Today's Highlight in History (Oct 28th)

Today is Monday, Oct. 28, the 301st day of 2013. There are 64 days left in the year. Today in History of Nigeria: In 1998  The Council of Ministers

of the European Union voted to remove most of the sanctions applied to the Nigerian government

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 1636, the General Court of Massachusetts passed a legislative act establishing Harvard College.

In 1776, the Battle of White Plains was fought during the Revolutionary War, resulting in a limited British victory.

In 1858, Rowland Hussey Macy opened his first New York store at Sixth Avenue and 14th Street in Manhattan.

In 1919, Congress enacted the Volstead Act, which provided for enforcement of Prohibition, over President Woodrow Wilson's veto.

In 1936, President Franklin D. Roosevelt rededicated the Statue of Liberty on its 50th anniversary.

In 1940, Italy invaded Greece during World War II.

In 1958, the Roman Catholic patriarch of Venice, Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, was elected pope; he took the name John XXIII.

In 1962, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev informed the United States that he had ordered the dismantling of missile bases in Cuba.

In 1980, President Jimmy Carter and Republican presidential nominee Ronald Reagan faced off in a nationally broadcast, 90-minute debate in Cleveland.

In 1991, what became known as "The Perfect Storm" began forming hundreds of miles east of Nova Scotia; lost at sea during the storm were the six crew members of the Andrea Gail, a sword-fishing boat from Gloucester, Mass.

In 2001, the families of people killed in the Sept. 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.

Ten years ago: Firefighters beat back flames on Los Angeles' doorstep, saving hundreds of homes in the city's San Fernando Valley from California's deadliest wildfires in more than a decade. The Senate confirmed Utah Governor Mike Leavitt as head of the Environmental Protection Agency. A Soyuz space capsule carrying an American, a Russian and a Spaniard from the International Space Station landed in Kazakhstan. The seven astronauts who died in the Columbia shuttle disaster were honored with the unveiling of their names carved into the national Space Mirror Memorial.

Five years ago: Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was sentenced to four months in jail for his part in a sex-and-text scandal. (Kilpatrick ended up serving 99 days.)

One year ago: 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. President Barrack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney altered their campaign travel plans because of the approaching storm; Obama visited FEMA headquarters in Washington before returning to the White House to monitor Sandy's progress. The San Francisco Giants won their second World Series title in three years, beating the Detroit Tigers 4-3 in extra innings to complete a four-game sweep.

Thought for Today: "I prefer liberty with danger than peace with slavery." — Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Swiss-born French philosopher (1712-1778).