Today is Sunday, Sept. 27, the 270th day of 2009. There are 95 days left in the year. The Jewish Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, begins at sunset.
Today’s Highlight in History
On Sept. 27, 1939, Warsaw, Poland, surrendered after weeks of resistance to invading forces from Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union during World War II.
On this date
In 1066, after being delayed by bad weather, William, duke of Normandy, embarked his army and set sail for the southeastern coast of England in what would be known in history as the Norman Conquest.
In 1514, the Spanish crown granted explorer Juan Ponce de Leon the title Military Governor of Bimini (an island in the Bahamas) and Florida. With this title and the implied permission it contained to colonize those regions, Ponce de Leon sailed for Florida in 1521.
He landed with 200 men and two ships near Charlotte Harbor on Florida’s west coast. His arrival did not go unnoticed. Soon the party was attacked by Seminole Indians. During the assault an arrow struck and mortally wounded Ponce de Leon. He returned to Cuba where he died that same year.
This fatal trip was the Spanish explorer’s second visit to Florida. In April 1513, Ponce de Leon landed at the site of modern day St. Augustine and named the region Florida because of the lush, florid vegetation which grew there. Thinking he had found the island of Bimini, he searched for the mythical Fountain of Youth which was said to rejuvenate those who drank from it.
Subsequent Spanish incursions in North America led to the founding of a permanent settlement at St. Augustine in 1565. While a fountain of youth was never found, many Americans today enjoy rejuvenating vacations and retirement in Florida.
In 1540, the Jesuit order, founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola, was approved by Pope Paul III.
In 1660, St. Vincent de Paul, founder of the Congregation of the Mission, which preaches to and cares for the poor, dies in Paris at the age of 79.
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 1840, Alfred Thayer Mahan, the influential American naval strategist, was born.
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 1918, British forces attacked the Hindenburg Line in the final offensive on the Western Front during World War I.
In 1928, the United States said it was recognizing the Nationalist Chinese government.
In 1940, in the so-called Berlin Pact, the three Axis powers in World War II, Germany, Italy and Japan, agree to a 10-year military and economic alliance.
In 1942, Glenn Miller and his Orchestra performed together for the last time, at the Central Theater in Passaic, N.J., prior to Miller’s entry into the Army.
In 1954, “Tonight!” hosted by Steve Allen, made its network debut on NBC-TV.
In 1959, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev concluded his visit to the United States; Vice President Richard Nixon presided over the farewell ceremony at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington.
In 1959, a typhoon battered the main Japanese island of Honshu, killing nearly 5,000 people.
In 1964, the government publicly released the report of the Warren Commission, which found that Lee Harvey Oswald had acted alone in assassinating President John F. Kennedy.
In 1979, Congress gave final approval to forming the U.S. Department of Education.
In 1988, Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson was stripped of Olympic gold
and sent home from the Seoul Olympic Games in disgrace.
In 1989, Columbia Pictures Entertainment Inc. agreed to a $3.4 billion cash buyout by Sony Corp.
In 1990, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the Supreme Court nomination of David H. Souter.
In 1991, the Senate Judiciary Committee deadlocked, 7-7, on the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the 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 1996, the Taliban, a band of former seminary students, drove the government of Afghani President Burhanuddin Rabbani out of Kabul, captured the capital and executed former leader Najibullah.
In 1999, ten years ago, 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 1998, Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals hit his record-setting 69th and 70th home runs in the last game of the season.
In 1999, Tiger Stadium closed in grand fashion after 87 years as the Tigers beat the Kansas City Royals, 8-2.
In 2001, an armed man went on a shooting rampage in the local parliament in Zug, Switzerland, killing 14 people before taking his own life.
In 2001, President George W. Bush announced plans to bolster airline security in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.
In 2004, five years ago, President George W. Bush asked Congress for more than $7.1 billion to help Florida and other Southeastern states recover from their lashing by four hurricanes.
In 2004, a Justice Department audit said the FBI had a backlog of hundreds of thousands of hours of untranslated audio recordings from terror and espionage investigations.
In 2004, NBC announced that “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno would be succeeded by “Late Night” host Conan O’Brien in 2009.
In 2005, Army reservist Lynndie England was sentenced to three years behind bars for her role in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal.
In 2007, soldiers fired into crowds of anti-government demonstrators in Yangon, Myanmar, killing at least nine people.
In 2008, one year ago, China marked its first spacewalk as astronaut Zhai Zhigang floated outside the Shenzhou 7 for 13 minutes.
Today’s Birthdays
Author Louis Auchincloss is 92. Former Illinois Sen. Charles Percy is 90. Actress Jayne Meadows is 89. Movie director Arthur Penn is 87. Actress Sada Thompson is 80. Actress Kathleen Nolan is 76. Actor Wilford Brimley is 75. Actor Claude Jarman Jr. is 75. Author Barbara Howar is 75. Producer Don Cornelius (“Soul Train”) is 73. Golfer Kathy Whitworth is 70. Singer-musician Randy Bachman (Bachman-Turner Overdrive) is 66. Rock singer Meat Loaf is 62. Actress Liz Torres is 62. Actor A Martinez is 61. Baseball Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt is 60. Actor Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa is 59. Rock musician Greg Ham (Men At Work) is 56. Singer Shaun Cassidy is 51. Rock singer Stephan Jenkins (Third Eye Blind) is 45. NBA player Steve Kerr is 44. Actor Patrick Muldoon is 41. Singer Mark Calderon is 39. Actress Amanda Detmer is 38. Actress Gwyneth Paltrow is 37. Rock singer Brad Arnold (3 Doors Down) is 31. MLB pitcher Jon Rauch is 31. Christian rock musician Grant Brandell (Underoath) is 28. Rapper Lil’ Wayne is 27. Singer Avril Lavigne is 25.
Today’s Historic Birthdays
Cosimo de Medici
9/27/1389 – 8/1/1464
Florentine ruler
St. Alfonso Liguori
9/27/1696 – 8/1/1787
Italian theologian
Samuel Adams
9/27/1722 – 10/2/1803
American revolutionary leader
Benjamin Gould
9/27/1824 – 11/26/1896
American astronomer
Thomas Nast
9/27/1840 – 12/7/1902
American political cartoonist
Alfred Thayer Mahan
9/27/1840 – 12/1/1914
American naval strategist
Harry Blackstone
9/27/1885 – 11/16/1965
American magician and illusionist
Samuel Ervin
9/27/1896 – 4/23/1985
American senator from North Carolina; chairman of the committee that investigated Watergate
Vincent Youmans
9/27/1898 – 4/5/1946
American songwriter
Sir Martin Ryle
9/27/1918 – 10/14/1984
English physicist and astronomer
William Conrad
9/27/1920 – 2/11/1994
American radio, film and television actor and producer
Earl “Bud” Powell
9/27/1924 – 8/1/1966
American jazz pianist and composer
Thought for Today
“A man who is afraid will do anything.” – Jawaharlal Nehru, Indian statesman (1889-1964).
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Full article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/27/AR2009092700014.html
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/20090927.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/default.stm
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/today/today.html
