Today’s Highlight in History
Today is Sunday, Sept. 27, the 270th day of 2015. There are 95 days left in the year.
On Sept. 27, 1995, the government unveiled its redesigned $100 bill, featuring a larger, offcenter portrait of Benjamin Franklin. (Yet another redesign, featuring a high-tech makeover aimed at thwarting counterfeiters, was announced in April 2010.) 1540 — Pope Paul III issued a papal bull establishing the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits, as a religious order.
1854 — The first great disaster involving an Atlantic Ocean passenger vessel occurred when the steamship SS Arctic sank off Newfoundland; of the more than 400 people on board, only 86 survived.
1928 — The United States said it was recognizing the Nationalist Chinese government.
1935 — Judy Garland, at age 13, signed a seven-year contract with MGM.
1939 — Warsaw, Poland, surrendered after weeks of resistance to invading forces from Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union during World War II.
1942 — Glenn Miller and his Orchestra performed together for the last time, at the Central Theater in Passaic, New Jersey, prior to Miller’s entry into the Army.
1954 — “Tonight!,” hosted by Steve Allen, made its debut on NBC-TV.
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.
1965 — Silent film star Clara Bow, 60, died in Los Angeles.
1979 — Congress gave its final approval to forming the U.S. Department of Education.
1989 — Columbia Pictures Entertainment Inc. agreed to a $3.4 billion cash buyout by Sony Corp.
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.
Ten years ago
Army reservist Lynndie England was sentenced to three years behind bars for her role in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. (She ended up serving half that time.)
One year ago
President Barack Obama, in an address to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, said that a widespread mistrust of law enforcement that was exposed by the fatal police shooting of an unarmed black man in Ferguson, Missouri, existed in too many other communities and was having a corrosive effect on the nation, particularly its children.
The Mount Ontake volcano in central Japan erupted, killing 57 people.
Hong Kong activists kicked off a long-promised massive civil disobedience protest to challenge Beijing over restrictions on voting reform.
Today’s Birthdays
Actress Kathleen Nolan is 82. Actor Wilford Brimley is 81. Actor Claude Jarman Jr. is 81. Author Barbara Howar is 81. World Golf Hall of Famer Kathy Whitworth is 76. Singer-musician Randy Bachman (Bachman-Turner Overdrive) is 72. Rock singer Meat Loaf is 68. Actress Liz Torres is 68. Actor A Martinez is 67. Baseball Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt is 66. Actor Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa is 65. Singer Shaun Cassidy is 57. Comedian Marc Maron is 52. Rock singer Stephan Jenkins (Third Eye Blind) is 51. Actor Patrick Muldoon is 47. Singer Mark Calderon is 45. Actress Amanda Detmer is 44. Actress Gwyneth Paltrow is 43. Rock singer Brad Arnold (3 Doors Down) is 37. Actress Anna Camp is 33. Rapper Lil’ Wayne is 33. Singer Avril Lavigne is 31.
‘I have lived in this world just long enough to look carefully the second time into things that I am most certain of the first time.’ “Josh Billings” (Henry Wheeler Shaw) American humorist (1818-1885)