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This Day in History

     1773 - In the celebrated Boston Tea Party, in a nonviolent political protest, the Sons of Liberty in Boston, dressed as Indians, boarded three British ships in Boston harbor and threw their cargoes of tea, 342 chests worth 18,000 British pounds into the water (initially referred to by John Adams as "the Destruction of the Tea in Boston). The action was the climax of growing colonial opposition to the growing set of import taxes, including the “Tea Act.” As Europeans developed a taste for tea in the 17th century, rival companies were formed to import the product from China. In England, Parliament gave the East India Company a monopoly on the importation of tea in 1698. When tea became popular in the British colonies, Parliament sought to eliminate foreign competition by passing an act in 1721 that required colonists to import their tea only from Great Britain. The East India Company did not export tea to the colonies; by law, the company was required to sell its tea wholesale at auctions in England. British firms bought this tea and exported it to the colonies, where they resold it to merchants in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston. Until 1767, the East India Company paid an ad valorem tax of about 25% on tea that it imported into Great Britain. Parliament laid additional taxes on tea sold for consumption in Britain. These high taxes, combined with the fact that tea imported into Holland was not taxed by the Dutch government, meant that Britons and British Americans could buy smuggled Dutch tea at much cheaper prices. The biggest market for illicit tea was England. By the 1760s, the East India Company was losing £400,000 per year to smugglers in Great Britain, but Dutch tea was also smuggled into British America in significant quantities. In 1767, to help the East India Company compete with smuggled Dutch tea, Parliament passed the Indemnity Act, which lowered the tax on tea consumed in Great Britain, and gave the East India Company a refund of the 25% duty on tea that was re-exported to the colonies. To help offset this loss of government revenue, Parliament also passed the Townshend Revenue Act of 1767, which levied new taxes, including one on tea, in the colonies. Instead of solving the smuggling problem, however, the Townshend duties renewed a controversy about Parliament's right to tax the colonies.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Tea_Party
  1811 - The first of the powerful New Madrid, MO earthquakes, with an estimated magnitude of 7.7, struck the central Mississippi Valley.
    1826 - Benjamin Edwards rode into Mexican-controlled Nacogdoches, TX and declared himself ruler of the Republic of Fredonia. The Fredonian Rebellion (December, 1826–January, 1827) was the first attempt by Anglo settlers in Texas to secede from Mexico.
    1828 – Birthday of John Beatty (d. 1914), Sandusky, OH. Brigadier-General (Union volunteers).
http://www.picturehistory.com/find/p/6734/mcms.html
http://famousamericans.net/johnbeatty1/
    1863 - Confederate President Jefferson Davis names General Joseph Johnston commander of the Army of Tennessee. Johnston replaced Braxton Bragg, who managed to lose all of Tennessee to the Union during that year. He fought at the First Battle of Bull Run and commanded the Army of Northern Virginia during the early stages of the Peninsular Campaign in 1862. When he was wounded at the Battle of Seven Pines on May 31, Lee replaced Johnston. After recovering from his wounds, Johnston was sent to coordinate the operations of the armies the Tennessee and Mississippi regions. Since he did not have a command of his own, Johnston resented this duty. In 1863, Johnston made a futile attempt to relieve John C. Pemberton's army at Vicksburg. He wanted Pemberton to fight his way out of Vicksburg, but Union General Ulysses S. Grant had Pemberton trapped. The surrender of Pemberton's army put additional stress on the already strained relationship between Johnston and President Davis. After the campaigns of 1863, however, Davis felt he had little choice but to name Johnston commander of the Army of Tennessee. The Confederates were losing large sections of territory to the Union. Bragg was literally maneuvered right out of Tennessee during the summer, although he engineered a victory at Chickamauga before laying siege to Union troops at Chattanooga. When Grant broke the Confederate hold on Chattanooga in November, Bragg resigned his command. Davis reluctantly appointed Johnston to save the situation in the West. Johnston took the field with his army in the spring of 1864, when Union General William T. Sherman began his drive toward Atlanta. Johnston employed a defensive strategy that avoided direct battle with Sherman but which also resulted in lost territory as Johnston slowly backed up to Atlanta. Johnston's command lasted until July 1864, when Davis replaced Johnston after the Army of the Tennessee was backed into Atlanta. Ironically, the Union Army considered him one of the best leaders of the Confederate troops, as he was quite effective. Jefferson Davis did not see it that way.
http://tennessee-scv.org/camp28/johnstonbio.html
http://www.swcivilwar.com/jjohnston.html
    1863 - Birthday of George Santayana (d. 1952), Philosopher and author, Madrid, Spain. At the age of nine, he immigrated to the US where he attended and later taught at Harvard University. In 1912, he returned to Europe and traveled extensively. It was Santayana who said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
    1864 - Union troops defeated Confederate forces on the second day of battle at Nashville, essentially knocking the Confederate Army of Tennessee out of the Civil War. Union General George Thomas attack on the army of Confederate General John Bell Hood at Nashville was a major defeat for the Confederacy. Hood's drastically outnumbered forces retreated, and only some heroic rear-guard action prevented the total destruction of the Confederate army.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/dec16.html
    1867 - Elizabeth Johnson Harris (d. 1942) birthday, Augusta, GA, born of former slaves. She was one of the first African-American female writers.
