June 13: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

June 13, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1945, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “Thirty-three students of Midwood High School, Bedford Ave. and Glenwood Road, will run the Flatbush War Price and Rationing Board, 2585 Bedford Ave., Friday as part of their education in democratic procedure during wartime. The students will work from 10:30 a.m. until 3 p.m. Under the supervision of Herman Swarzman, chairman of the board, and Dr. Jacob Ross, principal of Midwood High School, the students will interview applicants for gasoline, food points and other rationed commodities. They will also assist board members in passing upon applications. Other students will sit with price panels at conferences of retailers relating to complaints of price violations. Daniel P. Woolley, regional OPA administrator, said the one-day operation by students will bring home to New Yorkers the basic OPA principle of neighbors passing upon the rationing needs of the members of their community and the home front battle against inflation. ‘By spending a day at the office of the local War Price and Rationing Board, the students will gain a better understanding of the splendid job carried on daily by the thousands of volunteer OPA workers,’ Mr. Woolley said.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1947, the Eagle reported, “Speculation was lively in political and business circles today on how great a boost in transit fares would be needed to match Mayor [William] O’Dwyer’s proposal for a fare sufficient to cover operating — but not debt service — costs. Estimates were that a new fare might run anywhere from 7 to 10 cents, with the possibility of tokens for combination rates of two rides for 15 cents or three for a quarter. Mr. O’Dwyer, in a surprising reversal of policy, became the city’s first mayor to propose possible abandonment of the five-cent fare when he revealed yesterday that steps are being taken for a referendum next November on a fair increase. How much of a boost would be proposed depended on the result of a study of city finances now being made by a three-man committee which is expected to hand in its report to the mayor in three weeks.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1948, the Eagle reported, “BERKELEY, CAL. (U.P.) — President Truman today told a University of California graduation day crowd of 15,000 that post-war Soviet ‘obstruction and aggression’ constitutes ‘the most bitter disappointment of our time.’ But in his speech broadcast around the world by radio the chief executive also beckoned Russia to world peace and understanding through a door ‘always open for honest negotiations looking toward genuine settlement.’ He abruptly slammed the door, however, on ‘fast and loose deals between great powers to the detriment of other nations or at the expense of principle.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1951, the Eagle reported, “Shocking revelations of teen-age dope traffic reached a fantastic high point today as a 17-year-old Brooklyn boy, himself ‘chief bookmaker’ at a Brooklyn high school, revealed that the school’s ‘chief dope peddler’ took in $300 to $400 a day selling narcotics to fellow students. The boss dope peddler is still a student at the unnamed Brooklyn school, the youthful bookie declared. His astounding testimony was presented to a packed and shocked audience at Attorney General Nathaniel Goldstein’s narcotics hearing in the Manhattan State Office Building via a recording. The young bookie, whose name was not revealed, said he knew how much the dope peddler made daily because he ‘took that much money’ from the ‘drug salesman’ himself through daily bets. Students at the school bought their dope supplies right in the school, the 17-year-old bookie said. A frightening portrait of a Brooklyn neighborhood where ‘most of the youths 16 to 21’ are confirmed heroin users and where at least four boys have died of dope addiction was also painted at the hearing. Charges that high school addicts have been turned away from hospitals when seeking treatment and that dope has been smuggled into some hospitals and sold to users who were supposedly taking treatment for drug addiction were also made at the hearing.”

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NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include “Sesame Street” star Bob McGrath, who was born in 1932; lawyer and politician Eleanor Holmes Norton, who was born in 1937; “A Clockwork Orange” star Malcolm McDowell, who was born in 1943; “The Waltons” star Richard Thomas, who was born in 1951; “Last Man Standing” star Tim Allen, who was born in 1953; “St. Elmo’s Fire” star Ally Sheedy, who was born in 1962; sports journalist Hannah Storm, who was born in 1962; Weezer co-founder Rivers Cuomo, who was born in 1970; “Avengers” star Chris Evans, who was born in 1981; former NFL cornerback Nate Jones, who was born in 1982; “2 Broke Girls” star Kat Dennings, who was born in 1986; “Full House” stars Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen, who were born in 1986; N.Y. Mets catcher James McCann, who was born in 1990; and “Kick-Ass” star Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who was born in 1990.

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A WAY WITH WORDS: William Butler Yeats was born in Dublin on this day in 1865. The Nobel Prize-winning poet and dramatist once wrote: “If an author interprets a poem of his own, he limits its suggestibility.” Yeats died in France in 1939. After World War II, his body was returned to Ireland for reburial.

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ON THE RIGHT TRACK: The world’s first roller coaster opened in Coney Island on this day in 1884. Built and later patented by LaMarcus Thompson, the “Gravity Pleasure Switchback Railway” boasted two parallel 600-foot tracks that descended from 50 feet. The cars traveled at six miles per hour and riders paid five cents each for their rides. The roller coaster was a sensation and soon amusement parks all over the world featured them.

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

Quotable:

“The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.”

— poet William Butler Yeats, who was born on this day in 1865