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 1776, the Battle of White Plains was fought during the Revolutionary War, resulting in a limited British victory.
In 1914, Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip, whose assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, sparked World War I, was sentenced in Sarajevo to 20 years’ imprisonment. (He died in 1918.)
In 1936, President Franklin D. Roosevelt rededicated the Statue of Liberty on its 50th anniversary.
In 1940, Italy invaded Greece during World War II.
In 1958, the Roman Catholic patriarch of Venice, Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, was elected Pope; he took the name John XXIII. The Samuel Beckett play “Krapp’s Last Tape” premiered in London.
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 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.
In 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).
In 1980, President Jimmy Carter and Republican presidential nominee Ronald Reagan faced off in a nationally broadcast, 90-minute debate in Cleveland.
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 1996, Richard Jewell, cleared of committing the Olympic park bombing, held a news conference in Atlanta in which he thanked his mother for standing by him and lashed out at reporters and investigators who’d depicted him as the bomber, who turned out to be Eric Rudolph. Comedian Morey Amsterdam died in Los Angeles at age 87.
Ten years ago: President George W. Bush spoke by video conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki (NOO’-ree ahl-MAHL’-ih-kee) as he sought to reaffirm support for the Iraqi leader. Former heavyweight champion Trevor Berbick was found dead in a Jamaican church courtyard, the victim of a fatal beating. (A 21-year-old nephew and another man were later convicted of killing Berbick.) Basketball Hall-of-Fame coach Red Auerbach died in Washington, D.C., at age 89.
Five years ago: Monks and soldiers piled sandbags outside Bangkok’s most treasured temples and palaces as Thailand’s worst floods in decades sent ankle-high water rushing briefly into some of the capital’s main tourist districts. NBA Commissioner David Stern canceled all NBA games through November after labor negotiations broke down for the second time in a week. The St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series, beating the Texas Rangers 6-2 in Game 7.