Today in History

Today is Monday, Sept. 27, the 270th day of 2021. There are 95 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Sept. 27, 1996, in Afghanistan, the Taliban, a band of former seminary students, drove the government of President Burhanuddin Rabbani out of Kabul, captured the capital and executed former leader Najibullah.

On this date:

In 1779, John Adams was named by Congress to negotiate the Revolutionary War's peace terms with Britain.

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 1917, French sculptor and painter Edgar Degas died in Paris at age 83.

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

In 1941, the United States launched the first 14 rapidly built "Liberty" military cargo vessels.

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, President George H.W. Bush announced in a nationally broadcast address that he was eliminating all U.S. battlefield nuclear weapons, and called on the Soviet Union to match the gesture. 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 1999, Sen. John McCain of Arizona officially opened his campaign for the 2000 Republican presidential nomination, the same day former Vice President Dan Quayle dropped his White House bid.

In 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. (The goal was to prevent the child from inheriting a fatal genetic disease from his mother.)

In 2018, during a day-long hearing by the Senate Judiciary Committee, Christine Blasey Ford said she was "100 percent" certain that she was sexually assaulted by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh when they were teenagers, and Kavanaugh then told senators that he was "100 percent certain" he had done no such thing; Republicans quickly scheduled a recommendation vote for the following morning.

Ten years ago: Opening statements in the Los Angeles trial of Michael Jackson's personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, took place as prosecutors accused Murray of killing the superstar through irresponsible use of the anesthetic propofol, and the defense maintained Jackson had caused his own death. (Murray was later convicted of felony involuntary manslaughter.) Israel gave the go-ahead for construction of 1,100 new Jewish housing units in east Jerusalem; the announcement met with swift criticism from the United States and the European Union.

Five years ago: The United States provided another $364 million in humanitarian aid to Syrians as their nation's civil war appeared to be getting worse. President Barack Obama announced career diplomat Jeffrey DeLaurentis as his choice to become the first U.S. ambassador to Cuba in more than a half-century.

One year ago: The New York Times reported that President Donald Trump paid just $750 in federal income taxes the year he ran for president and in his first year in the White House; Trump dismissed the report as "fake news." Louisville, Kentucky, saw its fifth night of protests after a grand jury declined to charge officers in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor. The French Open, pushed back from May and June because of COVID-19, began in Paris with just 1,000 spectators allowed per day.

Today's Birthdays: Actor Kathleen Nolan is 88. Actor Claude Jarman Jr. is 87. Author Barbara Howar is 87. World Golf Hall of Famer Kathy Whitworth is 82. Singer-musician Randy Bachman (Bachman-Turner Overdrive) is 78. Rock singer Meat Loaf is 74. Actor Liz Torres is 74. Actor A Martinez is 73. Baseball Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt is 72. Actor Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa is 71. Actor/opera singer Anthony Laciura is 70. Singer Shaun Cassidy is 63. Comedian Marc Maron is 58. Rock singer Stephan Jenkins (Third Eye Blind) is 57. Former Democratic National Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz is 55. Actor Patrick Muldoon is 53. Singer Mark Calderon is 51. Actor Amanda Detmer is 50. Actor Gwyneth Paltrow is 49. Actor Indira Varma is 48. Rock singer Brad Arnold (3 Doors Down) is 43. Christian rock musician Grant Brandell (Underoath) is 40. Actor Anna Camp is 39. Rapper Lil' Wayne is 39. Singer Avril Lavigne is 37. Bluegrass singer/musician Sierra Hull is 30. Actor Sam Lerner is 29. Actor Ames McNamara is 14.