TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – APRIL 28
1282 Villagers in Palermo lead a revolt against French rule in Sicily.
1611 Establishment of the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, The Catholic University of the Philippines, oldest existing university in Asia and largest Catholic university in the world
1635 Virginia Governor John Harvey is accused of treason and removed from office.
1760 French forces besieging Quebec defeat the British in the second Battle on the Plains of Abraham.
1788 Maryland becomes the seventh state to ratify the constitution.
1789 The crew of the HMS Bounty mutinies against Captain William Bligh.
1818 President James Monroe proclaims naval disarmament on the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain.
1856 Yokut Indians repel an attack on their land by 100 would-be Indian fighters in California.
1914 W.H. Carrier patented the design of his air conditioner.
1916 British declare martial law throughout Ireland.
1932 A yellow fever vaccine for humans is announced.
1945 Benito Mussolini is killed by Italian partisans.
1952 The U.S. occupation of Japan officially ended when a treaty with the U.S. and 47 other countries went into effect.
1962 In the Sahara Desert of Algeria, a team led by Red Adair used explosives to put out the well fire known as the Devil’s Cigarette Lighter. The fire was caused by a pipe rupture on November 6, 1961.
1965 The U.S. Army and Marines invade the Dominican Republic.
1967 Muhammad Ali refuses induction into the U.S. Army and is stripped of his boxing title.
1969 Following a number of protests and armed students involving guns and weapons in colleges and universities across the US new laws are being sought to ban all guns from college compasses.
1977 Christopher Boyce was convicted of selling U.S. secrets.
1977 Andreas Baader and members of terrorist group the Red Army Faction (Baader-Meinhof Gang) jailed for life after a trial lasting nearly 2 years in Stuttgart, Germany
1992 – The U.S. Agriculture Department unveiled a pyramid-shaped recommended-diet chart.
1994 Former CIA officer Aldrich Ames admits he forwarded U.S. secrets to the Soviet Union Ames was sentenced to life imprisonment for his activities which amounted to one of the most damaging spy cases in U.S. history.
1996 A gunman has shot and killed 32 people in the tourist town of Port Arthur, Tasmania.
1997 A worldwide treaty to ban chemical weapons took effect. Russia and other countries such as Iraq and North Korea did not sign.
1999 The U.S. House of Representatives rejected (on a tie vote of 213-213) a measure expressing support for NATO’s five-week-old air campaign in Yugoslavia. The House also voted to limit the president’s authority to use ground forces in Yugoslavia
2004 The first Abu Ghraib torture pictures are published The images aired in a 60 Minutes II report showed gross human rights violations, including torture and murder, committed by U.S. soldiers and CIA personnel in the Baghdad prison
2006 The Bush administration has said that it will be trying to halt the lawsuit that is accusing AT&T of illegally helping the National Security Agency spy on Americans citizens
2008 The Supreme Court has issued a decision to uphold an Indiana law that requires citizens to provide photo identification when voting. It is hoped that this will guard against fraud.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
