MILESTONES: October 27, birthdays for John Cleese, Matt Drudge, Lonzo Ball

Brooklyn Today

October 27, 2017 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

John Cleese. AP Photo/Amel Emric

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Greetings, Brooklyn. Today is the 302nd day of the year.

On this day in 1904, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle front page covered the launch of the New York City subway system. Mayor George B. McClellan pulled a silver-handled switch at 2:34 p.m., starting the first train northbound from City Hall to Harlem. Earlier that morning, the Interborough Rapid Transit Company’s general manager had personally completed inspections of the train and station to make sure all preparations were complete.

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On this day in 1936, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle front page reported that Wallis Simpson, the American lady friend of King Edward VIII, was granted a divorce from her husband. Sir John Anthony Hawke, described as a “bewigged judge,” rather impatiently issued the divorce decree in Ipswich, England, wondering aloud why the case even came before him. Simpson’s letters to her indifferent husband were part of the evidence presented to the judge. The divorce freed her up to marry Edward VIII, but he had to abdicate the throne to do so. Edward’s abdication made his brother, George VI, king and set the course of history for Edward’s niece, Elizabeth II, to later become the longest-reigning monarch in England’s history.

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On this day in 1940, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle endorsed Republican candidate Wendell L. Willkie for president. The Eagle presented President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s quest for a third term to be the “vital issue,” echoing Willkie’s warning that the U.S. could become a dictatorship in just four years if Roosevelt was re-elected. Willkie’s warning, set against the backdrop of Hitler’s taking power in Germany, made sense at the time. The Eagle’s endorsement was careful to praise FDR for his accomplishments in helping the U.S. recover from the Depression. Elsewhere on the front page, FDR himself declared a strong navy and a two-ocean defense strategy as the best nemesis against dictatorship. He was re-elected in 1940 and 1944, dying less than three months into his fourth term. The 22nd Amendment, enacted in 1947, limited future presidents (after Truman) to two terms in office.

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On this day in 1948, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle front page reported on another major transit problem — this time a labor strike. Bus drivers demanding a retroactive pay raise went on strike, stranding an estimated 2 million. The core issue was the pay raise, and pressure placed on the Public Service Corporation to raise fares to provide the necessary revenues for the raises. However, Michael J. Quill, head of the Transport Workers Union, and Mayor O’Dwyer called the strike a communist plot. Quill had ordered the men back to work, but they resisted … That day’s front page also reported that the Israeli government rejected the United Nations’ request for Jewish troops to withdraw from the Negev region. However, Israel’s Foreign Minister Moshe Shertok did tell the UN’s Ralph Bunche, acting Palestine mediator, that he was open to negotiations.

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NOTABLE PEOPLE born on this day include Oscar Award-winning actor and director ROBERTO BENIGNI, who was born in 1952; NBA basketball player and reality TV star LONZO BALL, who was born in 1997; actor and writer JOHN CLEESE, who was born in 1939; journalist MATT DRUDGE, who was born in 1966; Emmy Award-winning actress NANETTE FABRAY, who was born in 1920; singer SIMON LeBON, who was born in 1958; essayist and humorist FRAN LEBOWITZ, who was born in 1950; model and actress MARLA MAPLES, who was born in 1963; hockey player BRANDON SAAD, who was born in 1992; and author ZADIE SMITH, who was born in 1975.

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RUBY DEE WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1922. Dee pioneered groundbreaking stage and screen roles for African-American women. Her credits include both stage and screen roles, as well as an Oscar nomination for “American Gangster.” Offstage, Dee was a civil rights activist and together with her husband, actor Ossie Davis, appeared at the 1963 March on Washington. She died in 2014.

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TODAY IS NAVY DAY. It was established in 1922 to honor the “past and present services” of the U.S. Navy to the nation. It also honored Theodore Roosevelt, who was born on this day and who had been assistant secretary of the Navy early in his public career.

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ROY LICHTENSTEIN WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1923. The pop artist who used comic strips and other elements of pop culture in his paintings was born in New York City and died in the city in 1997.

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THE NEW YORK CITY subway began operations on this day in 1904. Running from City Hall to West 145th Street, the subway was privately operated by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company and later became part of the system operated by the New York City Transit Authority.

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THEODORE ROOSEVELT WAS BORN IN NEW YORK CITY ON THIS DAY IN 1858. The 26th president of the U.S., he succeeded to the position upon the assassination of William McKinley. His term of office lasted from September 1901 to March 1909. Roosevelt was the first president to ride in an automobile (1902), to submerge in a submarine (1905) and to fly in an airplane (1910). Although his best-remembered quote is possibly, “Speak softly and carry a big stick,” he also said, “The first requisite of a good citizen in this Republic of ours is that he shall be able and willing to pull his weight.” He died in 1919. His last words: “Put out the light.”

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Special thanks to “Chase’s Calendar of Events” and Brooklyn Public Library.

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“He who laughs most, learns best.” — John Cleese, who was born on this day in 1939