April 15: ON THIS DAY in 1945, nation bids Roosevelt farewell

April 15, 2019 Brooklyn Eagle

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ON THIS DAY IN 1861, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “The evacuation of Fort Sumter is the only thing thought of or talked about this morning. In offices, stores, saloons, places of business of any kind, the principal and only topic appears to be Fort Sumter. The opinions expressed are various, but the general sentiment is in favor of the policy set forth in the president’s proclamation. The governor of this state has, it is understood, already issued his proclamation for the enrollment of the militia, and the national flag is displayed in honor thereof on the City Hall and public buildings generally throughout the city. The national ensign is also displayed from the shipping in both rivers. It is reported that the 7th, 29th, 71st and 69th regiments are about offering their services to the governor. Meetings have recently been held in which the sentiments of the men have been obtained and they are said to be almost unanimously in favor of shouldering their arms and marching to the battle field.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1912, the Eagle reported, “Wireless dispatches up to noon today showed that the passengers of the monster White Star liner Titanic, which struck an iceberg off the Newfoundland coast last night, were being transferred aboard the steamer Carpathia, a Cunarder, which left New York April 13 for Naples. Already twenty boatloads of the Titanic’s passengers have been transferred aboard the Carpathia, and allowing forty to sixty people as the capacity of each lifeboat, some 800 or 1,200 people already have been transferred from the damaged liner … The latest reports indicate that the transfer of passengers is being carried on successfully and deftly. The sea is smooth and the weather calm. It is probable that all of the passengers of the Titanic are safe.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1915, the Eagle reported, “The fiftieth anniversary of the death of President [Abraham] Lincoln, who was assassinated at Ford’s Theater in Washington, on the evening of April 14, 1865, by John Wilkes Booth, the actor, is being observed in half-masted flags and the partial cessation of work in government offices throughout the state and nation today. By order of President [Woodrow] Wilson, all executive offices at Washington are closed for the day, while government offices in other parts of the country are closing at noon. In Brooklyn, flags were at half-staff over schools, clubs, public buildings and on private flagstaffs. Lincoln was shot between 8 and 9 o’clock in the evening. Of the nineteen actors and actresses who took part in the production of ‘Our American Cousin,’ which attracted him to the theater, only one survives, William J. Ferguson, of Brooklyn, who has reached the age of three score and ten years. He was playing the part of Lieutenant Vernon, R.N., on the night of the tragedy. A holiday was declared at the Brooklyn Navy Yard today.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1945, the Eagle reported, “Washington, April 14 (U.P.) – A handful of the millions who loved Franklin D. Roosevelt heard in a hushed White House today this promise: ‘Yet shall he live.’ Those words, essence of all the Bible contains of hope and assurance, were uttered while Americans everywhere stood silent at 4 p.m. in tribute to the leader and friend who piloted them to the threshold of victory in a global war and an enduring peace. A few hours before, the nation’s helmsman in its greatest war had completed his long last journey to the White House. A few hours afterward he would be going home forever, to his beloved ancestral estate on the Hudson River at Hyde Park, N.Y. But now, in the East Room of the mansion which was his home for 12 years of ceaseless labor, they were saying over his flag-draped casket the simple words of faith and hope which are the Episcopal service for the dead. There in the great room, where in happier times gaiety ruled, stood the trustees of a world’s grief.”