Tuesday, October 28, 2014

On This Day in History - October 28 Statue of Liberty Dedicated/ Gateway Arch Finished & Prohibition Enforced

Once again, it should be reiterated, that this does not pretend to be a very extensive history of what happened on this day (nor is it the most original - the links can be found down below). If you know something that I am missing, by all means, shoot me an email or leave a comment, and let me know!


Oct 28, 1965: Gateway Arch completed       

On this day in 1965, construction is completed on the Gateway Arch, a spectacular 630-foot-high parabola of stainless steel marking the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial on the waterfront of St. Louis, Missouri.  

The Gateway Arch, designed by Finnish-born, American-educated architect Eero Saarinen, was erected to commemorate President Thomas Jefferson's Louisiana Purchase of 1803 and to celebrate St. Louis' central role in the rapid westward expansion that followed. As the market and supply point for fur traders and explorers—including the famous Meriwether Lewis and William Clark—the town of St. Louis grew exponentially after the War of 1812, when great numbers of people began to travel by wagon train to seek their fortunes west of the Mississippi River. In 1947-48, Saarinen won a nationwide competition to design a monument honoring the spirit of the western pioneers. In a sad twist of fate, the architect died of a brain tumor in 1961 and did not live to see the construction of his now-famous arch, which began in February 1963. Completed in October 1965, the Gateway Arch cost less than $15 million to build. With foundations sunk 60 feet into the ground, its frame of stressed stainless steel is built to withstand both earthquakes and high winds. An internal tram system takes visitors to the top, where on a clear day they can see up to 30 miles across the winding Mississippi and to the Great Plains to the west. In addition to the Gateway Arch, the Jefferson Expansion Memorial includes the Museum of Westward Expansion and the Old Courthouse of St. Louis, where two of the famous Dred Scott slavery cases were heard in the 1860s.  

Today, some 4 million people visit the park each year to wander its nearly 100 acres, soak up some history and take in the breathtaking views from Saarinen's gleaming arch. 





 













Oct 28, 1998: President Bill Clinton signs the Digital Millennium Copyright Act into law 

According to an ABC news report, it was none other than the pop icon Prince himself who happened upon a 29-second home video of a toddler cavorting to a barely audible background soundtrack of his 1984 hit "Let's Go Crazy" and subsequently instigated a high-profile legal showdown involving YouTube, the Universal Music Group and a Pennsylvania housewife named Stephanie Lenz. Like the lawsuits that eventually shut down Napster, the case involved a piece of federal legislation that has helped establish a legal minefield surrounding the use of digital music in the age of the Internet. That legislation, called the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on this day in 1998.  

The DMCA bill was heavily supported by the content industries—Hollywood, the music business and book publishers—during its legislative journey through the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. The DMCA was written in order to strengthen existing federal copyright protections against new threats posed by the Internet and by the democratization of high technology. But included in the legislation as it was eventually enacted was a "safe harbor" provision granting companies operating platforms for user-contributed content protection from liability for acts of copyright infringement by those users. It was this provision that the operators of file-sharing platforms like Grokster and Napster tried to hide behind during their unsuccessful attempts to defend themselves against DMCA-inspired litigation in the early 2000s.  

The DMCA explicitly authorized copyright holders to issue "takedown" notices to individuals or companies believed to be engaging in infringing use of a copyrighted work. The allegation of infringing use in the case of the "Let's Go Crazy" toddler came from Universal Music Group acting in its capacity as Prince's music publisher in June 2007, and YouTube responded by immediately removing the offending video along with roughly 200 others also deemed by Universal to be in violation of the law. Stephanie Lenz appealed YouTube's takedown of her home video on the basis that the barely audible Prince clip conformed with the long-established doctrine of Fair Use. The video was restored when Universal failed to file a formal infringement lawsuit against Lenz within two weeks, but the legal thicket created by the DMCA has yet to be fully resolved by the courts or by Congress.  





 














Oct 28, 1940: Italy invades Greece

On this day in 1940, Mussolini's army, already occupying Albania, invades Greece in what will prove to be a disastrous military campaign for the Duce's forces.  

