February 5: ON THIS DAY in 1937, Revamp Supreme Court, FDR tells Congress

February 5, 2020 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY 1842, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle published the following advertisement: “Daguerreotype Miniatures — Corduan & Fay are prepared to execute likenesses at No. 10 Front street, Brooklyn, in a style equal, if not superior, to any specimen heretofore exhibited in New York — hours from 9 a.m. till 5 p.m. Persons wishing instructions, can be perfected in a very short time, on reasonable terms, and apparatus furnished at short notice, together with every article necessary to commence business.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1861, the Eagle reported, “The North Carolina Legislature yesterday decided unanimously to go with the other slave states in case reconciliation fails. Such will be the position assumed by every slave state. Even the border states in which the union feeling is strongest will go with the rest if the secession breach cannot be healed.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1937, the Eagle reported, “Washington, Feb. 5 (AP) — Retirement privileges for Supreme Court justices recommended to Congress today by President [Franklin] Roosevelt would affect six of the present nine members of the Supreme Bench. These justices are over 70 and have served ten years on the Federal Bench: Chief Justice Hughes and Justices Van Devanter, McReynolds, Sutherland, Butler and Brandeis. Of the six, Van Devanter, McReynolds, Sutherland and Butler are regarded by some lawyers as the conservative wing of the high court, while Brandeis is considered by them to belong to the so-called liberal group. Should the president’s recommendations be enacted into law and the six justices retire, Justices Stone, Cardozo and Roberts would be left on the bench. Of the three, Stone and Cardozo have come to be known as the liberals by some attorneys. Roberts sometimes has sided with them on important constitutional questions and sometimes with the so-called conservative group.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1940, the Eagle reported, “Washington (U.P.) — President Roosevelt was boomed for a third term today as the Democratic National Committee met to pick a convention city — it looks like Philadelphia — and to postpone a decision on the convention date … Democratic State Chairman E.H. Birmingham of Iowa said: ‘There is no second choice in Iowa — we are all for a third term.’ Former Gov. Olin D. Johnston of South Carolina said: ‘You can’t change horses in midstream. We will draft Roosevelt if necessary.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1945, the Eagle printed a report from United Press staff member Robert Crabb, who wrote, “Manila, Feb. 4 (Delayed) — Hundreds of us at Santo Tomas internment camp wept this morning when the Stars and Stripes was run up on the university flagstaff for the first time in three years. It is hard for us internees — there are 3,700 of us at Santo Tomas — to realize we are really free. Our mush ratio this morning is 125 grams instead of the usual 70 grams and for the first time in many, many months we are no longer wondering where the next meal will come from. We were almost hysterical when we heard the first shots and realized they were fired by American troops come at last to free us. We rushed from building to building to shout to the Americans, heedless of the Japanese fire … About half the people in the camp have swollen joints and show the advancing stages of malnutrition. Dr. Theodore B. Stevenson of the camp medical staff was jailed by the Japs for insisting on including the word ‘malnutrition’ on death certificates.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1963, the Eagle reported, “Mayor [Robert] Wagner yesterday signed a local law to make Shea Stadium a reality. The city’s new municipal stadium in Flushing, Queens, has been named in honor of William Shea, the man most responsible for bringing a new National League baseball team to New York. In signing the law, Wagner said the name of the new stadium was a ‘token of the city’s gratitude’ for Shea’s efforts. The 50,000-seat stadium is expected to be ready for the New York Mets sometime in the forthcoming season.”