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October 27 in History

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Target Thirty-Three Over Banes

October 27, 1962

Target Thirty-Three Over Banes

When a lone American spy plane disintegrated seventy-two thousand feet over Cuba, the pre-arranged plans for retaliation brought nuclear war within hours of igniting. Instead of launching strikes, John F. Kennedy paused, realizing that local commanders on the ground were slipping past their leaders' control.

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Also on this day

More that happened on October 27

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  1. 1553Spanish theologian and physician Michael Servetus was burned at the stake for heresy outside the gates of Geneva.
  2. 1795Thomas Pinckney negotiated the Treaty of San Lorenzo with Spain, securing American navigation rights along the Mississippi River.
  3. 1806French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte led his victorious army into Berlin following the defeat of Prussian forces.
  4. 1838Missouri Governor Lilburn Boggs issued an executive order directing state militia to expel or exterminate all Mormon residents.
  5. 1873Illinois farmer Joseph Glidden submitted his design for an improved barbed wire, securing a vital patent for western agriculture.
  6. 1904The first underground line of the New York City subway system began passenger operations throughout Manhattan.
  7. 1917Thousands of suffragists paraded through New York City to demand voting rights for women across the state.
  8. 1922Italian Prime Minister Luigi Facta resigned under pressure as Benito Mussolini rallied Fascist forces to march on Rome.
  9. 1954World War II commander Benjamin O. Davis Jr. was appointed the first African American general in the United States Air Force.
  10. 1986The United Kingdom drastically deregulated its financial markets, transforming the London Stock Exchange in an event dubbed the Big Bang.
  11. 1999Armed assailants stormed the Armenian parliament building in Yerevan, assassinating Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsyan and several other officials.

Chosen from the October 27 pages of HistoryNet and OnThisDay.com, retold in our own words.