Today in History - December 16th

1773 - Today in history, nearly 350 chests of tea were dumped into Boston Harbor off of British ships by Colonial patriots. The act was to protest taxation without representation and the monopoly the government granted to the East India Company.
1901 - "The Tale of Peter Rabbit," by Beatrix Potter, was printed for the first time.
1903 - On this day in history, women ushers were employed for the first time at the Majestic Theatre in New York City.
1916 - Gregory Rasputin, the monk who had wielded powerful influence over the Russian court, was murdered by a group of noblemen.
1950 - Today in history, President Truman proclaimed a national state of emergency in order to fight "Communist imperialism."
1985 - Reputed organized-crime chief Paul Castellano was shot to death outside a New York City restaurant.
1995 - On this day in history, many government functions were again closed as a temporary finance provision expired and the budget dispute between President Clinton and Republicans in Congress continued.

1998 - The United States and Britain fired hundreds of missiles on Iraq in response to Saddam Hussein's refusal to comply with U.N. weapons inspectors.
2000 - Today in history, George W. Bush selected Colin Powell to be the first African-American secretary of state. Powell was sworn in January 20, 2001.
2001 - Cuba received the first commercial food shipment from the United States in nearly 40 years. The shipment was sent after Hurricane Michelle hit Cuba on November 4, 2001.

SPORTS - Today in History, December 16th

1972 - On this day in history, The Miami Dolphins became the first team to go unbeaten and untied in a 14-game regular season. The Dolphins went on to defeat the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl.
1973 - O.J. Simpson broke Jim Brown's single-season rushing record in the NFL. Brown had rushed for 1,863 yards, while Simpson attained 2,003 yards.

2000 - Today in history, researchers announced that information from NASA's Galileo spacecraft indicated that Ganymede appeared to have a liquid saltwater ocean beneath a surface of solid ice. Ganymede is the solar system's largest moon.
2009 - On this day in history, astronomers discovered GJ1214b. It was the first-known exo-planet on which water could exist.

1770 - Composer Ludwig Van Beethoven was born.
1966 - Today in history, Jimi Hendrix released his first single, "Hey Joe."
1971 - Don McLean's eight-minute-plus version of "American Pie" was released.
1972 - On this day in history, Paul McCartney's single, "Hi, Hi, Hi," was released.
1983 - The Who officially disbanded.
1993 - Today in history, MTV aired Nirvana's New York "Unplugged" performance.
2002 - Liza Minnelli and her husband, David Gest, filed a $23 million dollar lawsuit against VH1, MTV Networks, Viacom and Remote Productions, Inc. for breach of contract. The lawsuit was filed because plans were dropped on a reality show.
2004 - On this day in history, the iTunes Music Store reached 200 million songs sold.