On Sept. 27, 1722,

patriot Samuel Adams was born in Boston. In 1779 John Adams was named to negotiate the Revolutionary War’s peace terms with Britain. In 1854 the first great disaster involving an Atlantic liner occurred when the steamship Arctic sank with 300 people. In 1928 the U.S. said it intended to recognize China’s Nationalist government in Beijing. In 1935 the Chicago Cubs clinched the NL pennant and won their 21st consecutive game with a doubleheader sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cubs won the pennant with the opening-game victory. In 1938 the British ocean liner Queen Elizabeth was launched. In 1939 Warsaw capitulated to the German invasion force after 19 days of resistance near the start of World War II. In 1942 Glenn Miller and his orchestra performed together for the last time, in Passaic, N.J., prior to Miller’s entry into the Army. (He would die in December 1944, when his plane vanished over the English Channel.) In 1954 “Tonight!” with host Steve Allen premiered on NBC. In 1959 a typhoon battered Japan’s main island, Honshu, killing nearly 5,000 people. In 1964 the Warren Commission In 1979 Congress gave final approval to forming the Department of Education, the 13th Cabinet agency in U.S. history. In 1989 Columbia Pictures Entertainment Inc. agreed to a $3.4 billion cash buyout by Sony Corp. In 1993 retired Gen. James Doolittle died in Pebble Beach, Calif.; he was 96. In 1994 more than 350 Republican congressional candidates gathered on the U.S. Capitol steps to sign the “Contract with America,” a 10-point platform the pledged to enact if voters sent a GOP majority to the House.