http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/harris/#sarah
http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/collections/african-american-women.html
    1869 - Decree by US Emperor Norton I, historically America's greatest and most enlightened ruler, demands that Sacramento clean its muddy streets and place gaslights on streets leading to the capitol.
http://www.zpub.com/sf/history/nort.html
http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist1/norton.html
    1870 - Negro Methodist Episcopal Church founded in Jackson, TN. Its name was changed in 1954 to the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. The denomination today is comprised of approximately 3,000 congregations.
    1884 - William Henry Fruen of Minneapolis received a patent for a vending machine that dispensed liquid automatically. When a coin was inserted in the slot, a uniform supply of liquid was released from a reservoir.
    1889 - The Players League formally organized with Colonel E.A. McAlpin of New York as president. Formally known as The Players' National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs, it was a short-lived but star-studded professional American baseball league of the 19th century. It emerged from the Brotherhood of Professional Base-Ball Players, the sport's first players' union. The league prohibited player transfers without the player's consent, excess profits will be split between the capitalists and the players, and prize money will be awarded to the teams in the order of their finish. The Brotherhood included most of the best players of the National League. Brotherhood members, led by John Montgomery Ward, left the National League and formed the Players' League after failing to change the lopsided player-management relationship of the National League. The PL lasted just the one season of 1890 and the Boston franchise won the championship. The PL was well-attended, at least in some cities, but was underfunded and its owners lacked the confidence to continue beyond the one season. In 1968, a committee appointed by MLB Commissioner Eckert ruled that the Players' League was a major league.
    1893 - Anton Dvorak's “New World Symphony” premiered at the newly erected Carnegie Hall with the New York Philharmonic playing. The composer attended and enjoyed enthusiastic applause from the audience. The symphony contains snatches from black spirituals and American folk music. Dvorak, a Bohemian, had been in the US only a year when he composed it as a greeting to his friends in Europe.
    1901 - The famous story, "Peter Rabbit," by Beatrix Potter, was printed for the first time, complete with Potter's watercolor illustrations. Ms. Potter had come up with the Peter Rabbit concept eight years earlier when she sent a story, told in pen and ink drawings, to a five-year-old who was sick in bed. The first story about the ill-behaved rabbit was meant to cheer up the little boy. Of course, all good little boys and girls remember that Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail were the good little bunnies who went down the lane to gather blackberries. But Peter, who was very naughty, ran straight to Mr. McGregor's garden, and squeezed through the gate. First he ate some lettuce and some French beans; and then he ate some radishes ... and he got too fat ... and Mr. McGregor is coming ... and we gotta get out of this garden ... and it's getting late ... we will have to finish this later.
    1901 - Margaret Mead (d. 1978) birthday, Philadelphia. U.S. anthropologist who revolutionized thinking about primitive life and female adolescent sexuality by raising questions about the assumptions of rigid social mores in all cultures. In 1949, she published “Male and Female: A Study of the Sexes in a Changing World” which contrasted gender roles in various societies, the importance of the mother in the development of the children's adult lives, and the different opinions on women's roles in raising children. It examined traditional male-female relationships, using observations from the Pacific and the East Indies for reference in discussing such topics as the mother's influence in perpetuating male and female roles and the different concepts of women's roles in marriage.
http://mead2001.org/index.html
http://www.mead2001.org/Biography.htm
    1905 - Sime Silverman published the first issue of "Variety," the weekly show biz magazine. The first issue was 16 pages in length and sold for a nickel. "Variety" and "Daily Variety" are still going strong and have become the industry standard.
    1907 - The American Great White Fleet began its circumnavigation of the world. The popular nickname for the US Navy battle fleet that completed the circumnavigation of the globe from December 16, 1907, to February 22, 1909, by order of President Theodore Roosevelt, it consisted of 16 battleships, divided into two squadrons, along with various escorts. Roosevelt sought to demonstrate growing American military power and blue-water navy capability. Hoping to enforce treaties and protect overseas holdings, the U.S. Congress appropriated funds to build American sea power. Beginning with just 90 small ships, over one-third of them wooden, the navy quickly grew to include new modern steel fighting vessels. The hulls of these ships were painted a stark white, giving the armada the nickname "Great White Fleet."
    1907 - Eugene H. Farrar became the first singer to broadcast on radio. He sang from the Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York. The song? "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?"
