TODAY IN HISTORY

Today is Thursday, Oct. 28, the 301st day of 2021.

Today’s highlight in history

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

In 1636, the General Court of Massachusetts passed a legislative act establishing Harvard College.

In 1858, Rowland Hussey Macy opened his first New York store at Sixth Avenue and 14th Street in Manhattan.

In 1914, medical researcher Jonas Salk, who developed the first successful polio vaccine, was born in New York.

In 1922, fascism came to Italy as Benito Mussolini took control of the government.

In 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.

In 1991, what became known as “The Perfect Storm” began forming hundreds of miles east of Nova Scotia; lost at sea during the storm were the six crew members of the Andrea Gail, a swordfishing boat from Gloucester, Mass. In 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.

In 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.

Today’s birthdays

Singer Cleo Laine is 94. Actor Joan Plowright is 92. Actor Jane Alexander is 82. Actor Dennis Franz is 77. Actor Telma Hopkins is 73. TV personality Caitlyn Jenner is 72. Actor Annie Potts is 69. Songwriter Desmond Child is 68. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is 66. Actor Daphne Zuniga is 59. Actor Lauren Holly is 58. Talk show host Sheryl Underwood is 58. Actor Andy Richter is 55. Actor Julia Roberts is 54. Singer Ben Harper is 52. Singer Brad Paisley is 49. Actor Joaquin Phoenix is 47. Actor Matt Smith is 39. Actor Finn Wittrock is 37. Actor Nolan Gould is 23.