TODAY IN history

On this date:

In 1540, through the encyclical Regimini militantis ecclesiae, Roman Catholic Pope Paul III officially approved the Society of Jesus, a body of priests organized by Ignatius of Loyola in 1534 for missionary work. Today, the Jesuits are one of the largest Catholic teaching orders.

In 1722, Samuel Adams, the American politician whose activities against the British earned him the title Father of the American Revolution, was born in Boston.

In 1825, the rst locomotive to haul a passenger train was operated by George Stephenson in England.

In 1905, a woman was arrested in New York City for smoking a cigarette in a car.

In 1937, the Golden Gate Bridge opened in San Francisco.

In 1940, Japan joined the Axis powers in the Second World War.

In 1959, almost 5,000 people were killed as typhoon Vera battered the Japanese island of Honshu. The storm, believed to be the worst in Japanese history, left 1.5 million people homeless.

In 1964, the Warren Commission issued its report, concluding that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy.

In 1967, the transatlantic British liner “Queen Mary’’ docked -- for the last time -- at Long Beach, Calif., and became a oating hotel and museum.