    1915 - Birthday of trombonist Turk Murphy (d. 1987), Palermo, CA.
http://www.sfmuseum.org/bio/turk.html
http://www.sftradjazz.org/collection.html
http://www.jazzbymail.com/artists/tmjb.html
http://www.sftradjazz.org/photos.html
http://www.sftradjazz.org/92.html
http://www.ragtimebymail.com/albums_mmr/mmr11.html
http://www.jazzbymail.com/albums_mmr/mmr09.html
http://www.stompoff.com/albums1000/1027.html
(I have in my shellac collection, the first record he made with Lu Watters, too. I saw him many, many times in San Francisco at his own club and the Fairmont. Tony Bennett was a big Dixieland fan and was often there. Turk Murphy began playing in “Frisco” (the word used in several of the tunes he wrote, although today considered a “no-no”) dance bands as early as 1930. In 1939, he teamed with the legendary Lu Watters, joining Waters' Yerba Buena Jazz Band which began a steady engagement at the Dawn Club in the basement of the Monadnock Building on Market between Third & Annie Streets. In 1960, he opened his first “Earthquake McGoon's” on Broadway, named for the then-popular Al Capp cartoon character.
    1916 - Writer Theodore Weiss (d. 2003) born Reading, Pa.
http://www.princeton.edu/pr/news/03/q2/0418-weiss.htm
    1917 - Birthday of A.C. Clarke (d. 2008), Minehead, UK. Sorry to break the tradition of American History, but being a science-fiction buff, he is one of my favorite writers, so he is now an adopted American. Yes, I am a “Trekkie,” too. I have all the badges on my office wall, plus many Star Trek items on my bookcase. Also a Western fan. At age 14, I wrote four western paperbacks that were published (I made $40 each).
http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/aclarke.htm
    1917 - An ice jam closed the Ohio River between Warsaw, KY, and Rising Sun, IN. The thirty-foot-high ice jam held for 58 days and backed up the river for a distance of 100 miles.
    1922 – EDWARDS, WALTER ATLEE, MEDAL of HONOR
Rank and organization: Lieutenant Commander, U.S. Navy. Place and date: Sea of Marmora, Turkey, 16 December 1922. Born: 8 November 1886, Philadelphia, Pa. Accredited to: Pennsylvania. G.O. No.: 123, 4 February 1924. (Medal presented by President Coolidge at the White House on 2 February 1924). Other Navy award: Navy Cross. Citation: For heroism in rescuing 482 men, women and children from the French military transport Vinh-Long, destroyed by fire in the Sea of Marmora, Turkey, on 16 December 1922. Lt. Comdr. Edwards, commanding the U.S.S. Bainbridge, placed his vessel alongside the bow of the transport and, in spite of several violent explosions which occurred on the burning vessel, maintained his ship in that position until all who were alive were taken on board. Of a total of 495 on board, 482 were rescued by his coolness, judgment and professional skill, which were combined with a degree of heroism that must reflect new glory on the U.S. Navy.
    1928 - Science-fiction great Philip K. Dick (d. 1982) was born Chicago, Illinois. American science fiction writer par excellence. Author of “Flow My Tears the Policeman Said,” ”Crack in Space,” “Man in the High Castle,” “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?,” “Time Out of Joint,” etc.
http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/pkdick.htm
    1930 - Birthday of flute player Sam Most (d. 2013), Atlantic City, NJ
http://home.earthlink.net/~wigwise/sammost.html
http://home.earthlink.net/~wigwise/index.htm
    1930 - Golfer Bobby Jones won the first James E. Sullivan award as the nation's best amateur athlete. The award was established by the Amateur Athletic Union to honor its former president and is presented annually to the athlete who “by his or her performance, example, and influence as an amateur, has done the most during the year to advance the course of sportsmanship.”
    1933 - Birthday of organ player Johnny “Hammond” Smith (d. 1997), Louisville, KY.
http://www.artistdirect.com/music/artist/bio/0,,543346,00.html?artist=
Johnny+%22Hammond%22+Smith
    1937 – The first escape from Alcatraz, San Francisco. Theodore Cole and Ralph Roe filed through iron bars in the prison's mat shop in the industries building and escaped on a very foggy day, preventing them from being spotted by guards in the watch towers. The two jumped into the water and were never seen again but the severe weather conditions at the time have led to a consensus that they drowned in the bay and their bodies were swept out to sea by the strong current in San Francisco Bay.
http://zpub.com/sf50/alcatraz/
    1940 - Bob Crosby and his Bobcats backed up brother Bing as "San Antonio Rose" was recorded on Decca Records.
    1941 - The first submarine from the United States to sink a Japanese ship in World War II was the USS Swordfish, commanded by Lt. Chester Carl Smith, which torpedoed the 8,662-ton Japanese freighter Atsutusan Maur under destroyer escort off the coast of Indochina. The Swordfish was 311 feet long and displaced 2,350 tons. The Ship was destroyed by a mine on its 13th patrol in January, 1945, near Okinawa, with the loss of all aboard.
