This Day in History
1773: To protest a British tax on tea, patriots dressed as Indians board a British vessel and throw 350 chests of tea overboard, in what becomes known as the Boston Tea Party.
1864: During the Civil War, Union troops defeat the Confederates at the Battle of Nashville, TN.
1944: At the beginning of the Battle of the Bulge during World War II, the Germans launch an offensive in France's Ardennes Forest.
1991: The United Nations votes to revoke Resolution 3379, which equated Zionism with racism.
2005: The New York Times reports that U.S. President George W. Bush in 2002 secretly authorized the National Security Agency (NSA) to eavesdrop on people in the U.S. who were suspected of terrorist activities without first obtaining court-approved warrants.
Today's Birthdays
1485: Catherine of Aragon, first wife of England's King Henry VIII (Alcalá de Henares, Spain; died 1536)
1742: Gebhard Leberecht von Blucher, Prussian general (Rostock, Germany; died 1819)
1770: Ludwig van Beethoven, composer (Bonn, Germany; died 1827)
1775: Jane Austen, novelist (Hampshire, England; died 1817)
1863: George Santayana, philosopher/author (Madrid, Spain; died 1952)
1899: Sir Noel Coward, actor/playwright/director (Teddington, England; died 1973)
1900: Sir V. S. Pritchett, writer who chronicled lower-middle class British life (Ipswich, England; died 1997)
1901: Margaret Mead, anthropologist (Philadelphia, PA; died 1978)
1917: Arthur C. Clarke, science fiction author (Minehead, England)
1938: Liv Ullmann, actress (Tokyo, Japan)
1941: Lesley Stahl, TV journalist (Lynn, MA)
1943: Steven Bochco, TV writer/producer (New York, NY)
1947: Ben Cross, actor (London, England)
1962: William ("the Refrigerator") Perry, football player (Aiken, SC)
1963: Benjamin Bratt, actor (San Francisco, CA)
