1773 – American Revolution: Boston Tea Party – Members of the Sons of Liberty disguised as Mohawks dump crates of tea into Boston harbor as a protest against the Tea Act. Let’s think about this for 2010:
- EPA regs preclude dumping in the harbor.
- DHS stops you from unfettered access to port facilities.
- Dressing as indigenous Americans will get you a hate crimes tag. Those boys would be SOOOOOO screwed today. Good thing we got freedom when we did…
- And one other teeny, tiny detail that today’s “tea parties” seem to miss:THESE GUYS DIDN’T DUMP THEIR OWN TEA!
1811 – The first two in a series of severe earthquakes occurs, in the vicinity of New Madrid, Missouri. These three so-called Mega-quakes are believed to be an ongoing cataclysmic danger that could reprise the 1811-12 series of 2,000 quakes that affected the lands of what would be eight of today’s heartland states of the United States. The Mississippi River flowed backwards. And the fault is still there. Waiting.
1907 – The American Great White Fleet started its circumnavigation of the world under orders of President Teddy Roosevelt. What a racist name.
1944 – World War II: The Battle of the Bulge starts as General Dwight D. Eisenhower’s allied forces and Field Marshall Gerd von Rundstedt’s German army engage in the Belgian Ardennes. It’s Germany’s last big shot on the Western Front. So much for the war being over by Christmas.
1947 – William Shockley, John Bardeen and Walter Brattain build the first practical point-contact transistor. This is a bigger deal than the transition from horse to steam and internal combustion.
1950 – President Harry S. Truman declares a state of emergency, after Chinese troops enter the fight with communist North Korea in the Korean War. And another war won’t be over by Christmas…
1965 – Vietnam War: General William Westmoreland sends U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara a request for 243,000 more men by the end of 1966. And another war won’t be over by Christmas…