    1944 - German V-2 strikes Antwerp bioscope (638 killed)
http://www.nasm.si.edu/galleries/gal114/SpaceRace/sec200img/213l3p3.jpg
http://www.hrw.com/science/si-science/earth/spacetravel/spacerace/
SpaceRace/sec200/sec210.html
http://www.nasm.si.edu/galleries/gal114/SpaceRace/sec200/sec211.htm
    1944 - US 2nd Infantry division occupies "Heartbreak Crossroads" at a vital crossroads near a cabin named Wehlerscheid, north of Krinkelt-Rocherath, Belgium. In early December, the U.S. V Corps trucked the Division from positions it had held in the south to Krinkelt-Rocherath, twin villages adjacent to Elsenborn Ridge and near the southern tip of the Battle of Hurtgen Forest. http://ranger95.crosswinds.net/divisions/99th_elsenborn_ridge.html
    1944 - Birthday of guitarist John Abercrombie (d. 2017), Port Chester, NY.
http://www.ejn.it/mus/abercrom.htm
http://www.johnabercrombie.com/
http://www.guitarspecialist.com/johnabercrombie.htm
    1944 - Battle of the Bulge: A German offensive was launched in the Belgian Ardennes forest, where Hitler had managed to concentrate 250,000 men. The Nazi commanders, hoping to minimize any aerial counterattack by the Allies, chose a time when foggy, rainy weather prevailed. The initial attack by eight armored divisions along a 75-mile front took the Allies by surprise and the 5th Panzer Army penetrated to within 20 miles of crossings on the Meuse River. US troops were able to hold fast at bottlenecks in the Ardennes, but by the end of December, the German push had penetrated 65 miles into the Allied lines (though their line had narrowed from the initial 75 miles to 20 miles). By that time, the Allies began to respond and the Germans were stopped by Montgomery on the Meuse and by Patton at Bastogne. The weather then cleared and Allied aircraft began to bomb the German forces and supply lines by December 26. The Allies reestablished their original line by January 21.
    1944 - McGARlTY, VERNON, Medal of Honor
Rank and organization: Technical Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company L, 393d Infantry, 99th Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Krinkelt, Belgium, 16 December 1944. Entered service at: Model, Tenn. Born: 1 December 1921, Right, Tenn. G.O. No.: 6, 11 January 1946. Citation: He was painfully wounded in an artillery barrage that preceded the powerful counteroffensive launched by the Germans near Krinkelt, Belgium, on the morning of 16 December 1944. He made his way to an aid station, received treatment, and then refused to be evacuated, choosing to return to his hard-pressed men instead. The fury of the enemy's great Western Front offensive swirled about the position held by T/Sgt. McGarity's small force, but so tenaciously did these men fight on orders to stand firm at all costs that they could not be dislodged despite murderous enemy fire and the breakdown of their communications. During the day the heroic squad leader rescued 1 of his friends who had been wounded in a forward position, and throughout the night he exhorted his comrades to repulse the enemy's attempts at infiltration. When morning came and the Germans attacked with tanks and infantry, he braved heavy fire to run to an advantageous position where he immobilized the enemy's lead tank with a round from a rocket launcher. Fire from his squad drove the attacking infantrymen back, and 3 supporting tanks withdrew. He rescued, under heavy fire, another wounded American, and then directed devastating fire on a light cannon which had been brought up by the hostile troops to clear resistance from the area. When ammunition began to run low, T/Sgt. McGarity, remembering an old ammunition hole about 100 yards distant in the general direction of the enemy, braved a concentration of hostile fire to replenish his unit's supply. By circuitous route the enemy managed to emplace a machinegun to the rear and flank of the squad's position, cutting off the only escape route. Without hesitation, the gallant soldier took it upon himself to destroy this menace single-handedly. He left cover, and while under steady fire from the enemy, killed or wounded all the hostile gunners with deadly accurate rifle fire and prevented all attempts to re-man the gun. Only when the squad's last round had been fired was the enemy able to advance and capture the intrepid leader and his men. The extraordinary bravery and extreme devotion to duty of T/Sgt. McGarity supported a remarkable delaying action which provided the time necessary for assembling reserves and forming a line against which the German striking power was shattered.
