This Day in History
28 October. Events from the Supanet archive.
- 2009 NASA successfully launches the Ares I-X mission, the only rocket launch for its later-cancelled Constellation program. 17 yrs ago
- 2009 The 28 October 2009 Peshawar bombing kills 117 and wounds 213. 17 yrs ago
- 2007 Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner becomes the first woman elected President of Argentina. 19 yrs ago
- 2006 Funeral service takes place for those executed at Bykivnia forest, outside Kiev, Ukraine. 817 Ukrainian civilians (out of some 100,000) executed by Bolsheviks at Bykivnia in 1930s : early 1940s are reburied. 20 yrs ago
- 2005 Plame affair: Lewis Libby, Vice-president Dick Cheney's chief of staff, is indicted in the Valerie Plame case. Libby resigns later that day. 21 yrs ago
- 1998 An Air China jetliner is hijacked by disgruntled pilot Yuan Bin and flown to Taiwan. 28 yrs ago
- 1995 289 people are killed and 265 injured in Baku Metro fire, the deadliest subway disaster. 31 yrs ago
- 1986 The centenary of the dedication of the Statue of Liberty is celebrated in New York Harbor. 40 yrs ago
- 1985 Sandinista Daniel Ortega becomes president of Nicaragua and vows to continue the transformation to socialism and alliance with the Soviet Union and Cuba; American policy continues to support the Contras in their revolt against the Nicaraguan government. 41 yrs ago
- 1982 Spanish Socialist Workers' Party wins elections, leading to first Socialist government in Spain after death of Franco. Felipe Gonzalez becomes Prime Minister-elect. 44 yrs ago
- 1971 Britain launches its first satellite, Prospero, into low Earth orbit atop a Black Arrow carrier rocket. 55 yrs ago
- 1965 Construction on the St. Louis Arch is completed. 61 yrs ago
- 1965 Nostra Aetate, the "Declaration on the Relation of the Church with Non-Christian Religions" of the Second Vatican Council, is promulgated by Pope Paul VI; it absolves the Jews of responsibility for the death of Jesus, reversing Innocent III's 760 year-old declaration. 61 yrs ago
- 1964 Vietnam War: U.S. officials deny any involvement in bombing North Vietnam. 62 yrs ago
- 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis: Soviet Union leader Nikita Khrushchev announces that he had ordered the removal of Soviet missile bases in Cuba. 64 yrs ago
- 1958 John XXIII, is elected as Pope. 68 yrs ago
- 1954 The modern Kingdom of the Netherlands is re-founded as a federal monarchy. 72 yrs ago
- 1948 Swiss chemist Paul Muller is awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of the insecticidal properties of DDT. 78 yrs ago
- 1942 The Alaska Highway (Alcan Highway) is completed through Canada to Fairbanks, Alaska. 84 yrs ago
- 1940 World War II: Greece rejects Italy's ultimatum. Italy invades Greece through Albania, marking Greece's entry into World War II. 86 yrs ago
- 1936 U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt rededicates the Statue of Liberty on its 50th anniversary. 90 yrs ago
- 1929 Black Monday, a day in the Wall Street Crash of 1929, which also saw major stock market upheaval. 97 yrs ago
- 1928 Declarated of Youth Pledge in Indonesia , the first time Indonesia Raya song was sung 98 yrs ago
- 1922 March on Rome: Italian fascists led by Benito Mussolini march on Rome and take over the Italian government. 104 yrs ago
- 1919 The U.S. Congress passes the Volstead Act over President Woodrow Wilson's veto, paving the way for Prohibition to begin the following January. 107 yrs ago
- 1918 World War I: Czechoslovakia is granted independence from Austria-Hungary marking the beginning of independent Czechoslovak state, after 300 years. 108 yrs ago
- 1918 New Polish government in Western Galicia is established. 108 yrs ago
- 1915 Richard Strauss conducts the first performance of his tone poem Eine Alpensinfonie in Berlin. 111 yrs ago
- 1893 Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Pathetique, receives its premiere performance in St. Petersburg, only nine days before the composer's death. 133 yrs ago
- 1891 The Mino-Owari earthquake, the largest earthquake in Japan's history, strikes Gifu Prefecture. 135 yrs ago
- 1886 In New York Harbor, President Grover Cleveland dedicates the Statue of Liberty. 140 yrs ago
- 1864 American Civil War: The Battle of Fair Oaks & Darbytown Road (also known as the Second Battle of Fair Oaks) ends : Union forces under General Ulysses S. Grant withdraw from Fair Oaks, Virginia, after failing to breach the Confederate defenses around Richmond, Virginia. 162 yrs ago
- 1835 The United Tribes of New Zealand is established with the signing of the Declaration of Independence. 191 yrs ago
- 1834 The Battle of Pinjarra is fought in the Swan River Colony in present-day Pinjarra, Western Australia. Between 14 and 40 Aborigines are killed by British colonists. 192 yrs ago
- 1776 American Revolutionary War: Battle of White Plains : British Army forces arrive at White Plains, attack and capture Chatterton Hill from the Americans. 250 yrs ago
- 1775 American Revolutionary War: A British proclamation forbids residents from leaving Boston. 251 yrs ago
- 1707 The 1707 Hoei earthquake causes more than 5,000 deaths in Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu, Japan 319 yrs ago
- 1664 The Duke of York and Albany's Maritime Regiment of Foot, later to be known as the Royal Marines, is established. 362 yrs ago
- 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. 390 yrs ago
- 1628 The Siege of La Rochelle, which had lasted for 14 months, ends with the surrender of the Huguenots. 398 yrs ago