1773 – Expulsion of tea ships from Philadelphia.
1799 – George Washington is eulogized by Colonel Henry Lee as “1st in war, 1st in peace & 1st in hearts of his countrymen.”
1848 – 1st gold seekers arrive in Panama en route to San Francisco.
1854 – Wood-pulp paper 1st exhibited, Buffalo.
1870 – James H Mason (Mass) patents 1st US coffee percolator.
1878 – 1st US store to install electric lights, Philadelphia.
1914 – US Government protests British interference with American merchant ships at sea, on the same day Germans announce they will treat food as contraband, subject to seizure; weakens American’s protest.
1933 – FM radio patent granted to American engineer Edwin Howard Armstrong.
1941 – Winston Churchill becomes first British Prime Minister to address a joint meeting of the US Congress, warning that Axis would “stop at nothing”
1944 – Battle of Bastogne: US General Patton’s 3rd Army repulses Germans.
1954 – “The Shadow” airs for last time on radio.
1963 – US furnishes cereal to USSR.
1965 – “Funny Girl” based on the life of Fanny Brice, with Barbra Streisand closes on Broadway.
1973 – 2 Skylab 3 astronauts walk in space for a record 7 hours.
1982 – TIME’s Man of the Year is a computer.
1986 – TV soap “Search for Tomorrow” ends 35 year run.
1991 – Jack Ruby’s gun sells for $220,000 in auction.
1992 – NY Jet announcer Marty Glickman retires at 75.
1998 – Iraq announces its intention to fire upon U.S. and British warplanes that patrol the northern and southern no-fly zones.
2001 – Crude oil prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) record one of their largest 1-day jumps of the year as traders become convinced that OPEC will follow through on production cuts.