    1945 - MURRAY, CHARLES P., JR., Medal of Honor
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, U.S. Army, Company C, 30th Infantry, 3d Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Kaysersberg, France, 16 December 1944. Entered service at: Wilmington, N.C. Birth: Baltimore, Md. G.O. No.: 63, 1 August 1945. Citation: For commanding Company C, 30th Infantry, displaying supreme courage and heroic initiative near Kaysersberg, France, on 16 December 1944, while leading a reinforced platoon into enemy territory. Descending into a valley beneath hilltop positions held by our troops, he observed a force of 200 Germans pouring deadly mortar, bazooka, machinegun, and small arms fire into an American battalion occupying the crest of the ridge. The enemy's position in a sunken road, though hidden from the ridge, was open to a flank attack by 1st Lt. Murray's patrol but he hesitated to commit so small a force to battle with the superior and strongly disposed enemy. Crawling out ahead of his troops to a vantage point, he called by radio for artillery fire. His shells bracketed the German force, but when he was about to correct the range his radio went dead. He returned to his patrol, secured grenades and a rifle to launch them and went back to his self-appointed outpost. His first shots disclosed his position; the enemy directed heavy fire against him as he methodically fired his missiles into the narrow defile. Again he returned to his patrol. With an automatic rifle and ammunition, he once more moved to his exposed position. Burst after burst he fired into the enemy, killing 20, wounding many others, and completely disorganizing its ranks, which began to withdraw. He prevented the removal of 3 German mortars by knocking out a truck. By that time a mortar had been brought to his support. 1st Lt. Murray directed fire of this weapon, causing further casualties and confusion in the German ranks. Calling on his patrol to follow, he then moved out toward his original objective, possession of a bridge and construction of a roadblock. He captured 10 Germans in foxholes. An eleventh, while pretending to surrender, threw a grenade which knocked him to the ground, inflicting 8 wounds. Though suffering and bleeding profusely, he refused to return to the rear until he had chosen the spot for the block and had seen his men correctly deployed. By his single-handed attack on an overwhelming force and by his intrepid and heroic fighting, 1st Lt. Murray stopped a counterattack, established an advance position against formidable odds, and provided an inspiring example for the men of his command.
    1945 - Prince Fumimaro Konoe, twice Japanese prime minister, committed suicide rather than face war crimes charges. In the 1920s, he had worked to curb army powers and prevent an expansion of the war with China. He helped engineer the fall of the Tojo government in 1944 but was suspected of war atrocities.
    1945 - Top Hits
“It Might as Well Be Spring” - The Sammy Kaye Orchestra (vocal: Billy Williams)
“White Christmas” - Bing Crosby
“It's Been a Long, Long Time” - The Harry James Orchestra (vocal: Kitty Kallen)
“Silver Dew on the Blue Grass Tonight” - Bob Wills
    1947 – William Shockley, John Bardeen and Walter Brattain built the first practical point-contact transistor. Shortly after the end of the war in 1945, AT&T’s Bell Labs formed a solid state physics group, led by Shockley and chemist Stanley Morgan, which included Bardeen and Brattain. Their assignment was to seek a solid-state alternative to fragile glass vacuum tube amplifiers as an internal improvement for the Bell System which was growing the nationwide telephone system at the time.
    1950 - Patti Page's "The Tennessee Waltz" hits #1
    1950 – President Harry Truman declared a state of emergency after Chinese troops enter the fight in support of communist North Korea.
    1951 - In a special preview courtesy of "Chesterfield Sound Off Time," "Dragnet" made it to television. The police drama opened its official run on television January 3, 1952. Trivia fact: Sergeant Friday's boss in the preview was played by Raymond Burr. My father, Lawrence Menkin, wrote several of the episodes of the early editions. They were based primarily on true episodes, including actual police who consulted on and off the set for authenticity. It starred Jack Webb as stoic and determined Sergeant Joe Friday, a man whose life was his investigative work, and who was recognized by his recurring line, “Just the facts, ma'am.” My father said he was “almost everything” in the series from producer to story editor, a workaholic, very hard to deal with, and one of the reasons he was able to sell him scripts. He made many Los Angeles police friends, meaning the guys on the street, not from the PR department, and brought them along to “pitch stories”. Friday had partners, Barton Yarborough played Sergeant Ben Romero for three episodes. For the rest of the season, Barney Phillips played Sergeant Ed Jacobs and Ben Alexander played his comedic sidekick, Officer Frank Smith. A new version appeared in 1967 with Webb and his new partner, Officer Bill Gannon (Harry Morgan, the father of my very good high school friend). “Dragnet” is also known for its theme music and its narrative epilogue describing the fate of the bad guys. (Here's a side note, my father was driving a 1951 two door brown Pontiac. One day leaving the studio, he got in, said he had a hard time turning the key, but it worked, and when he got home, he didn't have the scripts in the car. He then discovered it was not his car. So he drove to the station where he knew some policemen, and they all had a big laugh, got his car back, and they used the story in one of the episodes but it was Friday's sergeant, I believe, who started the wrong car.)
    1952 - Buck Clayton All-Star group jams, Hucklebuck, Robbins' Nest, Christopher Columbus, NYC, on Columbia label.
    1953 - Top Hits
“Rags to Riches” - Tony Bennett
“White Christmas” - Bing Crosby
“Ricochet” - Teresa Brewer
“Caribbean” - Mitchell Torok
    1954 - Willie Mays becomes the first player to win the Most Valuable Player Award in his first full year in the Majors when he easily outdistances Reds first baseman Ted Kluszewski for the honor. The 23-year-old Giants center fielder made his big league debut at the end of May in 1951, but missed the last two seasons due to his military service in the U.S. Army.