Mussolini surprised everyone with this move against Greece; even his ally, Adolf Hitler, was caught off-guard, especially since the Duce had led Hitler to believe he had no such intention. Hitler denounced the move as a major strategic blunder. According to Hitler, Mussolini should have concentrated on North Africa, continuing the advance into Egypt. Even Mussolini's own chief of army staff found out about the invasion only after the fact. But despite being warned off an invasion of Greece by his own generals, despite the lack of preparedness on the part of his military, despite that it would mean getting bogged down in a mountainous country during the rainy season against an army willing to fight tooth and nail to defend its autonomy, Mussolini moved ahead out of sheer hubris, convinced he could defeat the Greeks in a matter of days. He also knew a secret, that millions of lire had been put aside to bribe Greek politicians and generals not to resist the Italian invasion. Whether the money ever made it past the Italian fascist agents delegated with the responsibility is unclear; if it did, it clearly made no difference whatsoever-the Greeks succeeded in pushing the Italian invaders back into Albania after just one week, and the Axis power spent the next three months fighting for its life in a defensive battle. To make matters worse, virtually half the Italian fleet at Taranto had been crippled by a British carrier-based attack. Mussolini had been humiliated.




 













Oct 28, 1886: Statue of Liberty dedicated

The Statue of Liberty, a gift of friendship from the people of France to the people of the United States, is dedicated in New York Harbor by President Grover Cleveland.  

Originally known as "Liberty Enlightening the World," the statue was proposed by the French historian Edouard de Laboulaye to commemorate the Franco-American alliance during the American Revolution. Designed by French sculptor Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi, the 151-foot statue was the form of a woman with an uplifted arm holding a torch. Its framework of gigantic steel supports was designed by Eugene-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc and Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel, the latter famous for his design of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.  

In February 1877, Congress approved the use of a site on New York Bedloe's Island, which was suggested by Bartholdi. In May 1884, the statue was completed in France, and three months later the Americans laid the cornerstone for its pedestal in New York Harbor. In June 1885, the dismantled Statue of Liberty arrived in the New World, enclosed in more than 200 packing cases. Its copper sheets were reassembled, and the last rivet of the monument was fitted on October 28, 1886, during a dedication presided over by President Cleveland and attended by numerous French and American dignitaries.  

On the pedestal was inscribed "The New Colossus," a sonnet by American poet Emma Lazarus that welcomed immigrants to the United States with the declaration, "Give me your tired, your poor, / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, / The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. / Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me. / I lift my lamp beside the golden door." In 1892, Ellis Island, adjacent to Bedloe's Island, opened as the chief entry station for immigrants to the United States, and for the next 32 years more than 12 million immigrants were welcomed into New York harbor by the sight of "Lady Liberty." In 1924, the Statue of Liberty was made a national monument, and in 1956 Bedloe's Island was renamed Liberty Island. The statue underwent a major restoration in the 1980s.


 














Oct 28, 1919: Congress enforces prohibition

Congress passes the Volstead Act over President Woodrow Wilson's veto. The Volstead Act provided for the enforcement of the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, also known as the Prohibition Amendment.  

The movement for the prohibition of alcohol began in the early 19th century, when Americans concerned about the adverse effects of drinking began forming temperance societies. By the late 19th century, these groups had become a powerful political force, campaigning on the state level and calling for national liquor abstinence. In December 1917, the 18th Amendment, prohibiting the "manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors for beverage purposes," was passed by Congress and sent to the states for ratification. In January 1919, the 18th amendment achieved the necessary two-thirds majority of state ratification, and prohibition became the law of the land.  

The Volstead Act, passed nine months later, provided for the enforcement of prohibition, including the creation of a special unit of the Treasury Department. Despite a vigorous effort by law-enforcement agencies, the Volstead Act failed to prevent the large-scale distribution of alcoholic beverages, and organized crime flourished in America. In 1933, the 21st Amendment to the Constitution was passed and ratified, repealing prohibition.

Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:

