MILESTONES: February 16, birthdays for The Weeknd, Ice-T, LeVar Burton

Brooklyn Today

February 16, 2018 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

The Weeknd. Photo by Scott Roth/Invision/AP

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Greetings, Brooklyn. Today is the 47th day of the year.

On this day in 1898, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle front page reported on the then-unexplained explosion of the U.S. naval battleship Maine, which was docked in Cuba’s Havana harbor. At the time, the Maine was on a friendly mission to protect Americans who were in Cuba when a rebellion broke out there against Spanish imperial rule. The explosion was believed to be from a mine placed on board. Congressional and American public opinion was biased against Spain, particularly in its perceived oppression of Cuba, and losses of American investments, of course. The Spanish-American War broke out in April 1898. It wasn’t until 1976 that forensic experts determined that a fire aboard ship ignited ammunition being stored, and that the explosion was not an act of sabotage. The Eagle covered a 35th memorial tribute to the Maine at a 1933 service that the United Spanish War Veterans of Brooklyn held at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

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On this day in 1933, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle front page featured extensive coverage of the assassination attempt against President-elect Franklin Delano Roosevelt. A woman bystander knocked the gun from the would-be assassin’s hand. However, bullets intended for the Roosevelt seriously wounded five others, including Mayor Anton Cermak of Chicago, and Joseph Gill of Miami. The would-be assassin was Giuseppe Zangara, an Italian immigrant and naturalized U.S. citizen; he was also identified as an anarchist. Roosevelt made hospital visits to the other victims — some of whom were fighting for their lives. Other front-page stories reported that Eleanor Roosevelt also narrowly escaped death when she stepped off a special train and was almost hit by another.

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On this day in 1944, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle front page reported on the biggest Allied Air raid against Berlin thus far during World War II. British bomber planes sent almost 3,000 tons of explosives over war-weary Berlin in what the United Press International and the Eagle called “the heaviest aerial assault ever made on a single target.” And American infantrymen closed in on the Benedictine Abbey at Monte Cassino after having destroyed it the previous night. Intelligence sources had — not entirely accurately — said that the abandoned monastery was now being used as a Nazi stronghold. In reality some monks still resided there to take care of war victims. The Monte Cassino monastery dated back to the 4th century A.D. when St. Benedict of Nursia in Italy formed a religious community who lived counter-culturally in what was another corrupt period of European history. The February 16, 1944 Eagle’s front page also published in that edition a chart with various air raid codes and the actions required in each situation.

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On this day in 1954, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle front page reported that more than 10,000 Marines serving in Korea got to see movie icon Marilyn Monroe. Appearing in a “skin-tight purple dress,” Monroe received the “most rousing welcome given to anyone in the Korean War.” She sang songs from her recent movies. The popular TV comedy M.A.S.H., which depicted the lives of medics at the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, featured an episode around a rumored visit by Marilyn Monroe.

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NOTABLE PEOPLE born on this day include Hall of Fame football player JEROME BETTIS, who was born in 1972; actor LeVAR BURTON, who was born in 1957; actor CHRISTOPHER ECCLESTON, who was born in 1964; rapper and music executive LUPE FIASCO, who was born in 1982; author RICHARD FORD, who was born in 1944; business magnate and philanthropist CARL ICAHN, who was born in 1936; rapper and actor ICE-T, who was born in 1959; singer and songwriter JAMES INGRAM, who was born in 1956; actor WILLIAM KATT, who was born in 1951; actor ERIC LADIN, who was born in 1978; sportscaster and Hall of Fame tennis player JOHN PATRICK McENROE JR., who was born in 1959; and actor BARRY PRIMUS, who was born in 1938.

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ROBERT JOSEPH FLAHERTY WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1884. The American filmmaker, explorer and author is often called the “father of the documentary film.” His films include “Nanook of the North,” “Moana of the South Seas” and “Man of Aran.” Flaherty died in Vermont in 1951.

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EDGAR BERGEN WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1903. The actor, radio entertainer and ventriloquist was the voice of Charlie McCarthy, Mortimer Snerd and Effie Klinker. He is also the father of Emmy Award–winning actress Candice Bergen. Bergen died in Nevada in 1978.

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GEORGE KENNAN WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1904. The U.S. diplomat coined the phrase “containment policy.” He served as a diplomat during WWII and was briefly arrested by the Nazis. After the war, Kennan wrote an article for Foreign Affairs magazine that had a significant influence on America’s Cold War policy. The article, titled “The Sources of Soviet Conduct” and submitted under the pseudonym “Mr. X,” called upon the U.S. and its allies to prevent the territorial spread of communism, either by shows of military force or by economic and technological intervention in at-risk nations. Both the Marshall Plan and the Truman Doctrine were heavily influenced by the ideas expressed in the article. Kennan later had a controversial turn as ambassador to the Soviet Union. He died in New Jersey in 2005.

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HENRY WILSON WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1812. The 18th vice president of the U.S. served from 1873-1875. Wilson died in Washington, D.C. in 1875.

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“SLIDING BILLY” HAMILTON WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1866. With Ed Delahanty and Sam Thompson, Hamilton formed one of baseball’s greatest outfields for the Philadephia Phillies throughout the 1890s. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1961 and died in Massachusetts in 1940.

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

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“Heroism is endurance for one moment more.” — U.S. diplomat George F. Kennan, who was born on this day in 1904