Today in History

Today is Sunday, September 27, the 270th day of 2015. There are 95 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On September 27, 1995, the government unveiled its redesigned $100 bill, featuring a larger, off-center portrait of Benjamin Franklin. (Yet another redesign, featuring a high-tech makeover aimed at thwarting counterfeiters, was announced in April 2010.)

On this date:

In 1540, Pope Paul III issued a papal bull establishing the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits, as a religious order.

In 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.

In 1928, the United States said it was recognizing the Nationalist Chinese government.

In 1935, Judy Garland, at age 13, signed a seven-year contract with MGM.

In 1939, Warsaw, Poland, surrendered after weeks of resistance to invading forces from Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union during World War II.

In 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.

In 1954, "Tonight!," hosted by Steve Allen, made its debut on NBC-TV.

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 1965, silent film star Clara Bow, 60, died in Los Angeles.

In 1979, Congress gave its final approval to forming the U.S. Department of Education.

In 1989, Columbia Pictures Entertainment Inc. agreed to a $3.4 billion cash buyout by Sony Corp.

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.

Ten years ago: In a fiery appearance before Congress, former FEMA director Michael Brown angrily blamed the governor of Louisiana, the mayor of New Orleans and even the Bush White House that appointed him for the dismal response to Hurricane Katrina; in response, lawmakers alternately lambasted and mocked the former official. New Orleans Police Superintendent Eddie Compass stepped down from his post four weeks after Katrina destroyed the city. 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.)

Five years ago: Southwest Airlines announced the $1.4 billion purchase of AirTran. Temperatures reached 113 degrees in downtown Los Angeles, the highest in records kept since 1877.

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. James Traficant, the colorful Ohio Democrat-turned-independent whose conviction for taking bribes and kickbacks made him only the second person to be expelled from Congress since the Civil War, died in Youngstown at age 73. Actor George Clooney married human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin in Venice, Italy.

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. Democratic National Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz is 49. 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. Christian rock musician Grant Brandell (Underoath) is 34. Actress Anna Camp is 33. Rapper Lil' Wayne is 33. Singer Avril Lavigne is 31.

Thought for Today: "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).

Copyright 2015, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.