 
06 - Mark Aurelius Valerius Maxentius proclaimed emperor of Rome
312 - Emperor Constantine the Great beats rival Maxentius
969 - Byzantines troops occupy Antioch Syria
1061 - Emperor disposes of bishop Cadalus & Pope Honorius II
1422 - Charles V's son succeeds him as king Charles VII of France
1467 - Battle at Brustem: Charles the Stoute beats the Luikenaars
1492 - Christopher Columbus discovers Cuba and claims it for Spain
1516 - Battle of Yaunis Khan: Turkish forces under the Grand Vizier Sinan Pasha defeat the Mameluks near Gaza.
1531 - Battle of Amba Sel: Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi again defeats the army of Lebna Dengel, Emperor of Ethiopia. The southern part of Ethiopia falls under Imam Ahmad's control.
1538 - The first university in the New World, the Universidad Santo Tomás de Aquino, is established.
1574 - Prince Willem van Orange installs university
1595 - Battle at Giurgevo: Zsigmond Bathory of Transylvania beats Turks
1612 - Robert Dowland appointed court luitist of King James I
1628 - Hugenot bulwark La Rochelle surrenders to Cardinal Richelieu
1636 - Harvard University (Cambridge, Massachusetts) founded
1646 - 1st Protestant church assembly for indians (Massachusetts)
1664 - The Duke of York and Albany's Maritime Regiment of Foot, later to be known as the Royal Marines, is established.
1740 - Ivan VI becomes czar of Russia [OS=Oct 17]
1746 - Peruvian cities of Lima & Callao demolished by earthquake, 18,000 die
Explorer of the New World Christopher ColumbusExplorer of the New World Christopher Columbus 1776 - Battle of White Plains; Washington retreats to NJ
1790 - NY gives up claims to Vermont for $30,000
1793 - Eli Whitney applies for a patent on cotton gin
1834 - The Battle of Pinjarra occurs in the Swan River Colony in present-day Pinjarra, Western Australia. Between 14 and 40 Aborigines are killed by British colonists.
1846 - Pioneers suffer blizzard in Sierra Nevada; 42 die
1848 - The first railroad in Spain - between Barcelona and Mataró - is opened.
1858 - Macy's Dept store opens in NYC
1863 - Battle at Wauhatchie Georgia: 865 killed or injured
1864 - Second Battle of Newtonia (American Civil War), Newton County, Missouri
1864 - 2nd Battle at Fair Oaks, Virginia, ends with 1554 casualties
1864 - Battle of Wauhatchie, TN
1867 - Maimonides College in Penns is 1st Jewish college in the US
1882 - Athletics reveal $22,000 profit in their 1st season in the American Association
1886 - Statue of Liberty dedicated by Pres Grover Cleveland, it is celebrated by 1st confetti (ticker tape) parade in NYC
1890 - Last NL-AA World Series game Bkln ties Louisville 3 games & 1 tie
US President Grover ClevelandUS President Grover Cleveland 1891 - Quake strikes Mino-Owari, Japan kills 7,300
1893 - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky conducted 1st performance of "Symphony Number Six in B minor, "Pathetique"
1894 - German emperor Wilhelm II fires chancellor Leo von Caprivi & premier Botho zu Eulenburg
1900 - After over 5 months 2nd Olympic games in Paris France, close
1904 - St Louis police try a new investigation method-fingerprints
1906 - Belgian-British "Union Minière du Haut Katanga" mining company created in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo
1911 - Bill Dobbie of Calgary Tigers kicks 10 singles in a game
1914 - German battle cruiser Goeben enters Black Sea
1914 - Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, founded at Howard University, incorporates
1915 - Richard Strauss' Alpensymfonie, premieres in Berlin
1918 - Czechoslovakia gains independence as Austria-Hungary breaks up
1919 - Volstead Act passed by Congress, start prohibition over Wilson's veto
1921 - Amsterdam's Tuschinski movie theater opens
1922 - 1st US coast-to-coast radio broadcast of a football game
1922 - Benito Mussolini takes control of Italy's government
Italian Dictator Benito MussoliniItalian Dictator Benito Mussolini 1924 - French-Russian trade agreement signed
1924 - White Sox beat NY Giants 8-4 in Dublin, less than 20 fans attend
1927 - Josip Broz (Tito) begins 7 months jail sentence in Croatia
1927 - KLM-plane "Homing Pigeon" leaves Neth-Indies after 1st regular flight
1928 - Bradman scores 131 NSW v Queensland, 212 mins, 14 fours
1928 - Indonesian child laws enfoced in Bahasa Indonesia
1929 - Dow Jones plummets 38.33 pts (13%) to 260.64
1934 - Brooklyn & Pittsburgh play a penalty free NFL game
1935 - Sidney Kingsley's "Dead End," premieres in NYC
1936 - FDR rededicates Statue of Liberty on its 50th anniversary
1938 - Farewell parade of International Brigade (Barcelona)
1939 - Anti-German demonstrations/strikes in Czechoslovakia
1939 - Spitfire shoots German Heinkel-111 down above Scotland
1940 - Greece successfully resists Italy's attack
1940 - Meeting between Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini in Florence
Dictator of Nazi Germany Adolf HitlerDictator of Nazi Germany Adolf Hitler 1942 - 6th day battle at El Alamein: British offensive under Montgomery
1942 - Train crashes into bus, killing 16 & injuring 20 (Detroit Michigan)
1943 - U-220 sinks
1944 - Russia & Bulgaria sign weapons pact
1946 - German rocket engineers begin work in USSR
1948 - Flag of Israel is adopted
1949 - Georges Bidault elected president of France
1951 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1952 - Babe Didrikson-Zaharias wins LPGA Women's Texas Golf Open
