KSAT Kids: Today in History, Oct. 28

Italy invades Greece during World War II; airlines cancel more than 7,000 flights

Today is Wednesday, Oct. 28, the 302nd day of 2020. There are 64 days left in the year.

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 1858, Rowland Hussey Macy opened his first New York store at Sixth Avenue and 14th Street in Manhattan.
  • In 1922, fascism came to Italy as Benito Mussolini took control of the government.
  • In 1940, Italy invaded Greece during World War II.
  • 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 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 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.
  • 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 2002, American diplomat Laurence Foley was assassinated in front of his house in Amman, Jordan, in the first such attack on a U.S. diplomat in decades. A student flunking out of the University of Arizona nursing school shot three of his professors to death, then killed himself.
  • In 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.
  • 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.

Today’s Birthdays:

Caitlyn Jenner is 71. Actor Annie Potts is 68. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is 65. The former president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is 64. Rock musician Stephen Morris (New Order) is 63. Country/gospel singer-musician Ron Hemby (The Buffalo Club) is 62. Rock singer-musician William Reid (The Jesus & Mary Chain) is 62. Actor Mark Derwin is 60. Actor Daphne Zuniga is 58. Actor Lauren Holly is 57. Talk show host-comedian-actor Sheryl Underwood is 57. Actor Jami Gertz is 55. Actor Chris Bauer is 54. Actor-comedian Andy Richter is 54. Actor Julia Roberts is 53. Country singer-musician Caitlin Cary is 52. Actor Jeremy Davies is 51. Singer Ben Harper is 51. Country singer Brad Paisley is 48. Actor Joaquin Phoenix is 46. Actor Gwendoline Christie is 42. Singer Justin Guarini (TV: “American Idol”) is 42. Pop singer Brett Dennen is 41. Rock musician Dave Tirio (Plain White T’s) is 41. Actor Charlie Semine is 40. Actor Matt Smith is 38. Actor Finn Wittrock is 36. Actor Troian Bellisario is 35. Singer/rapper Frank Ocean is 33. Actor Lexi Ainsworth (TV: “General Hospital”) is 28. Actor Nolan Gould is 22.