The Lions, after the win, had the record 1-12.
2001 - An instant replay decision led to a bottle-throwing melee in a game between the Cleveland Browns and the Jacksonville Jaguars. The decision disallowed a catch by the Browns with 48 seconds left in the game. The Jaguars won the game 15-10.
2006 - During a game in New York, a fight occurred between multiple players for the Denver Nuggets and the New York Knicks. Ten players were ejected from the game. The NBA suspended several players and both teams were fined $500,000.
2013 - Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston wins the Heisman Trophy.
2019 - Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints breaks Peyton Manning's NFL record for career touchdown passes with his 539th during a game against the Indianapolis Colts in which Brees went 29-of-30 (a record 96.7% completion rate) for 307 yards and 4 TDs.