April 7: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

April 7, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1912, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “The Titanic, the latest addition to the steamers of the White Star Line, is now at Southampton preparing for her first voyage. She is scheduled to leave Southampton, Cherbourg and Queenstown on April 10, to arrive here on April 17, sailing from here on her first eastern voyage on April 20. The Titanic is 882 feet 6 inches long, 92 feet 6 inches wide, 66,000 tons displacement and 46,000 tons gross register.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1940, the Eagle reported, “TORONTO — The Leafs defeated the Rangers, 2 to 1, here tonight. It was the Leafs’ first victory in the Stanley Cup final playoff series, which the Rangers now lead by two games to one. Phil Watson completely duped the Leafs to score with less than two minutes of the first period left. Referee Bill Stewart had borne down with a heavy hand as the boys started hitting hard and Rangers Coulter, Heller and Watson had all spent terms in jail, with Neil Colville serving two penalties. Thus the Rangers were two men short for most of the latter part of the first period and Heller, Pratt and Watson were stalling off three Leafs as the end of the session neared.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1947, the Eagle reported, “MIAMI — The Dodgers, after 45 days and nights in the tropics, are back in the U.S.A., where all big leaguers belong. [Branch] Rickey’s foreign invasion wasn’t what could be called a highly successful campaign. In fact, in Havana it was a Waterloo. Panama was too hot for the Americans to play ball. Then there was nobody to play with outside of some soft-touch semi-pros, which further complicated the training schedule. The only place where the natives came out to see the Dodgers was in the three-game series with the Yankees in Venezuela. Not even Jackie Robinson could bring out the colored population of the Isthmus, except for one day at Cristobal, and Brooklyn wasn’t in on that gate at all, Montreal playing the Canal Zone All-Stars. The expected swarming of Grand Stadium, Havana, by 300,00 fans didn’t materialize. The park was one of the plague spots in town. Meanwhile, the hotel bills were piling up to turn the strongest Dodger stomachs. It’s estimated, and it’s a topic of conversation that Dodger officials avoid, that Brooklyn lost upwards of $100,000 on the Cuban venture. But they made about $15,000 in Venezuela and Panama, where they operated under guarantees. The financial setup was so bad in Havana that the St. Louis Browns ran out on their three-game series with the Dodgers.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1949, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON (U.P.) — Potential enemies of the United States were on notice today that President Truman would not hesitate to use the atom bomb again if he believed the welfare of the democracies was at stake. But the president solemnly told a gathering of congressmen: ‘I hope and pray that that will never be necessary.’ He recalled in a speech last night that soon after he became president in 1945, he was called upon to authorize use of the atom bomb against two Japanese cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. ‘Now I believe,’ he said, ‘that we are in a position where we will never have to make that decision again. But if it has to be made for the welfare of the United States, and the democracies of the world are at stake, I wouldn’t hesitate to make it again.’ Mr. Truman said he hopes the signing of the North Atlantic Security Pact ‘is a step that will prevent our having to make a decision of that sort.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1963, the Eagle reported “PORTSMOUTH, VA. — Duke Snider, recently acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers, joined the New York Mets yesterday and helped his new club rout the Baltimore Orioles, 7-2. The 36-year-old outfielder was not the biggest gun in the 14-hit offensive, mainly against Robin Roberts, but he made his presence felt with a run-scoring single and contributed a spectacular catch that robbed Bob Saverine of an extra-base hit off Jay Hook. Ed Kranepool, 18-year-old bonus boy, and Charlie Neal led the Mets’ attack. Kranepool hit three homers; Neal hit two, plus a double.”

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Francis Ford Coppola
Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Charlie Thomas (The Drifters), who was born in 1937; former California Gov. Jerry Brown, who was born in 1938; author Iris Johansen, who was born in 1938; Oscar-winning filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, who was born in 1939; basketball player Zaid Abdul-Aziz, who was born in Brooklyn in 1946; Chiffons member Patricia Bennett, who was born in 1947; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer John Oates, who was born in 1948; former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, who was born in 1949; “At Seventeen” singer Janis Ian, who was born in 1951; martial artist and filmmaker Jackie Chan, who was born in 1954; Pro Football Hall of Famer Tony Dorsett, who was born in 1954; former heavyweight champion Buster Douglas, who was born in 1960; Oscar-winning actor Russell Crowe, who was born in 1964; and former N.Y. Giants running back Tiki Barber, who was born in 1975.

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PUT IT IN THE BOOKS: On this day in 451, Atilla the Hun sacked the city of Metz.

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BREW-HAHA: The Cullen-Harrison Act went into effect on this day in 1933. Beginning at 12:01 a.m., people could buy beer that was 3.2 percent alcohol by weight instead of the “near beer” they suffered with all through Prohibition. The public lined up on “New Beer’s Eve” at breweries in 20 states and Washington, D.C., and purchased 1.5 million barrels. April 7 remains an unofficial holiday celebrating beer in the U.S.

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SPECIAL DELIVERY: Booker T. Washington became the first African-American depicted on a U.S. postage stamp on this day in 1940. Born into slavery in 1856, Washington was an outstanding educator and the co-founder of Alabama’s Tuskegee Institute. As the dominant black leader of his time, he also served as an adviser to several U.S. presidents. He died in 1915.

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

Quotable:

“Anything you build on a large scale or with intense passion invites chaos.”

— filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, who was born on this day in 1939