June 30: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

June 30, 2021 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1925, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “SANTA BARBARA, CAL. (A.P.) — Three new earthquakes — one the most severe since the temblor which shattered the city yesterday — rocked Santa Barbara between midnight and daybreak. The total number of dead was reported as nine today. Workmen digging in the ruins for bodies were struck by falling bricks. Sailors from the U.S.S. Arkansas joined land forces early today in guarding buildings in sections where looting was reported during the night. The temblors during the early hours came at 1:22 a.m., 4:39 a.m. and 5:54 a.m. The most severe shake came at 4:39. A hot June sun rose today on a physically prostrate city by the blue Pacific that throbbed, nevertheless, through every pile of her earthquake debris with the indomitable spirit of reconstruction.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1925, the Eagle reported, “Mayor [John F.] Hylan today, on the eve of Governor [Al] Smith’s arrival in New York to settle the mayoralty successorship, announced to newspapermen at City Hall that he had taken a private poll of voters of the city and had found 71 percent of them in favor of his re-election. ‘I made a quiet little poll of the people in Brooklyn, Queens, Richmond and the Bronx,’ the mayor said. ‘And of Manhattan as well, of course,’ he continued after a pause, ‘and found that the average of those who want me for another term was 71 percent.’ When asked how he had made his poll, and how general it was, Mr. Hylan refused to answer. Then he told of a bet he knew had been placed in Wall Street on the chances of his becoming mayor of New York for a third term. The surprising thing about the story was that, although the mayor did not seem to realize it, the odds were 2 1/2 to 1 against Mr. Hylan’s winning out. ‘In Wall Street a bet has been placed at $10,000 to $25,000 that if I am renominated on the Democratic ticket I will win by 500,000 votes and that if I run independently I will come out the victor by 150,000 votes.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1953, the Eagle reported, “County Judge Samuel S. Leibowitz charged today there is ‘an insidious but well-organized attempt’ to force his withdrawal as a candidate for mayor. ‘The word is out: stop Liebowitz at any cost,’ he told a luncheon of the Young Men’s Board of Trade at the Brass Rail, 100 Park Ave., Manhattan. ‘In the face of all this,’ Leibowitz continued, ‘I repeat what I said when I first accepted the City Fusion party nomination: I am in the race to stay. I am in it until crime and corruption are routed, until all levels of the city administration are freed from underworld control, until we restore the high moral standards that were the hallmark of the LaGuardia regime.’ … Leibowitz also replied to the speech by Manhattan Borough President [Robert] Wagner, who said Sunday the crime and corruption issue was being overplayed in the current campaign. The judge asserted Wagner’s speech ‘shows he has only knee-pants concern with the criminal facts of life,’ and he inquired whether the Manhattan borough president was really throwing up a smoke screen to divert attention from the political leeches in his own office.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1954, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON (U.P.) — President Eisenhower said today he agrees with Sir Winston Churchill that the West must find a way of living together with Russia. But he added firmly that this country won’t buy peace at the price of appeasing Communism. He told his weekly news conference — permitting direct quotation of his words — that he will never be a party to any agreement ‘that makes anybody a slave.’ He said he will study every proposal which comes along for a peaceful solution of world problems because it is imperative that the East and the West find ways of living together.”

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David Alan Grier
Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include Nobel Prize-winning biochemist Paul Berg, who was born in Brooklyn in 1926; International Tennis Hall of Famer Shirley Fry Irvin, who was born in 1927; “Too Close for Comfort” star Nancy Dussault, who was born in 1936; N.Y. Mets World Series hero Ron Swoboda, who was born in 1944; “Married … With Children” star David Garrison, who was born in 1952; “In Living Color” star David Alan Grier, who was born in 1956; “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” star Vincent D’Onofrio, who was born in Brooklyn in 1959; guitar legend Yngwie Malmsteen, who was born in 1963; International Boxing Hall of Famer Mike Tyson, who was born in Brooklyn in 1966; “Along Came a Spider” star Monica Potter, who was born in 1971; “Castle Rock” star Lizzie Caplan, who was born in 1982; and “American Idol” champion Fantasia Barrino, who was born in 1984.

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LEADING LADY: Lena Horne was born on this day in 1917. The native of Bedford-Stuyvesant began singing with the chorus line at the Cotton Club in Harlem at age 16. A career on Broadway and in Hollywood followed in rapid succession and she soon became the symbol for African-American actors and singers trying to break the color barrier. She found success with both black and white audiences, although she did face her share of racial prejudice throughout her lifetime. She died in 2010. A forever stamp depicting her was issued in 2018.

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HERE AND NOW: The National Organization for Women was founded in Washington, D.C., on this day in 1966 by attendees of the Third National Conference on the Commission on the Status of Women. NOW’s purpose is to take action to bring women into full partnership in the mainstream of American society, exercising all privileges and responsibilities in equal partnership with men.

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

Quotable:

“It’s so nice to get flowers while you can still smell the fragrance.”
— Lena Horne, who was born on this day in 1917