[ T O D A Y I N H I S T O R Y ] On this day in . . . • 1538, the first university in the New World, the Universidad Santo Tomás de Aquino, is established • 1636, a vote of the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony establishes the first college in what would become the United States, today known as Harvard University • 1775, during the American Revolutionary War: A British proclamation forbids residents from leaving Boston • 1886, President Grover Cleveland dedicates the Statue of Liberty • 1893, Tchaikovskys Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Pathetique, premiered in St. Petersburg, only nine days before the composers death • 1919, Congress passes the Volstead Act over President Woodrow Wilsons veto, paving the way for Prohibition to begin the following January • 1922, Italian fascists led by Benito Mussolini march on Rome and take over the Italian government • 1929, Black Monday, a day in the Wall Street Crash of 1929, which also saw major stock market upheaval. • 1936, President Franklin D. Roosevelt rededicates the Statue of Liberty on its 50th anniversary • 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis: Soviet Union leader Nikita Khrushchev announces that he had ordered the removal of Soviet missile bases in Cuba • 1986, the centennial of the Statue of Libertys dedication is re-celebrated in New York Harbor • 1998, in London, the High Court ruled that former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet was immune from prosecution in British courts. (The House of Lords later overturned the decision, saying Pinochets arrest could stand. Pinochet was eventually allowed to return to Chile, where a court later held that he could not face charges because of his deteriorating health and mental condition. Pinochet died in 2006.) • 2001, the families of people killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack gathered in New York for a memorial service filled with prayer and song • 2003, the seven astronauts who died in the Columbia shuttle disaster were honored with the unveiling of their names carved into the national Space Mirror Memorial • 2005, Vice President Dick Cheneys top adviser, I. Lewis Scooter Libby, resigned after he was indicted on charges of obstruction of justice, perjury and making false statements in the CIA leak investigation. (Libby was convicted, but had his 30-month prison sentence commuted by President George W. Bush.) ALSO: More than a million demonstrators flooded the streets of Tehran and other major cities in Iran to back President Mahmoud Ahmadinejads call for the destruction of Israel • 2007, the first NFL game played outside North America was played at Wembley Stadium • 2009, practitioners of that religion of peace stormed a guest house used by U.N. staff in the heart of the Afghan capital, leaving 11 dead, including five U.N. staff. They praised Allah as they did so • 2010, officials reported breaking up an alleged plot in which explosives rigged as bombs and hidden in printer cartridges were shipped from Yemen addressed to Chicago synagogues. ALSO: China announced it had built what experts said was the worlds fastest supercomputer, capable of a sustained performance 40 percent greater than the previous record holder built in Oak Ridge, Tenn. • 2012, 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 storm; Obama visited FEMA headquarters in Washington before returning to the White House to monitor Sandys progress
Posted on: Mon, 28 Oct 2013 18:10:49 +0000
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