On this date

the first locomotive to haul a passenger train was operated by George Stephenson in England.

In 1825, In 1942,

Glenn Miller and his Orchestra performed together for the last time, at the Central Theater in Passaic, N.J., prior to Miller’s entry into the Army.

In 1964,

the government publicly released the report of the Warren Commission, which concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald had acted alone in assassinating President John F. Kennedy.

In 1979,

Congress gave its final approval to forming the U.S. Department of Education.

In 1991,

the Senate Judiciary Committee deadlocked, 7-7, on the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In 1994,

more than 350 Republican congressional candidates gathered on the steps of the U.S. Capitol to sign the “Contract with America,” a 10-point platform they pledged to enact if voters sent a GOP majority to the House.

In 2004,

NBC announced that “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno would be succeeded by “Late Night” host Conan O’Brien in 2009. (O’Brien’s stint on “The Tonight Show” lasted just over seven months.)

Ten years ago:

China marked its first spacewalk as astronaut Zhai Zhigang floated outside the Shenzhou 7 for 13 minutes.

Five years ago:

The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to secure and destroy Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile.

One year ago:

President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans unveiled the first major revamp of the nation’s tax code in a generation, a plan that included deep tax cuts for corporations, simplified tax brackets and a neardoubling of the standard deduction.