On This Day in History - October 28th - Almanac

Today is Friday, Oct. 28, the 302nd day of 2016 with 64 to follow.

The moon is waning. Morning stars are Neptune, Uranus, Jupiter and Mercury. Evening stars are Venus, Saturn, Mars, Neptune and Uranus.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Scorpio. They include Dutch scholar Desiderius Erasmus in 1466; rifle maker Eliphalet Remington in 1793; Russian writer Ivan Turgenev in 1818; eight-time Academy Award-winning costumer Edith Head in 1897; actor Elsa Lanchester in 1902; English novelist Evelyn Waugh in 1903; Dr. Jonas Salk, a developer of the polio vaccine, in 1914; former baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn in 1926; country musician Charlie Daniels in 1936 (age 80); basketball Hall of Fame member Lenny Wilkens in 1937 (age 79); actors Jane Alexander in 1939 (age 77) and Dennis Franz in 1944 (age 72); rock singer Wayne Fontana in 1945 (age 71); singer/actor Telma Hopkins in 1948 (age 68); Olympic decathlon champion Caitlyn Jenner in 1949 (age 67); Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates in 1955 (age 61); former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 1956 (age 60); actors Annie Potts in 1952 (age 64), Lauren Holly in 1963 (age 53), Jami Gertz in 1965 (age 51), Andy Richter in 1966 (age 50), Julia Roberts in 1967 (age 49) and Joaquin Phoenix in 1974 (age 42).

On this date in history:

In 1636, Harvard College, now Harvard University, was founded in Massachusetts.

In 1886, the Statue of Liberty, a gift of friendship from the people of France to the United States, was dedicated in New York Harbor by U.S. President Grover Cleveland.

In 1919, the U.S. Congress passed the Volstead Act, over President Woodrow Wilson's veto, enforcing the constitutional amendment prohibiting the use of alcoholic beverages. This rang in the era of bootleg liquor when people whispered passwords through speak-easy doors, flappers ruled the dance floor and mobsters like Al Capone made millions from a thirsty public. The ban on booze lasted more than a decade until Congress repealed the law in 1933.

In 1922, Benito Mussolini marches on Rome, taking over the Italian government.

In 1929, Black Monday sees another massive stock market upheaval, another day in the Wall Street Crash of 1929.

In 1942, the Alaska Highway, constructed for the purpose of connecting the contiguous United States to Alaska through Canada, is completed at a length of 1,700 miles, running from Dawson Creek, British Columbia to Delta Junction, Alaska.

In 1962, Russian chief Nikita Khrushchev announced that all Soviet offensive missiles would be removed from Cuba.

In 1965, the Declaration on the Relation of the Church with Non-Christian Religions, passed overwhelmingly by the Second Vatican Council, would absolve Jews of responsibility for the death of Jesus. This reversed a 760-year-old declaration made by Pope Innocent III.

In 1985, the leader of the so-called Walker family spy ring, John A. Walker Jr., pleaded guilty to giving U.S. Navy secrets to the Soviet Union. Walker died in a federal prison in August 2014.

In 1989, the Oakland A's wrapped up an earthquake-delayed sweep of the World Series over the San Francisco Giants.

In 2007, Cristina Fernandez became the first woman to be elected president of Argentina.

In 2010, China announced it had built what experts said was the world's fastest supercomputer, capable of a sustained performance 40 percent greater than the previous record holder built in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

In 2013, Conrad Murray, the cardiologist convicted of involuntary manslaughter in pop star Michael Jackson's death, was released from the Los Angeles County jail after serving two years of a four-year sentence

A thought for the day: "Gay people have a different role than other minority groups. ... Very few black kids have ever had to worry about telling their parents that they were black." -- Barney Frank