Today in History
Today’s highlight:
On Oct. 28, 1886, the Statue of Liberty, a gift from the people of France, was dedicated in New York Harbor by President Grover Cleveland.
On this date:
1726: The original edition of “Gulliver’s Travels,” a satirical novel by Jonathan Swift, was first published in London. 1858: Rowland Hussey Macy opened his first New York store at Sixth Avenue and 14th Street in Manhattan.
1922: Fascism came to Italy as Benito Mussolini took control of the government.
1940: Italy invaded Greece during World War II.
1962: Soviet leader
Nikita Khrushchev
informed the United
States that he had ordered the dismantling of missile bases in Cuba; in return, the U.S. secretly agreed to remove nuclear missiles from U.S. installations in Turkey.
1965: Pope Paul VI issued a Declaration on the Relation of the Church with Non-christian Religions which, among other things, absolved Jews of collective guilt for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
1976: Former Nixon aide John D. Ehrlichman entered a federal prison camp in Safford, Arizona, to begin serving his sentence for Watergate-related convictions. He was released in April 1978.
1980: President Jimmy Carter and Republican presidential nominee Ronald Reagan faced off in a nationally broadcast, 90-minute debate in Cleveland.
2001: The families of people killed in the September 11 terrorist attack gathered in New York for a memorial service filled with prayer and song.
2002: American diplomat Laurence Foley was assassinated in front of his house in Amman, Jordan, in the first such attack on a U.S. diplomat in decades. A student flunking out of the University of Arizona nursing school shot three of his professors to death, then killed himself.
2003: Firefighters beat back flames on Los Angeles’ doorstep, saving hundreds of homes in the city’s San Fernando Valley from California’s deadliest wildfires in more than a decade.
2013: Penn State said it would pay $59.7 million to 26 young men over claims of child sexual abuse at the hands of former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.
Ten years ago: Taliban militants stormed a guest house used by U.N. staff in the heart of the Afghan capital, leaving 11 dead, including five U.N. staff and three attackers.
Five years ago: An unmanned commercial supply rocket bound for the International Space Station exploded moments after liftoff, with debris falling in flames over the launch site in Virginia.
One year ago: A brash far-right congressman, Jair Bolsonaro, cruised to a 10-point victory in Brazil’s presidential election, becoming the latest world leader to rise to power by mixing tough, often violent talk with hard-right positions.