On This Day in History – October 28

Major Events

• 1492 – Christopher Columbus landed in Cuba.
• 1538 – The first university in the New World, Universidad Santo Tomás de Aquino, was founded.
• 1886 – The Statue of Liberty was dedicated in New York Harbor.
• 1919 – Prohibition began in the United States with the Volstead Act.
• 1929 – The U.S. stock market crashed, known as “Black Monday.”
• 1962 – Cuban Missile Crisis ended as Khrushchev agreed to remove missiles from Cuba.
• 2007 – Cristina Fernández de Kirchner was elected Argentina’s first female president.

Famous Birthdays

• Erasmus (1466–1536) – Dutch philosopher and humanist.
• Jonas Salk (1914–1995) – American physician, developer of the polio vaccine.
• Francis Bacon (1909–1992) – Irish painter.
• Bill Gates (born 1955) – American businessman, Microsoft co-founder.
• Julia Roberts (born 1967) – American actress.

Notable Deaths

• James Boswell (1740–1795) – Scottish biographer of Samuel Johnson.
• Marcello Mastroianni (1924–1996) – Italian actor.
• Richard Harris (1930–2002) – Irish actor.

Holidays

• Ohi Day (Greece) – Marks rejection of Italian ultimatum in 1940.
• Independence Day (Czech Republic, Slovakia)

Fun Facts

• The Statue of Liberty was a gift from France.
• Bill Gates and Julia Roberts share this birthday.
• The Cuban Missile Crisis ended peacefully on this day.