Today is Monday, Oct. 28, the 302nd day of 1996. 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 1636, Harvard College was founded in Massachusetts.
In 1793, Eli Whitney applied for a patent for his cotton gin (the patent was granted the following March).
In 1919, Congress enacted the Volstead Act, which provided for enforcement of Prohibition, over President Woodrow Wilson's veto.
In 1922, fascism came to Italy as Benito Mussolini took control of the government.
In 1936, President Franklin 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, taking the name John XXIII.
In 1962, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev informed the United States that he had ordered the dismantling of Soviet missile bases in Cuba.
In 1976, former Nixon aide John D. Ehrlichman entered a federal prison camp in Safford, Ariz., to begin serving his sentence for Watergate-related convictions.
Ten years ago: The true centennial of the Statue of Liberty was celebrated in New York with ceremonies that were modest compared with the hoopla of "Liberty Weekend" the previous July.
Five years ago: Two days before the start of a Middle East peace conference in Madrid, Spain, President Bush sought to lower expectations for a dramatic breakthrough, saying there was a "long, long way to go."
One year ago: The Atlanta Braves defeated the Cleveland Indians, 1-0, to win the World Series in Game 6. The Senate approved a GOP package of spending slashes and tax reductions, 52-47.
Today's Birthdays: Former baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn is 70. Actress Joan Plowright is 67. Actress Dody Goodman is 67. Musician-songwriter Charlie Daniels is 60. The chairwoman of the National Endowment for the Arts, actress Jane Alexander, is 57. Actor Dennis Franz is 52. Pop singer Wayne Fontana is 51. Actress Telma Hopkins is 48. Olympic track and field gold medalist Bruce Jenner is 47. Actress Annie Potts is 44. Microsoft chairman Bill Gates is 41. Rock musician Stephen Morris (New Order) is 39. Rock singer-musician William Reid (The Jesus & Mary Chain) is 38. Actress Daphne Zuniga is 34. Actress Lauren Holly is 33. Olympic silver medal figure skater Paul Wylie is 32. Actress Jami Gertz is 31. Actress Julia Roberts is 29. Actor Leaf Phoenix is 22.
Thought for Today: "Life is easier to take than you'd think; all that is necessary is to accept the impossible, do without the indispensable and bear the intolerable." - Kathleen Norris, American author (1880-1960).