TODAY IN HISTORY

1779

John Adams was named by Congress to negotiate the Revolutionary War’s peace terms with Britain.

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.

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.

1979

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

1991

President George H.W. Bush announced in a broadcast that he was eliminating all U.S. battlefield nuclear weapons.

2016

Scientists announced the first baby born from a controversial new technique that combined DNA from three people — the mother, the father and an egg donor.

Birthdays

Rock singer Meat Loaf is 74.Baseball Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt is 72. Actor Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa is 71. Comedian Marc Maron is 58. Actor Amanda Detmer is 50. Rapper Lil’ Wayne is 39. Singer Avril Lavigne (AV’-rihl la-VEEN’) is 37.