November 8: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
ON THIS DAY IN 1933, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON — The election of Fiorello H. LaGuardia as mayor of New York is regarded here as an event of prime importance in national politics. He becomes, forthwith, an outstanding figure in the Republican picture, where outstanding figures are at present non-existent, and he achieves the dramatic distinction of being the first man to administer a real defeat to the administration of President [Franklin] Roosevelt. The harm done to Mr. Roosevelt’s prestige through the defeat of Joseph V. McKee is regarded here as of less permanent importance than the potentialities of LaGuardia as a factor in Republican politics. In the rough, immediate judgment of politicians, Mr. LaGuardia has a magnificent chance to score for himself such a record as chief executive of New York City as to attract nation-wide attention and to render him an inevitable consideration in presidential politics in 1936 or 1940. While it is true that LaGuardia was elected at the head of a Fusion ticket, and while his Republicanism has hitherto been an unorthodox brand, his election is regarded here as, perhaps, a portent in Republican politics, an indication of the trend toward which Republican leadership must hereafter be directed if a real challenge is to be offered to the Democratic administration now in power, and if — as most far-sighted politicians believe — the political thought of the United States is to swing during the next decade further and further to the left.”
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ON THIS DAY IN 1945, the Eagle reported, “In his ‘blueprint for a better New York,’ Mayor-Elect William O’Dwyer indicated today he plans to include whatever good things he inherits from the administration of his predecessor, the outgoing Mayor LaGuardia. In Mr. O’Dwyer’s home borough of Brooklyn, he indicated, that would include such planned improvements as the great new Civic Center for downtown Brooklyn and the proposed Flatbush Ave. improvement. Within the first 24 hours after his election was conceded Tuesday night, Mr. O’Dwyer made it clear that he was not thinking in terms of forgetting such projects merely because they were launched by a political opponent. The mayor-elect was keeping an appointment with the National War Fund of New York at a luncheon rally in the Astor Hotel, when he was asked about the fate of the proposed Brooklyn projects. He said that ‘only a Brooklyn resident’ — Mr. O’Dwyer has lived in Bay Ridge for the past 18 years — knows how great is Brooklyn’s need of such civic improvements.”
Brooklyn Boro
View MoreNew York City’s most populous borough, Brooklyn, is home to nearly 2.6 million residents. If Brooklyn were an independent city it would be the fourth largest city in the United States. While Brooklyn has become the epitome of ‘cool and hip’ in recent years, for those that were born here, raised families here and improved communities over the years, Brooklyn has never been ‘uncool’.