December 2: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

December 2, 2021 Brooklyn Eagle History

Share this:

ON THIS DAY IN 1918, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “In an address to Congress in short session today, President [Woodrow] Wilson formally announced his intention to go to Paris for the peace conference, saying the Allied governments have accepted principles enunciated by him for peace and it is his paramount duty to be present. The president said he will be in close touch by cable and wireless and that Congress will know all that he does on the other side. Referring to his announcement that the French and British governments had removed all cable restrictions from the transmission of news of the conference to America, the president said he had taken over the American cable systems on expert advice, so as to make a unified system available. He expressed the hope that he would have the cooperation of the public and of Congress, saying through the cables and wireless, constant counsel and advice would be possible.”

***

ON THIS DAY IN 1945, the Eagle reported, “The U.S. Labor Department’s bureau of labor statistics announced yesterday that the cost of living — or ‘prices of living essentials’ — has ‘held the line’ in New York since VJ Day, or about the middle of last August. There has been an actual small but steady decline in food prices, more than enough to offset advances in the cost of clothing and house furnishings. An analysis of prices, as of Oct. 15, ‘revealed a fractional overall decrease since the war’s end in the principal expense items of moderate-income families,’ the bureau report said. Charles C. Center, regional director, stated that food prices had dropped 1.6 percent since mid-August, clothing rose one percent and house furnishings rose 2 percent. In the month ending Oct. 15, some food prices rose, but a 4.2 percent decline in the price of chickens overweighed that. Decline in quality and availability of certain foods was not taken into consideration in arriving at the figures, but the President’s Committee on the Cost of Living has estimated that these and other unconsidered factors would add a maximum of four index points (for large cities) for the period between January 1941 and September 1944.”

***

ON THIS DAY IN 1953, the Eagle reported, “The new Brooklyn Supreme Court building is a ‘decided probability,’ Supreme Court Justice Henry L. Ughetta told members of the Brooklyn Bar Association last night in the Bar Association building, 123 Remsen St. Justice Ughetta’s optimistic observation was made in reference to a $3,438,000 allocation in the proposed 1954 city capital budget for the first stages of construction of a new borough courthouse, to be located in the heart of Brooklyn’s new Civic Center. The item has been approved by the City Planning Commission, and the Board of Estimate must approve the list of capital outlays not later than Friday.”

***

ON THIS DAY IN 1954, the Eagle reported, “Because of the unusually long Indian summer, the members of the Iceberg Athletic Club, Brooklyn’s human polar bears, will make their first beach trip of the season Sunday afternoon to the foot of W. 19th St. in Coney Island. In other years they began their frozen festival Oct. 1. The Icebergs, their muscles no doubt stiff after the long summer, will limber up with games of soft and hand ball, throwing the medicine ball, lifting weights, running races and tumbling. They will climax the afternoon with a dip in the ocean. A light snow has been forecast for Sunday. The Iceberg A.C. is probably the most heterogeneous group since the U.N. Its president since 1918 is George O’Connor, a retired detective. The first vice president is the Rev. Dr. David Munroe Cory, the recently appointed executive secretary of the Brooklyn division of the Protestant Council of the City of New York. The membership also includes a chiropractor, a photographer, a law student, an interior decorator, a salesman, a lawyer, a student and Ed Sirocki, claimed to be the world’s champion blood donor, credited with 275 transfusions in the last 30 years.”

***

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include “The Decline of Western Civilization” director Penelope Spheeris, who was born in 1945; “Frasier” star Dan Butler, who was born in 1954; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Rick Savage (Def Leppard), who was born in 1960; “Charlie’s Angels” star Lucy Liu, who was born in 1968; “Melrose Place” star Rena Sofer, who was born in 1968; International Tennis Hall of Famer Monica Seles, who was born in 1973; “I’m Like a Bird” singer Nelly Furtado, who was born in 1978; “Oops!… I Did it Again” singer Britney Spears, who was born in 1981; Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who was born in 1983; “NCIS: Los Angeles” star Daniela Ruah, who was born in 1983; “Degrassi: The Next Generation” star Cassie Steele, who was born in 1989; and N.Y. Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez, who was born in 1992.

Aaron Rodgers
Michael Zorn/Invision/AP Images

***

DRAWING THE LINE: On this day in 1823, President James Monroe, in his annual message to Congress, put forth the doctrine that bears his name and has long been hailed as a statement of U.S. policy: “In the wars of the European powers in matters relating to themselves, we have never taken any part … We should consider any attempt on their part to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety.”

***

MEDICAL MARVEL: On this day in 1982, Barney C. Clark, 61, became the first recipient of a permanent artificial heart. The operation was performed at the University of Utah Medical Center at Salt Lake City. Near death at the time of the operation, Clark survived almost 112 days after the implantation. He died on March 23, 1983.

***

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

Quotable:

“Don’t talk to me about rules, dear. Wherever I stay, I make the goddamn rules.”

— opera legend Maria Callas, who was born on this day in 1923