January 25: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

January 25, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1935, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are untenable. The only life, according to our standards, that could exist on some of the planets, would be grotesque shapes of man. A Mars man would have to have an enormous lung capacity, saucer-sized eyes and elephant’s ears to have proper metabolic functioning. Dr. Harlan T. Stetson of the Harvard College Observatory delivered a lecture last night at the Academy, under institute auspices. His was the third of a series of four illustrated lectures on ‘Our Astronomical Relations.’ The subject of Dr. Stetson’s discussion was ‘Planets and Comets as Our Nearest Celestial Neighbors.’ In explanation, Dr. Stetson said that recent experiments with spectrograms has shown very little evidence of oxygen and water vapor on Mars and Venus. With the use of the spectroscope it is shown that the ring around Saturn is actually divided into several strips, each moving as a separate unit. Saturn is as light and buoyant as cork. Clouds of ammonia and methane surround Saturn and Jupiter, which makes life impossible, he said.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1940, the Eagle reported, “ALBANY — While controversy over Governor [Herbert] Lehman’s budget and tax program continued to rage unabated, the Legislature was told in a bi-partisan report today that business is leaving the state and immediate action has become necessary to discourage the exodus. The same report, dealing essentially with industrial and labor relations and signed by four Republicans and four Democrats, condemned communism in labor ranks and called on organized labor’s members to ‘weed out’ Communist labor leaders and Communist members and promulgate rules prohibiting Reds from becoming members of unions. The report was submitted by the Joint Legislative Committee on Industrial and Labor Relations under chairmanship of Assembly Majority Leader Irving M. Ives. …The committee informed the Legislature that while numerous reasons had been advanced for the flight of industry from the state, the actual causes are not definitely known. The report appeared to assume added significance because of charges now current that the proposed higher state budget and the recommendation for higher taxes would become a factor in driving taxable wealth out of the state.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1946, the Eagle reported, “The battleship New York, ‘grand old lady’ of the fleet, sailed on her last mission today. Sun glinting on her battle-worn sides, the 31-year-old fighting ship left New York Harbor with a final proud toot on her whistle for her birthplace, the Brooklyn Navy Yard, destined to die — as she had lived — for her country. Her destination is the atoll where the Navy will use her in atomic bomb tests next May. It is fitting that she breathes her last in Pacific waters for she does so of her own free will after standing up against all the Japanese could thrown at her off Okinawa. She was in action for 78 days, the only major warship to stay on the job that long, and she flung 2,500 tons of shells, more than all American ships combined fired at Tarawa. She was alerted more than 200 times during the Okinawa battle and was scratched only once, when a Kamikaze plane glanced off her mainmast into the sea. It was the only time she was hit in this war and in the first World War, when she was the flagship of the American squadron at the surrender of the German fleet at Scapa Flow.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1963, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON — There are ominous new signs that Russia is again building a formidable stockpile of nuclear weapons in Cuba. By using the same tight security methods employed in shipping missiles and bombers last October, the Kremlin is believed to be sneaking atomic warheads and bombs to the island. The Navy has uncovered some convincing evidence of this clandestine operation. Low-flying reconnaissance planes, equipped with special surveillance instruments, detected ‘fissionable material’ aboard three Russian vessels docking at ports near Havana and Banes within the past 10 days. This ‘hot’ nuclear cargo was unloaded from the Semperpol, Michurinski and Anganskles, three of the 150 Soviet bloc cargo ships that now regularly ply the Russia-to-Cuba run. These vessels are still in Cuba loading for their return trip. That’s the dark heart of a Naval Intelligence report which is keeping President [John] Kennedy’s new Interagency Cuban task force burning lights late at night at their headquarters in the State Department.”

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NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include saxophonist and composer Benny Golson, who was born in 1929; Pro Football Hall of Famer Carl Eller, who was born in 1942; “Soylent Green” star Leigh Taylor-Young, who was born in 1945; “Empty Nest” star Dinah Manoff, who was born in 1956; “The Preacher’s Wife” star Jenifer Lewis, who was born in 1957; Hockey Hall of Famer Chris Chelios, who was born in 1962; N.Y. Rangers Stanley Cup champion Esa Tikkanen, who was born in 1965; “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” author Stephen Chbosky, who was born in 1970; former N.Y. Knicks forward Chris Mills, who was born in 1970; “Ugly Betty” star Ana Ortiz, who was born in 1971; “Empire State of Mind” singer Alicia Keys, who was born in 1981; and former NFL linebacker Patrick Willis, who was born in 1985.

Stephen Chbosky
Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP

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LET IT SNOW: The first Winter Olympics opened at Chamonix, France, on this day in 1924, with athletes representing 16 nations. The ski jump, previously unknown, thrilled spectators. The Olympics offered a boost to skiing, which became enormously popular in the next decade.

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EAST MEETS WEST: The first scheduled transcontinental flight in the U.S. took place on this day in 1959. American Airlines opened the jet age when a Boeing 707 flew non-stop from California to New York.

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MEET THE PREZ: President John F. Kennedy held the first televised presidential news conference on this day in 1961, five days after his inauguration.

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

Quotable:

“To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life.”

— author Somerset Maugham, who was born on this day in 1874