June 12: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

June 12, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1871, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “It has been well remarked that of all the great inventions of this century, that of the telegraph is the greatest, because it is the simplest. It is the nearest approach man has made to the simplicity and majesty of the works of the Deity. It subordinates one of the great forces of nature to the will and uses of man, and enables the insignificant beings, incapable of traveling by their own strength more than forty miles a day, or by any mechanical aid over five hundred miles a day, to instantaneously hold converse while separated by half the globe’s circumference.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1887, the Eagle reported, “LONDON — The Queen’s Jubilee is the all pervading topic and preparations for celebrating the event in befitting manner engross the attention of all classes of Londoners. The fortunate ones who own or hold as tenants space looking to the street along the route proposed for Her Majesty’s procession to Westminster Abbey are making the most of the opportunity, which comes but once in a lifetime, and are charging enormous prices for the privilege of standing room where a view of the pageant can be obtained. In many instances these rapacious landlords — some of them Irishmen, whose denunciations of the Bodyke evictions interlard the conversation necessary to conclude their hard bargains — have compelled their tenants of an hour to hire entire floors, extending perhaps 100 feet or more back from the street, in order to secure the exclusive right to look out the front windows, and as great a sum as £300 has been exacted and paid for that privilege. For the Queen’s garden party at Buckingham Palace, 6,500 invitations have been issued, and it would not exaggerate the number to state that 65,000 persons would have been disappointed in not receiving the royal command to be present on that occasion.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1919, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “Sir Barton is unquestionably the best three-year-old colt since the days of Colin. By his victory in the Belmont stakes at the closing day at Belmont Park yesterday he won $11,950, which brought his total winnings of the season up to $64,950. He has now four straight triumphs to his credit, the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness, the Withers and the Belmont stakes.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1927, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON, JUNE 11 — In a plain blue suit, and not in the uniform which had been sent to him at sea, Col. Charles A. Lindbergh, bronzed, serene and modest, today set foot on his native soil to receive the applause of an admiring government and people. Making a characteristic jerky salute now and then, and smiling occasionally, this young man of remarkable poise, and even more remarkable good taste, arrived in Washington at noon, drove down Pennsylvania Ave. with his mother and received from the hands of the President of the United States the Distinguished Flying Cross — all without one moment of embarrassment, one moment of pose or one moment of ostentation. He came into harbor, far up the sluggish Potomac, with artillery flashing and booming, with huge squadrons of aircraft maneuvering overhead, with bands playing, flags streaming and cheers rising from thousands of throats, acclaimed as no sovereign or president has ever been acclaimed, but he remains, as far as anybody can see, the same Charles Lindbergh who took off from New York on May 21 on his memorable nonstop flight to Paris. The adulation of the world has not spoiled him. He remains himself.”

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NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include “It’s a Small World (After All)” composer Richard M. Sherman, who was born in 1928; broadcaster and Basketball Hall of Famer Marv Albert, who was born in 1941; “Sesame Street” star Sonia Manzano, who was born in 1950; “thirtysomething” star Timothy Busfield, who was born in 1957; “The Kids in the Hall” star Scott Thompson, who was born in 1959; psychologist and cultural critic Jordan Peterson, who was born in 1962; former N.J. Nets shooting guard Kerry Kittles, who was born in 1974; former N.Y. Yankees outfielder and 2009 World Series MVP Hideki Matsui, who was born in 1974; 2004 NBA Sixth Man of the Year Antawn Jamison, who was born in 1976; former NFL tight end and Super Bowl champion Dallas Clark, who was born in 1979; and actress and supermodel Adriana Lima, who was born in 1981.

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DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER: The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum was dedicated in Cooperstown, N.Y., on this day in 1939. More than 200 individuals have been honored for their contributions to the game by induction in the hall. The first players chosen for membership were Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Babe Ruth, Christy Mathewson and Walter Johnson. Relics and memorabilia from the history of baseball are housed at this shrine of America’s national sport.

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COLD WAR COMMAND: President Ronald Reagan gave his “Tear Down this Wall” speech on this day in 1987. Standing at the Brandenburg Gate and the Berlin Wall, Reagan challenged Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev to give more than lip service to liberalization in the Eastern Bloc. “General Secretary Gorbachev,” he said, “if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” The wall finally came down in 1989.

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

Quotable:

“No generation can escape history.”

— President George H.W. Bush, who was born on this day in 1924