Brooklyn Boro

May 17: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

May 17, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle History
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ON THIS DAY IN 1937, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON (U.P.) — Senator M.M. Logan (D., Ky.) announced today that he would offer three modifications to President Roosevelt’s judiciary reorganization bill and predicted that one of them would be reported favorably to the Senate. ‘I am sure that the president’s bill will be modified in the Judiciary Committee tomorrow and reported favorably,’ Logan, an administration supporter, said. He declined to say definitely whether the administration men on the committee had decided to support a compromise. Logan took leadership of compromise efforts in a move which some believed might have been inspired by other administration leaders, although they insisted they were standing firm for an increase of six justices in the Supreme Court. Logan’s principal compromise would provide: That the Supreme Court shall permanently be fixed at nine members, but that this number may temporarily be increased from time to time. To achieve this increase he would provide that justices should be eligible for retirement at 75 years if they have served ten years on the court. If, within six months after becoming eligible, a justice fails to retire, the president may appoint an additional justice to the court. Such additional justices may be appointed for each justice who fails to retire as permitted, but the court would not permanently be increased. The court could never have more than nine justices under 75 years of age.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1942, the Eagle reported, “It looked, last night, like a paradise for Sunday drivers today — if they can get out on the open road. Gasoline rationing in 17 eastern states already had thinned automobile traffic through the Holland Tunnel and on usually busy highways. Reason: many gasoline stations, their May 10 stocks exhausted, had closed down until the next delivery, on Wednesday. With or without ration cards, therefore, a motorist having a full tank can drive out to New Jersey or Long Island today and find roads pleasantly free of traffic. But the driver counting on picking up his gas on the way had better — and no doubt will — stay home.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1945, the Eagle reported, “Democratic forces backing District Attorney [William] O’Dwyer for mayor in the Democratic city primaries today picked Representative Donald L. O’Toole as his tentative running mate for borough president of Brooklyn on a proposed insurgent ticket. At the same time, while Mr. O’Dwyer himself delayed a decision on entering the primaries in a fight against the Democratic organizations headed by leaders Frank V. Kelly of Brooklyn and Edward J. Flynn of the Bronx, the prosecutor’s close friends became more emphatic in their predictions that he would run. They said the chances of a wholesale fight in the city primaries were becoming more imminent. Political masterminds behind the plan for a fight against the Kelly and Flynn organizations said Representative O’Toole was their present choice for borough president but that he might be ditched later in favor of one of Mr. Kelly’s district leaders if the latter move was decided upon for strategic purposes.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1948, the Eagle reported, “TEL AVIV (U.P.) — Jewish forces launched a fierce attack today on Ramleh Township, an Arab community of 20,000 only nine miles from Tel Aviv, in a drive to reopen the vital highway to Jerusalem. The attack on the township, which dominates the vital supply line to the 100,000 Jews in the Holy City, was begun as Egyptian fighter-bombers made three more raids on Tel Aviv, provisional capital of the three-day-old Jewish State of Israel. It was made by Irgun Zvai Leumi extremist units which only recently have been incorporated into the Jewish army. At the same time, a Cairo newspaper reported that the Jews had surrendered the old walled city of Jerusalem to the Arabs. A dispatch from Jerusalem yesterday which appeared in the London Telegraph today said that high explosive shells from Arab 75s five miles north of Jerusalem had been falling all day in the main streets of the Holy City. It said mortars exploded in Jerusalem as the Jews attacked Arabs in the city. It said the Jews had the edge on the first two days of fighting in Jerusalem but that the Arabs appeared to have gained strength yesterday.”

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Nikki Reed
David Shankbone/Wikimedia Commons

Craig Ferguson
Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia Commons

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Bill Bruford (Yes), who was born in 1949; International Boxing Hall of Famer Sugar Ray Leonard, who was born in 1956; “Full House” star Bob Saget, who was born in 1956; former Iron Maiden singer Paul Di’Anno, who was born in 1958; “Orinoco Flow” singer Enya, who was born in 1961; comedian Craig Ferguson, who was born in 1962; Nine Inch Nails founder Trent Reznor, who was born in 1965; former N.Y. Knicks guard Hubert Davis, who was born in 1970; New Kids on the Block singer Jordan Knight, who was born in 1970; Queens of the Stone Age founder Josh Homme, who was born in 1973; former NFL quarterback Matt Cassel, who was born in 1982; former NBA point guard Tony Parker, who was born in 1982; former N.Y. Knicks forward Channing Frye, who was born in 1983; and “Thirteen” star Nikki Reed, who was born in 1988.

Sugar Ray Leonard
Reggie Bibbs/Wikimedia Commons

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AND THEY’RE OFF: The first running of the Kentucky Derby took place at Churchill Downs on this day in 1875. Jockey Oliver Lewis rode Aristides to a winning time of 2:37.25. 

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JUSTICE FOR ALL: The Brown v. Board of Education case was decided on this day in 1954. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that segregation of public schools “solely on the basis of race” denied black children “equal educational opportunity” even though “physical facilities and other ‘tangible’ factors may have been unequal. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.” The case was argued before the court by Thurgood Marshall, who would go on to become the first African-American appointed to the Supreme Court.

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

Quotable:

“Fighters display two things. They display confidence, or they display a look that says, ‘I’m not sure.’”
— boxing champion Sugar Ray Leonard, who was born on this day in 1956


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