Today in History: October 28, Mussolini takes power
Today in History
Today is Friday, Oct. 28, the 301st day of 2022. There are 64 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Oct. 28, 1922, fascism came to Italy as Benito Mussolini took control of the government.
On this date:
In 1636, the General Court of Massachusetts passed a legislative act establishing Harvard College.
In 1726, the original edition of “Gulliver’s Travels,” a satirical novel by Jonathan Swift, was first published in London.
In 1858, Rowland Hussey Macy opened his first New York store at Sixth Avenue and 14th Street in Manhattan.
In 1886, the Statue of Liberty, a gift from the people of France, was dedicated in New York Harbor by President Grover Cleveland.
In 1914, medical researcher Jonas Salk, who developed the first successful polio vaccine, was born in New York.
In 1919, Congress enacted the Volstead Act, which provided for enforcement of Prohibition, over President Woodrow Wilson’s veto.
In 1936, President Franklin D. Roosevelt rededicated the Statue of Liberty on its 50th anniversary.
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, Massachusetts.
In 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.
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.
In 2016, the FBI dropped what amounted to a political bomb on the Clinton campaign when it announced it was investigating whether emails on a device belonging to disgraced ex-congressman Anthony Weiner, the estranged husband of one of Clinton’s closest aides, Huma Abedin, might contain classified information.
Ten years ago: Airlines canceled more than 7,000 flights in advance of Hurricane Sandy, transit systems in New York, Philadelphia and Washington were shut down, and forecasters warned the New York area could see an 11-foot wall of water. President Barrack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney altered their campaign travel plans because of the approaching superstorm. The San Francisco Giants won their second World Series title in three years, beating the Detroit Tigers 4-3 in 10 innings to complete a four-game sweep.
Five years ago: During a visit to South Korea, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis warned that the threat of nuclear missile attacks by North Korea was accelerating; he accused the North of illegal and unnecessary missile and nuclear programs. Houston Astros first baseman Yuli Gurriel was suspended for the first five games of the 2018 season for making a racist gesture toward Dodgers pitcher Yu Darvish after hitting a home run in Game 3 of the World Series off of Darvish, who was born in Japan.
One year ago: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said his company was rebranding itself as Meta, an effort to encompass its virtual-reality vision for the future. (The social network itself would still be called Facebook.) Rapper Fetty Wap was arrested at New York’s Citi Field, where a hip-hop music festival was taking place; he would be charged with participating in a conspiracy to smuggle large amounts of cocaine and other drugs into the New York area. (The rapper pleaded guilty to a conspiracy drug charge that carried a mandatory five-year prison sentence.) Joel Quenneville resigned as coach of the Florida Panthers, two days after the second-winningest coach in NHL history was among those implicated for not swiftly responding to allegations by a Chicago Blackhawks player of being sexually assaulted by another coach during the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs.
Today’s Birthdays: Jazz singer Cleo Laine is 95. Actor Joan Plowright is 93. Actor Jane Alexander is 83. Actor Dennis Franz is 78. Actor Telma Hopkins is 74. Caitlyn Jenner is 73. Actor Annie Potts is 70. Songwriter/producer Desmond Child is 69. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is 67. The former president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (ah-muh-DEE’-neh-zhahd), is 66. Rock musician Stephen Morris (New Order) is 65. Rock singer-musician William Reid (The Jesus & Mary Chain) is 64. Actor Mark Derwin is 62. Actor Daphne Zuniga (ZOO’-nih-guh) is 60. Actor Lauren Holly is 59. Talk show host-comedian-actor Sheryl Underwood is 59. Actor Jami Gertz is 57. Actor Chris Bauer is 56. Actor-comedian Andy Richter is 56. Actor Julia Roberts is 55. Country singer-musician Caitlin Cary is 54. Actor Jeremy Davies is 53. Singer Ben Harper is 53. Country singer Brad Paisley is 50. Actor Joaquin Phoenix is 48. Actor Gwendoline Christie is 44. Singer Justin Guarini (TV: “American Idol”) is 44. Pop singer Brett Dennen is 43. Actor Charlie Semine is 42. Actor Matt Smith is 40. Actor Finn Wittrock is 38. Actor Troian Bellisario is 37. Singer/rapper Frank Ocean is 35. Actor Lexi Ainsworth (TV: “General Hospital”) is 30. Actor Nolan Gould is 24.
