HISTORY TODAY: October 28

1962

Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev orders Soviet missiles
removed from Cuba, ending the Cuban Missile Crisis.

312		Constantine the Great defeats Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maxentius at the Mulvian Bridge.
969		After a prolonged siege, the Byzantines end 300 years of Arab rule in Antioch.
1216		Henry III of England is crowned.
1628		After a fifteen-month siege, the Huguenot town of La Rochelle surrenders to royal forces.
1636		Harvard College, the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States, is founded in Cambridge, Mass.
1768		Germans and Acadians join French Creoles in their armed revolt against the Spanish governor of New Orleans.
1793		Eli Whitney applies for a patent on the cotton gin, a machine which cleans the tight-clinging seeds from short-staple cotton easily and effectively–a job which was previously done by hand.
1863		In a rare night attack, Confederates under Gen. James Longstreet attack a Federal force near Chattanooga, Tennessee, hoping to cut their supply line, the “cracker line.” They fail.
1886		The Statue of Liberty, originally named Liberty Enlightening the World, is dedicated at Liberty Island, N. Y., formerly Bedloe’s Island, by President Grover Cleveland
1901		Race riots sparked by Booker T. Washington’s visit to the White House kill 34.
1904		The St. Louis police try a new investigation method: fingerprints.
1914		The German cruiser Emden, disguised as a British ship, steams into Penang Harbor near Malaya and sinks the Russian light cruiser Zhemchug.
1914		George Eastman announces the invention of the color photographic process.
1919		Over President Woodrow Wilson‘s veto, Congress passes the National Prohibition Act, or Volstead Act, named after its promoter, Congressman Andrew J. Volstead. It provides enforcement guidelines for the Prohibition Amendment.
1927		Pan American Airways launches the first scheduled international flight.
1940		Italy invades Greece, launching six divisions on four fronts from occupied Albania.
1944		The first B-29 Superfortress bomber mission flies from the airfields in the Mariana Islands in a strike against the Japanese base at Truk.
1960		In a note to the OAS (Organization of American States), the United States charges that Cuba has been receiving “substantial quantities of arms and numbers of military technicians” from the Soviet bloc.
1962		Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev orders Soviet missiles removed from Cuba, ending the Cuban Missile Crisis.
1965		Construction is completed on the St. Louis Arch; at 630 feet (192m), it is the world’s tallest arch.
1971		Britain launches the satellite Prospero into orbit, using a Black Arrow carrier rocket; this is the first and so far (2013) only British satellite launched by a British rocket.
1982		The Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party wins the election, giving Spain its first Socialist government since the death of right-wing President Francisco Franco.
2005		Libby “Scooter” Lewis, chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, resigns after being indicted for “outing” CIA agent Valerie Plame.
2007		Argentina elects its first woman president, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.
Born on October 28
1875		Gilbert Grosvenor, editor, turned the National Geographic Society’s irregularly published pamphlet into a periodical with a circulation of nearly two million.
1896		Howard Hanson, composer, director of the Eastman School of music.
1903		Evelyn Waugh, English novelist who wrote Decline and Fall and Brideshead Revisited.
1909		Francis Bacon, English artist who painted expressionist portraits.
1912		Richard Doll, English epidemiologist who established a link between tobacco smoke and cancer.
1914		Jonas Salk, U.S. scientist who developed the first vaccine against polio.
1926		Bowie Kuhn, Commissioner of Major League Baseball (1969–1984).
1936		Charlie Daniels, country / Southern rock singer, songwriter, musician (“The Devil Went Down to Georgia”).
1938		Anne Perry, an author of historical detective fiction, she was herself convicted at age 15 of aiding in the murder of a friend’s mother in New Zealand; their crime was the basis for the 1994 film Heavenly Creatures.
1944		Anton Schlecker, founder of the Schlecker Company, which operated retail stores across Europe.
1949		Caitlyn Jenner, formerly known as Bruce, athlete, actor; won gold medal in the Decathlon at the Summer Olympics in Montreal (1976).
1951		Joe R. Lansdale, author (“Hap and Leonard” novel series, “Bubba Ho-Tep”); won World Horror Convention Grand Master Award 2007.
1955		William “Bill” Gates, the former chairman and CEO of Microsoft Corporation, the world’s largest software firm.
1967		Sophie, Hereditary Princess of Liechtenstein.
1967		Julia Roberts, actress (Pretty Woman, Steel Magnolias; won an Academy Award for Best Actress in Erin Brockovich).
1967		John Romero, game designer, developer; co-founded id Software (Doom, Quake).
1972		Brad Paisley, country / Southern rock singer, songwriter, musician (“I’m Gonna Miss Her,” “Letter to Me”); his many awards include the Country Music Association’s Entertainer of the Year 2010.

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