    1956 - Elvis Presley leaves the Louisiana Hayride after 50 appearances on the radio show. Broadcast from KWKH in Shreveport, LA, the weekly broadcast made country music stars of several unknowns.
    1960 - A United DC-8 and a TWA Super Constellation collided over Staten Island in NY and crashed, killing all 128 people aboard both aircraft and 6 more on the ground.
    1960 - Lucille Ball took a respite from her weekly TV series to star in the Broadway production of "Wildcat," which opened at the Alvin Theatre in New York City. The show ran for 171 performances.
    1961 - Top Hits
“Please Mr. Postman” - The Marvelettes
“The Twist” - Chubby Checker
“Walk on By” - Leroy Van Dyke
“Big Bad John” - Jimmy Dean
    1961 - Martin Luther King, Jr. and 266 others were arrested in Albany, GA. Considered a major turning point in history, as evidenced by his own words in his autobiography: “On December 16, 1961, the Negro community of that city made its stride toward freedom. Citizens from every quarter of the community made their moral witness against the system of segregation. They willingly went to jail to create an effective protest. “I too was jailed on charges of parading without a permit, disturbing the peace, and obstructing the sidewalk. I refused to pay the fine and had expected to spend Christmas in jail. I hoped thousands would join me. I didn't come to be arrested. I had planned to stay a day or so and return home after giving counsel. But after seeing negotiations break down, I knew I had to stay. My personal reason for being in Albany was to express a personal witness of a situation I felt was very important to me. As I, accompanied by over one hundred spirited Negroes, voluntarily chose jail to bail, the city officials appeared so hardened to all appeals to conscience that the confidence of some of our supporters was shaken. They nervously counted heads and concluded too hastily that the movement was losing momentum. “I shall never forget the experience of seeing women over seventy, teenagers, and middle-aged adults-some with professional degrees in medicine, law, and education, some simple housekeepers and laborers-crowding the cells. This development was an indication that the Negro would not rest until all the barriers of segregation were broken down. The South had to decide whether it would comply with the law of the land or drift into chaos and social stagnation. “One must search for words in an attempt to describe the spirit of enthusiasm and majesty engendered in the next mass meeting, on that night when seven hundred Negro citizens were finally released from prison. Out from the jails came those men and women doctors, ministers, housewives-all of whom had joined ranks with a gallant student leadership in an exemplary demonstration of nonviolent resistance to segregation. “Before long the merchants were urging a settlement upon the city officials and an agreement was finally wrung from their unwilling hands. That agreement was dishonored and violated by the city.” It was inevitable that the sweep of events would see a resumption of the nonviolent movement, and when cases against the seven hundred odd prisoners were not dropped and when the city council refused to negotiate to end discrimination in public places, actions began again.
http://www.stanford.edu/group/king/publications/autobiography/chp_16.htm
http://pbsvideodb.pbs.org/chapter.asp?item_id=7897&chap_id=2ed
in Albany, Georgia.
    1962 - Birthday of William “The Refrigerator” Perry, former football player, born Aiken, SC
    1962 - Only one man ever succeeded in swimming all the way to shore from Alcatraz. John Paul Scott washed up on the rocks at Fort Point. He was so tired from the swim through the frigid waters of the Golden Gate that the boys who found him thought he was an unsuccessful suicide attempt from the overhanging Golden Gate Bridge and called for help. Police apprehended the exhausted swimmer within minutes of his landfall.
    1965 - Gen. William Westmoreland, Commander of U.S. Military Assistance Command Vietnam, sends a request for more troops. With nearly 200,000 U.S. military personnel in South Vietnam already, Westmoreland sent Defense Secretary Robert McNamara a message stating that he would need an additional 243,000 men by the end of 1966. Although the high tide of U.S. troop strength in South Vietnam never reached the 600,000, there were more than 540,000 U.S. troops in South Vietnam by 1969.
    1967 - Wilt Chamberlain of NBA Philadelphia 76ers scores 68 points vs Chicago.
    1969 - Top Hits
“Leaving on a Jet Plane” - Peter, Paul & Mary
“Someday We'll Be Together” - Diana Ross & The Supremes
“Down on the Corner/Fortunate Son” - Creedence Clearwater Revival
“(I'm So) Afraid of Losing You Again” - Charley Pride
    1970 - Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Down On The Corner,” "Lookin' Out My Back Door,” "Travelin' Band,” "Bad Moon Rising,” "Up Around The Bend,” as well as the LPs “Cosmo's Factory,” “Willy And The Poor Boys,” “Green River,” “Bayou Country,” and “Creedence Clearwater Revival,” are all certified gold.
    1971 - Melanie (Safka) earned a gold record for her single, "Brand New Key," about roller skates and love. It hit #1 on Christmas Day, 1971.
