12 History Lessons + 7 Births & 7 Deaths for October 28, 2025
Today’s History:
- 1492 – Christopher Columbus lands on the coast of Cuba during his first voyage.
- 1636 – Massachusetts Bay Colony votes to establish a “college at Newtowne,” later named Harvard.
- 1726 – Jonathan Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travels” is published in London.
- 1886 – The Statue of Liberty is dedicated on Bedloe’s Island by President Grover Cleveland.
- 1919 – U.S. Congress overrides President Wilson’s veto to enact the Volstead Act (Prohibition enforcement).
- 1922 – March on Rome begins as Benito Mussolini’s Fascists move to seize power.
- 1929 – “Black Monday”: the Dow plunges 12.8% amid the Wall Street Crash of 1929.
- 1940 – Italy invades Greece after issuing an ultimatum (Ohi Day).
- 1962 – Cuban Missile Crisis: Khrushchev agrees to remove Soviet missiles from Cuba.
- 1965 – The Gateway Arch in St. Louis is “topped out,” completing its 630-foot span.
- 2007 – Cristina Fernández de Kirchner is elected Argentina’s first elected female president.
- 2013 – Europe’s Rosetta/Philae team confirms Comet 67P landing site “Agilkia” ahead of the 2014 touchdown.
Today’s Birthdays:
- 1949 – Caitlyn Jenner, Olympic decathlon champion and television personality (76)
- 1955 – Bill Gates, Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist (70)
- 1963 – Eros Ramazzotti, Italian pop/rock singer-songwriter (62)
- 1967 – Julia Roberts, Academy Award–winning actor (58)
- 1972 – Brad Paisley, Grammy-winning country singer-guitarist (53)
- 1982 – Matt Smith, actor (“Doctor Who,” “The Crown,” “House of the Dragon”) (43)
- 1987 – Frank Ocean, singer-songwriter and producer (38)
Today’s Deaths:
- 1704 – John Locke, English philosopher (“Two Treatises of Government”) (72)
- 1959 – Camilo Cienfuegos, Cuban revolutionary commander (27)
- 1965 – Earl Bostic, American jazz and R&B saxophonist (52)
- 1998 – Ted Hughes, Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom (68)
- 2005 – Richard Smalley, Nobel Prize–winning chemist (fullerenes) (62)
- 2006 – Trevor Berbick, former world heavyweight boxing champion (52)
- 2023 – Matthew Perry, actor (“Friends”) (54)
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