1953 - Bud Grant of Winnipeg Blue Bombers intercepts 5 passes (record)
1953 - Red Barber, resigns as Dodger sportscaster to join Yankees
1954 - Major league owners vote down sale of A's to a Phila syndicate
1954 - N Richard Nash' "Rainmaker," premieres in NYC
1954 - Nobel prize for literature awarded to Ernest Hemingway
1955 - Egypt & Saudi-Arabia sign defense treaty
Nobel Laureate Author Ernest HemingwayNobel Laureate Author Ernest Hemingway 1956 - Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Luctuosissimi eventus
1957 - WMVS TV channel 10 in Milwaukee, WI (PBS) begins broadcasting
1958 - Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, elected Pope, taking name John XXIII
1958 - Pete Runnels wins Comeback Player of Year (avg went from .230 to .322)
1959 - Buffalo Bills enter AFL
1959 - Jean Genet's "Les Negres," premieres in Paris
1961 - "Fiorello!" closes at Broadhurst Theater NYC after 796 performances
1961 - Ground broken for Municipal (Shea) Stadium for NY Mets
1962 - Nikita Khrushchev orders withdrawal of missiles from Cuba, ending crisis
1962 - NY Giant YA Tittle passes for 7 touchdowns vs Wash Redskins (49-34)
1962 - Radio Moscow reports nuclear missiles in Cuba deactivated
1962 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1962 - Cuban missile crisis ends after JFK and Khrushchev make a public and secret agreement
1965 - Gateway Arch (630' (190m) high) completed in St Louis, Missouri
1965 - Pope Paul VI proclaims Jews not collectively guilty for crucifixion
First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Nikita KhrushchevFirst Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Nikita Khrushchev 1966 - Belgium's Gaston Roelants runs 12-4/5 miles in 1 hour
1970 - NBA Cleveland Cavaliers 1st home game, lose to San Diego 110-99
1970 - US/USSR sign an agreement to discuss joint space efforts
1971 - Great Britain becomes 6th nation to have a satellite (Prospero) in orbit
1971 - John & Yoko record "Happy Xmas (War is Over)" in NYC
1972 - "Mother Earth" closes at Belasco Theater NYC after 12 performances
1973 - Elmore Smith of Lakers blocks 17 shots in a game (NBA record)
1973 - Sharon Miller wins LPGA Corpus Christi Civitan Golf Open
1974 - 1st time 2 Islanders hat trick in same game-MacMillian & Westfall
1974 - Luna 23 launched (landing on Moon)
1974 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1975 - Calvin Murphy (Houston) begins NBA free throw streak of 58 games
1975 - Cleveland Metroparks assume operating responsibilities for Zoo
1976 - Billy Martin named AL Manager of Year (NY Yankees)
1976 - Train collision at Goes Neth, 7 die
1978 - Don Ritchie runs world record 100k (6:10:20)
1979 - Dick Howser (best Yank mngr win-lost pct .636) replaces Billy Martin
1979 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1981 - Edward M McIntrye elected 1st black mayor of Augusta Georgia
1981 - NY Yankee George Frazier loses 3 World Series games
1982 - NASA launches RCA-E
1982 - Spain's socialists win/communists lose elections
1984 - 14th NYC Women's Marathon won by Grete Waitz in 2:29:30
1984 - 15th NYC Marathon won by Orlando Pizzolato in 2:14:53
1984 - Hollis Stacy wins LPGA Nichirei Cup Team Match Golf Tournament
1985 - Ravi Ratnayeke takes 8-83 for Sri Lanka v Pakistan
1986 - KOB-AM in Albuquerque NM changes call letters to KKOB
1986 - KOB-TV in Albuquerque NM's final transmission
1986 - The centennial of the Statue of Liberty's dedication is celebrated in New York Harbor.
1988 - Jurors award $147,000 to Tacoma parishioner seduced by her minister
1988 - Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen gives $10 million to University of Washington library
1989 - Oakland A's sweep SF Giants in earthquake/BART series
1992 - Lee Jang Rim predicts that today would be the end of the world!
1993 - Cleveland Metroparks lease Brookside Park from Cleveland for 99-years
1993 - Dutch Antilles government of Liberia-Peters resigns
1994 - Japanese space probe Sakigake passes Earth for 3rd time
1995 - Atlanta Braves beat Cleveland Indians in 6 games in World Series
1995 - Horse Racing Breeders' Cup Champs: Cigar, Desert Stormer, Inside Information, My Flag, Northern Spur, Ridgewood Pearl, Unbridled's Song
1996 - Goa upset Karnataka to win their 1st Ranji Cricket Trophy game ever
1997 - NBA announces hiring of Dee Kantner & Violet Palmer as 1st women to officiate a major-league all-male sports league
1998 - An Air China (Mainland China) jetliner is hijacked by disgruntled pilot Yuan Bin and flown to Taiwan.
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.
2006 - Funeral service for the peace of the executed at Bykivnia forest, outside of Kiev, Ukraine, with reburial of 817 Ukrainian civilians (out of some 100,000) executed by Bolsheviks at Bykivnia in 1930s - early 1940s.
2009 - The 28 October 2009 Peshawar bombing kills 117 and wounds 213.
2009 - NASA successfully launches the Ares I-X mission, the only rocket launch for its later-cancelled Constellation program.
2012 - Syrian ceasefire collapses and 128 people are killed in ongoing civil war violence
2012 - 15 people are killed and 33 injured by a series of Baghdad car bombings
2012 - Sebastian Vettel wins the 2012 Formula One Indian Grand Prix
2012 - San Francisco Giants defeat the Detroit Tigers in game four to take the 2012 MLB World Series

