Today in History

Today is Wednesday, Sept. 27, the 270th day of 2022. 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 1825, the first locomotive to haul a passenger train was operated by George Stephenson in England.

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

In 1956, Olympic track and field gold medalist and Hall of Fame golfer Babe Didrikson Zaharias died in Galveston, Texas, at age 45.

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.

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 2012, NFL referees returned to the field after a tentative deal with the league ended a lockout.

In 2013, President Barack Obama and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani spoke by telephone, the first conversation between American and Iranian leaders in more than 30 years.

In 2017, Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner died at the age of 91.

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.

In 2021, R&B superstar R. Kelly was convicted in a sex trafficking trial in New York, after decades of avoiding criminal responsibility for numerous allegations of misconduct with young women and children.

Today's Birthdays: Actor Kathleen Nolan is 90. Actor Claude Jarman Jr. is 89. Author Barbara Howar is 89. Singer-musician Randy Bachman (Bachman-Turner Overdrive) is 80. Actor Liz Torres is 76. Actor A Martinez is 75. Baseball Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt is 74. Actor Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa is 73. Actor/opera singer Anthony Laciura is 72. Singer and actor Shaun Cassidy is 65. Comedian Marc Maron is 60. Rock singer Stephan Jenkins (Third Eye Blind) is 59. Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz is 57. Actor Patrick Muldoon is 55. Singer Mark Calderon is 53. Actor Amanda Detmer is 52. Actor Gwyneth Paltrow is 51. Actor Indira Varma is 50. Rock singer Brad Arnold (3 Doors Down) is 45. Christian rock musician Grant Brandell (Underoath) is 42. Actor Anna Camp is 41. Rapper Lil' Wayne is 41. Singer Avril Lavigne is 39. Bluegrass singer/musician Sierra Hull is 32. Actor Sam Lerner is 31. Actor Ames McNamara is 15.