This Day in History

By The Associated Press - 12/16/2007

Today Sunday, Dec. 16, is the 350th day of 2007. There are 15 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight: On Dec. 16, 1907, 16 U.S. Navy battleships, which came to be known collectively as the “Great White Fleet,” set sail from Hampton Roads, Va., on a 14-month round-the-world voyage at the order of President Theodore Roosevelt, who wanted to demonstrate American sea power.

On this date: 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 1944, the World War II Battle of the Bulge began as German forces launched a surprise attack against Allied forces in Belgium (the Allies were eventually able to beat the Germans back).

Birthdays Author Sir Arthur C. Clarke is 90. Civil rights attorney Morris Dees is 71. Actress Joyce Bulifant is 70. Actress Liv Ullmann is 69. CBS news correspondent Lesley Stahl is 66. TV producer Steven Bochco is 64. Actor Ben Cross is 60. Rock singer-musician Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top) is 58. Actress Alison LaPlaca is 48. Actor Sam Robards is 46. Actor Jon Tenney is 46. Actor Benjamin Bratt is 44. Country musician Chris Scruggs is 25. Actress Hallee Hirsh is 20.

Worth repeating ...

“I love criticism just so long as it’s unqualified praise.” — Sir Noel Coward, English actor, playwright, composer (born this date, 1899; died in 1973)