2012 - Pablo Sandoval is named MLB 2012 World Series MVP.



1636 - Harvard College was founded in Massachusetts. The original name was Court of Massachusetts Bay Colony. It was the first school of higher education in America.   1776 - The Battle of White Plains took place during the American Revolutionary War.   1793 - Eli Whitney applied for a patent for his cotton gin.   1886 - The Statue of Liberty was dedicated in New York Harbor by U.S. President Cleveland. The statue weighs 225 tons and is 152 feet tall. It was originally known as "Liberty Enlightening the World."   1904 - The St. Louis Police Department became the first to use fingerprinting.   1919 - The U.S. Congress enacted the Volstead Act, also known as the National Prohibition Act. Prohibition was repealed in 1933 with the passing of the 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.   1922 - Benito Mussolini took control of the Italian government and introduced fascism to Italy.   1936 - The Statue of Liberty was rededicated by U.S. President Roosevelt on its 50th anniversary.   1940 - During World War II, Italy invaded Greece.   1949 - U.S. President Harry Truman swore in Eugenie Moore Anderson as the U.S. ambassador to Denmark. Anderson was the first woman to hold the post of ambassador.   1958 - Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was elected Pope. He took the name John XXIII.   1962 - Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev informed the U.S. that he had ordered the dismantling of Soviet missile bases in Cuba.   1965 - Pope Paul VI issued a decree absolving Jews of collective guilt for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.   1965 - The Gateway Arch along the waterfront in St. Louis, MO, was completed.   1976 - John D. Erlichman, a former aide to U.S. President Richard Nixon, entered a federal prison camp in Safford, AZ, to begin serving his sentence for Watergate-related convictions.   1982 - Soviet premier Leonid Brezhnev condemned the U.S. for arms buildup.   1983 - The U.S. vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution "deeply deploring" the ongoing U.S.-led invasion of Grenada.   1985 - John A. Walker Jr. and his son, Michael Lance Walker, pled guilty to charges of spying for the Soviet Union.   1986 - The centennial of the Statue of Liberty was celebrated in New York.   1988 - Roussel Uclaf, a French manufacturer that produces the abortion pill RU486, announced it would resume distribution of the drug after the government of France demanded it do so.   1990 - Iraq announced that it was halting gasoline rationing.   1993 - Ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, called for a complete blockade of Haiti to force out the military leaders.   1994 - U.S. President Clinton visited Kuwait and implied that all the troops there would be home by Christmas.   1996 - The Dow Jones Industial Average gained a record 337.17 points (or 5%). The day before the Dow had dropped 554.26 points (or 7%). 




1793 Eli Whitney applied for a patent for the cotton gin. 1886 The Statue of Liberty was dedicated in New York Harbor by President Grover Cleveland. 1919 Congress passed the Volstead Act, or the National Prohibition Act, over President Woodrow Wilson's veto. 1922 Benito Mussolini took control of the government of Italy. 1940 Italy invaded Greece during World War II. 1958 A new pope was elected—Pope John XXIII. 1962 Nikita Khrushchev told the U.S. that he had ordered the dismantling of Soviet missile bases in Cuba.     




The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:

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