MILESTONES: April 2, birthdays for Quavo, Traci Braxton, Drew Van Acker

Brooklyn Today

April 2, 2018 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Quavo with Migos performs during the V-103 Live Pop Up Concert at Philips Arena on Saturday, March 31, 2018, in Atlanta. (Photo by Robb Cohen/Invision/AP)

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Greetings, Brooklyn. Today is the 92nd day of the year.

On this day in 1950, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “With special credentials and directions, 2,596 census takers in this borough began their door-to-door canvass, and Mr. and Mrs. Brooklyn cooperated perfectly … Perhaps nowhere in America is the questioner’s job so complicated and fascinating as in Kings County … Enumerators must collect data on Indian families living in a colony centered along Dean, Bergen and Pacific streets; on gypsies currently pitching their tents in Fulton Street storefronts; and on scow captains and barge families, temporarily residents of Erie Basin, moored in the State Barge Canal.” Scow Capt. Ernest Selvek told a reporter, “I never thought they would reach me.”

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On this day in 1917, under the headline “Developments of the Day as War Congress Meets,” the Eagle reported, “Extra session of 65th convenes … President [Woodrow Wilson] decides to deliver his address today … War spirit pervades Washington … Pacifists and patriots swarm through Capital … Sen. Lodge knocks down pacifist who calls him coward … Senators Wadsworth and Pomerene rebuke pacifists … President receives promises of loyal support from all over nation … Appropriation bills for prosecuting war introduced … Chairman Flood of House Foreign Affairs Committee drafts bill declaring state of war to exist and authorizing the president to carry on war.”

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On April 1, 1924, the Eagle reported that, in Munich, “Gen. Eric Ludendorff, former German field marshal, was acquitted today of the charge of treason for his part in the unsuccessful revolt here last November … Adolph Hitler and former Chief of Police Poehner were convicted and each was sentenced to five years’ confinement in a fortress and fined 200 gold marks … Hitler’s followers arranged to signal news of the verdict from the housetops by wigwagging, as the police authorities prohibited public posting of the verdict and severely restricted admissions to the court chamber.”

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On this day in 1941, the Eagle reported that, in Dearborn, Michigan, “A United Automobile Workers strike in which pickets and workers fought with clubs, stones and crowbars halted production today in the Ford Motor Company’s River Rouge plant — the largest single industrial unit in the world … Gov. Murray D. Van Wagoner ordered all available state police to the plant ‘to maintain law and order’ … James F. Dewey, federal labor conciliator, was summoned from a sick bed in Pennsylvania to attempt to mediate the strike, which tied up much of the company’s $154,000,000 in defense orders.”

Also in 1941, the Eagle reported, “The Navy today began its occupation of the new base at Floyd Bennett Field with the arrival from Norfolk, Virginia, of two twin-motored Consolidated flying boats which alighted on the waters of Jamaica Bay off the airport. A small group of enlisted men came ashore and it was understood that they would take up quarters in the barracks on the airfield … It was reported that purchase of the entire field by the Navy Department is imminent and that current negotiations are about to be concluded.”

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On this day in 1952, the Eagle reported, “Monsignor John J. Boardman, 57, Brooklyn Diocesan Director of the Pontifical Society for the Propagation of the Faith, has been appointed by Pope Pius XII as Auxiliary Bishop of Brooklyn … The Bishop-elect, a native Brooklynite and a priest since 1921, was given the titular designation of Bishop of Gunela … As Auxiliary Bishop of Brooklyn, he becomes an assistant to Archbishop Thomas E. Molloy … The Brooklyn Diocese now will have two Auxiliary Bishops. Archbishop Molloy’s only assistant until now has been Auxiliary Bishop Raymond A. Kearney.” The Bishop-elect “has been also pastor of the Church of the Holy Name, 9th Street and Prospect Avenue, since 1944.”

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NOTABLE PEOPLE born on this day include actor MICHAEL FASSBENDER, who was born in 1977; actor CLARK GREGG, who was born in 1962; singer EMMYLOU HARRIS, who was born in 1947; Oscar Award-winning actress LINDA HUNT, who was born in 1945; actress and musician BETHANY JOY LENZ, who was born in 1981; actor CHRISTOPHER MELONI, who was born in 1961; literature professor and critic CAMILLE PAGLIA, who was born in 1947; actress PAMELA REED, who was born in 1953; and musician LEON RUSSELL, who was born in 1941.

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TODAY IS WORLD AUTISM AWARENESS DAY. Deeply concerned by the prevalence and high rate of autism in children in all regions of the world, the U.N. General Assembly designated today as World Autism Awareness Day on Dec 18, 2007. Autism affects children in all regions, irrespective of gender, race or socioeconomic status. It poses challenges to long-term health care, education, training and intervention programs, and it has a tremendous impact on children, families, communities and societies.

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EMILE ZOLA WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1840. The journalist and novelist of the naturalist school wrote scores of novels that made him wealthy and a key figure in France’s literary establishment. Some of Zola’s notable novels are “Therese Raquin,” “The Belly of Paris,” “Nana” and “Germinal.” He is also remembered for his role in the Dreyfus case, with his Jan. 13, 1898, newspaper indictment entitled “J’Accuse . . .!” His efforts exposed a military cover-up and resulted in the retrial and ultimate vindication of Alfred Dreyfus. Defective venting of a stove flue in his bedroom (which some believed to be the work of political enemies) resulted in his death from carbon monoxide poisoning at Paris in 1902. In 1908, his remains were removed from their burial place to the Pantheon.

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GIOVANNI GIACOMO GIROLAMO CASANOVA WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1725. The celebrated Italian writer-librarian and, by his own account, philanderer, adventurer, rogue, seminarian, soldier and spy, was born in Venice. As the Chevalier de Seingalt, he died at Dux, Bohemia in 1798 while serving as librarian and working on his lively and frank “History of My Life,” a brilliant picture of 18th-century life.

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“2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY” PREMIERED ON THIS DAY IN 1968. Directed by Stanley Kubrick, the influential film has elicited many different interpretations. Sci-fi novelist Arthur C. Clarke based the screenplay on his 1968 book, which was prescient in several ways. Writing before men had landed on the moon, Clarke describes an expedition launched to Jupiter to track a mysterious signal emanating from the moon. Clarke gave the world’s population as six billion (achieved in 1999) and described a space station. During flight, a character reads the news on his electronic news pad. The film starred Keir Dullea, William Sylvester, Gary Lockwood, Daniel Richter and HAL 9000, the creepy computer that had human emotions. The theme music was Richard Strauss’ “Also Sprach Zarathustra.”