This Day In History: Mutiny on the HMS Bounty, April 28, 1789

Mutiny on the HMS Bounty

Born on This Day

Harper Lee

Harper Lee

1926 - 2016

Author of the classic 1960 novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" based on her own upbringing in racially divided Alabama in the 1930s.

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno

Jay Leno

1950 -

Comedian and car collector who replaced Johnny Carson as host of "The Tonight Show."

"L'immensitÃ " Madrid Photocall

Penélope Cruz

1974 -

Oscar-winning Spanish actress who played sultry heroines in films like "All About My Mother" and "Vicky Cristina Barcelona."

Harper LeeBen Martin/Getty Images

Jay LenoGetty Images

Penélope CruzWireImage

1953

APR28

Inventor Howard Ross receives a patent for a "double coat"—an outer layer that can be extended to cover two people. The intended use? To protect spectators in athletic stadiums when it rains.

Timeline

Also on This Day in History

Discover more of the major events, famous births, notable deaths and everything else history-making that happened on April 28th

Union captures New Orleans

Union troops officially take possession of New Orleans, completing the occupation that had begun four days earlier. The capture of this vital southern city was a huge blow to the Confederacy. Southern military strategists planned for a Union attack down the Mississippi, not from the Gulf of Mexico. In early 1862, the Confederates concentrated their […]

Luxury car magnate Ferruccio Lamborghini is born

On April 28, 1916, Ferruccio Lamborghini, the founder of the company that bears his name and is known for stylish, high-performance cars, is born in Italy. After World War II, Lamborghini founded a business making tractors from reconfigured surplus military machines, near Bologna, Italy. He later expanded into other ventures, including manufacturing air-conditioning and heating […]

1:24m read read

Italian entrepreneur and founder of the car company bearing his own name Ferruccio Lamborghini sitting in his office. Italy, 1970s

Benito Mussolini executed

Deposed Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and his mistress, Clara Petacci, are shot and executed by Italian partisans.

1:16m read read

U.S. troops land in the Dominican Republic in attempt to forestall a “communist dictatorship”

In an effort to forestall what he claims will be a “communist dictatorship” in the Dominican Republic, President Lyndon B. Johnson sends more than 22,000 U.S. troops to the island nation. Johnson’s action provoked protests in Latin America and skepticism among many in the United States. Troubles in the Dominican Republic began in 1961, when […]

2:10m read read

Muhammad Ali refuses Army induction

On April 28, 1967, boxing champion Muhammad Ali refuses to be inducted into the U.S. Army and is immediately stripped of his heavyweight title. Ali, a Muslim, cited religious reasons for his decision to forgo military service. Born Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr., in Louisville, Kentucky, on January 14, 1942, the future three-time world champ changed […]

Charles de Gaulle resigns as leader of France

Following the defeat of his proposals for constitutional reform in a national referendum, Charles de Gaulle resigns as president of France. A veteran of World War I, de Gaulle unsuccessfully petitioned his country to modernize its armed forces between the wars. After Henri Petain and other French leaders signed an armistice with Nazi Germany in […]

1:24m read read

President Nixon approves Cambodian incursion

On April 28, 1970, President Richard Nixon gives his formal authorization to commit U.S. combat troops, in cooperation with South Vietnamese units, against communist troop sanctuaries in Cambodia. Secretary of State William Rogers and Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird, who had continually argued for a downsizing of the U.S. effort in Vietnam, were excluded from […]

1:28m read read

Aloha Airlines Flight 243 miraculously lands after losing roof

On April 28, 1988, a seemingly routine, 35-minute flight from Hilo to Honolulu turns into terror when an 18-foot-long section of the upper fuselage suddenly tears off Aloha Airlines Flight 243. The explosive decompression and roof loss sweep flight attendant Clarabelle “C.B.” Lansing off the Boeing 737, send freezing winds of hurricane force through the […]

2:16m read read

35 killed in Australia’s Port Arthur Massacre

On April 28, 1996, 28-year-old Martin Bryant begins a killing spree that ends in the deaths of 35 men, women and children in the quiet town of Port Arthur in Tasmania, Australia. Bryant began the day by killing an elderly couple who were the owners of Port Arthur’s Seascape guesthouse. Some theorize that the killings […]

1:36m read read

U.S. media release graphic photos of American soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib

On April 28, 2004, the CBS program 60 Minutes II reports on abuse of prisoners by American military forces at Abu Ghraib, a prison in Iraq. The report, which featured graphic photographs showing U.S. military personnel torturing and abusing prisoners, shocked the American public and greatly tarnished the Bush Administration and its war in Iraq. […]

2:10m read read

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