    1971 - Don McLean's eight-minute-plus (8:32) version of "American Pie" was released. It became one of the longest songs with some of the most confusing (pick your favorite interpretation) lyrics to ever hit the pop charts. Disc Jockeys also liked the song because it allowed them time for “potty breaks” from the microphone. "American Pie" hit #1 on January 15, 1972. However open to interpretation the lyrics may have been, the song's emotional resonance was unmistakable: McLean was clearly relating a defining moment in the American experience—something had been lost, and we knew it. Opening with the death of singer Buddy Holly and ending near the tragic concert at Altamont Motor Speedway, we are able to frame the span of years the song is covering—1959 to 1970—as the "10 years we've been on our own" of the third verse. It is across this decade that the American cultural landscape changed radically, passing from the relative optimism and conformity of the 1950s and early 1960s to the rejection of these values by the various political and social movements of the mid and late 1960s.
    1972 - Billy Paul's "Me and Mrs. Jones" hits #1
   1972 - The Miami Dolphins became the first NFL team to go unbeaten and untied in an NFL regular season, then 14-games. The Dolphins beat the Baltimore Colts to earn the honor. Larry King, incidentally, did color for the Dolphins this year on radio.
    1972 - Paul McCartney's single, "Hi, Hi, Hi," was released. It peaked at #10 on the top tune tabulation (February 3, 1973).
    1973 - Buffalo's O.J. Simpson runs for 200 yards against the New York Jets, becoming the first person to top 2,000 yards rushing in an NFL season (2,003).
    1974 - Arbitrator Peter Seitz declared A's ace, Catfish Hunter, to be a free agent as a result of A's owner, Charles Finley, failing to make insurance premium payments on Hunter's behalf, as stipulated in the player's contract. This led to a bidding war among MLB owners, won by the Yankees. Hunter went on to become a Hall of Famer.
    1975 - “One Day at a Time” premiered on TV. This sitcom about a divorced mother raising two girls in Indianapolis starred Bonnie Franklin as Ann Romano, Mackenzie Phillips and Valerie Bertinelli as daughters Julie and Barbara Cooper. Other regulars included Pat Harrington, J., as snarky, tool-belt-wearing maintenance man Dwayne Schneider, Richard Masur as David Kane, Ann's boyfriend, Mary Louise Wilson as neighbor Ginny Wroblicki, John Hillerman and Charles Siebert as Ann's bosses, John Putch as Barbara's boyfriend and Nanette Fabray as Ann's mother. During the course of the series, all three female leads got married and Ann opened her own ad agency.
    1975 - The Bay City Rollers earn a Gold record for their first US single, "Saturday Night." They will go on to have five more Billboard Top 40 hits.
    1976 - Andrew Young named Ambassador and Chief US Delegate to the United Nations. He resigns his congressional seat on January 29, 1977 to take the position.
http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=Y000028
http://search.eb.com/blackhistory/micro/650/54.html
http://www.manchester.edu/Academic/Programs/departments/econ/files/
museum/black/andrew.htm
http://teacherlink.ed.usu.edu/tlresources/units/Byrnes
famous/andrewyo.html
    1977 - Top Hits
“You Light Up My Life” - Debby Boone
“How Deep is Your Love” - Bee Gees
“Blue Bayou” - Linda Ronstadt
“Here You Come Again” - Dolly Parton
    1977 - The Bee Gees' "How Deep Is Your Love" is certified gold
    1978 - Cleveland, Ohio became the first city in the post-Depression era to default on its loans. Plagued by political sniping between its mayor and city council, as well as an eroding economic base, Cleveland managed to pile up $14 million in debt to a number of local banks.
    1981 - Ray Charles is awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6777 Hollywood Blvd.
    1982 - Operating capacity of factories plummets. Heading into the 1980s, America's economy was hardly in the best shape. Indeed, years of mounting debt and rising inflation had taken their toll on the nation's fiscal health. Alas, the first few years of the '80s provided little change, as the economy did not take well to Reaganomics, President Ronald Reagan's strategy of tax cuts and spending hikes. And, throughout 1982, the government released a stream of financial statistics that suggested that the situation was only growing worse. In July, the Census Bureau announced that the poverty rate had risen to 14 percent, which marked a rapid-fire 7.4-percent increase over its mark in 1980. That same November, the Labor Department revealed that the cost of living had suffered a 6-percent increase during the past twelve months. And, on December 16, the Federal Reserve released a report indicating that the operating capacity of U.S. factories had plummeted to 67.8 percent, the nation's lowest mark since the indicator was introduced in 1948.
    1983 - Replacing Billy Martin (91-71, third place), Yogi Berra is hired for the second time to manage the Yankees. The Hall of Famer's self-exile from Yankee Stadium will last for nearly 15 seasons, after he is dismissed 16 games into the 1985 season despite receiving assurances from owner George Steinbrenner that he would not be fired. Steinbrenner chose to deliver the message to the Yankee great through Clyde King rather than doing so in person, the singular reason Yogi stated he would stay away from the beloved ballpark. They reunited in 1999 and remained good friends until Steinbrenner’s death in 2010.
    1985 – Mobsters Paul Castellano and Thomas Bilotti were shot dead in front of Sparks Steak House in Manhattan on the orders of John Gotti, who assumed leadership of New York's Gambino crime family.
    1985 - Top Hits
“Broken Wings” - Mr. Mister
“Say You, Say Me” - Lionel Richie
“Party All the Time” - Eddie Murphy
“Nobody Falls Like a Fool” - Earl Thomas Conley
    1987 - A Pacific storm battered the coast of California with rain and high winds, and dumped heavy snow on the mountains of California. Winds along the coast gusted to 70 mph at Point Arguello, and winds in the Tehachapi Mountains of southern California gusted to 100 mph at Wheeler Ridge. Snowfall totals ranged up to 24 inches at Mammoth Mountain. Snow fell for two minutes at Malibu Beach, and Disneyland was closed due to the weather for only the second time in twenty-four years. A winter storm which began in the Southern Rockies four days earlier finished its course producing snow and high winds in New England. Snowfall totals ranged up to 19 inches at Blanchard, ME.
    1989 - Fifty-seven cities from the Southern and Central Plains to the Appalachians reported record low temperatures for the date, including North Platte, NE with a reading of 17 degrees below zero. Squalls in the Great Lakes Region produced 18 inches of snow at Syracuse, NY, and 30 inches at Carlisle, IN. Low pressure brought heavy snow to northern New England, with 18 inches reported at Derby and Saint Johnsbury, VT.
    1992 - IBM said it would make its first layoffs in fifty years. The company announced it would trim its staff by 25,000 employees and dispose of some of the assets of its mainframe business. IBM had long been the leading maker of mainframe computers, but in the late 1990s, demand declined as personal computers became increasingly powerful. IBM eventually sold its PC business to Lenovo, a Chinese company.
    1993 - Woman-harassing Senator Robert Packwood (R-OR) finally surrenders his diaries to a judge who turned them over to the Senate Ethics Committee. Some of the tapes had been altered. Women's groups had argued for years that Packwood should be brought up on charges of sexual harassment. According to information released to the press, Packwood had a long history of groping women, forcing himself on them using his political power, and in general being a leech. He would eventually resign from the Senate.
http://www.lectlaw.com/files/cas22.htm
    1995 - The Beatles' "Free As A Bird" peaks at number 2 on the UK charts and number 6 in the US. Written by John Lennon and performed by him on piano as a rough demo shortly before he was murdered, the track was completed by the remaining Beatles at Paul McCartney's home studio.1995-The Beatles' "Free as a Bird" peaks at number 2 on the UK charts and number 6 in the US. Written by John Lennon and performed by him on piano as a rough demo shortly before he was murdered, the track was completed by the remaining Beatles at Paul McCartney's home studio.
    1998 - Hundreds of missiles were fired on Iraq in response to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's refusal to comply with the mission of United Nations weapons inspectors.
    2000 - An F4 tornado hits communities near Tuscaloosa, AL, killing 11 people and injuring 125 others. It was the strongest December tornado in Alabama since 1950.
    2002 - After being invited to the Dominican Republic by President Hipolito Mejia, Japanese home run king Sadaharu Oh meets one his favorite players, island resident Sammy Sosa. The Dominican outfielder, who is one homer shy of the coveted 500, will have to hit several hundred more to reach the mark of 868 set by the 62-year old during his 22 seasons playing for the Yomiuri Giants.
    2002 – DH David Ortiz was released by the Minnesota Twins. The unheralded player will soon be picked up by the Red Sox, for whom he will develop as one of the most accomplished sluggers in the game. He retired after the 2016 season, having hit 541 HRs, was a big part of the Sox’ World Series championships in 2004, 2007 and 2013.
    2010 - Paul McCartney paid tribute to his Beatles band mate John Lennon during an appearance on Saturday Night Live where he performed "A Day in the Life" and then thrilled viewers with a cover version of his late friend's anti-war anthem "Give Peace a Chance."
    2011 - A federal judge sentences former Giants' super-star Barry Bonds to 30 days of house arrest, 2 years of probation, 250 hours of community service, and a $4,000 fine. The all-time home run champion, who is appealing his guilty verdict for the obstruction of justice, could have faced 15 months of jail time, as recommended by the prosecution. Many believe he should have his hitting record deleted from the history books. The perjury charges against Bonds were dropped, but he was convicted of obstruction of justice. This conviction was upheld by an appellate court panel in 2013, but after a rehearing, a larger panel of the court voted 10-1 to overturn his conviction in 2015. He served as a batting coach for the Miami Marlins in 2016 but was not retained for the 2017 season.
    2019 – New Orleans Saints QB Drew Brees broke Peyton Manning’s NFL record for career touchdown passes (539) in a 34-7 rout of the Indianapolis Colts. In the 2020 season, he stands at 565 TD passes and nearly 80,000 total passing yards. He also holds a number of other career passing records.

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