June 24: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

June 24, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1943, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON (U.P.) — Coal Administrator Harold L. Ickes said today that the three coal strikes in the past two months had aggravated the fuel shortage and may make it necessary to ration coal. Meanwhile, thousands of miners, refusing to obey the order of their union and its president, John L. Lewis, failed to report to the mines today. Ickes told a press conference that the mine stoppages had left the country lagging behind its coal production goal. Asked about the prospect of coal rationing next winter, he said: ‘We are discussing it. A situation might develop quite rapidly in which we might have to face that question.’ OPA officials previously had revealed that they were working on plans for rationing coal when and if Ickes found it was necessary. Ickes said the sudden demand for coal to reinforce depleted stock piles might overload transportation facilities and aggravate the problem in that way. He said the northwest might ‘be hit first’ by any shortage. Asked about other sections, he said, ‘It depends on their stock piles. No part of the country is situated too well.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1951, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON, JUNE 23 (U.P.) — President Truman told Congress bluntly today that its control legislation banning future price rollbacks is an ‘extremely dangerous … invitation to disaster.’ The president at the same time sent Vice President Alben W. Barkley and Speaker Sam Rayburn a report of his Mobilization Advisory Board warning of inflation dangers and calling for quick approval of effective controls. The president’s declaration coincided with the publication of a Banking Committee report on the Senate controls bill in which the majority members said it would not drive prices up. But six members dissented sharply, calling for stronger legislation to curb inflation. Mr. Truman accused both the House and Senate Banking Committees of taking ‘the easy way’ in drafting their bills. He said he was ‘considerably distressed’ by their ‘relaxed, soft attitude’ toward the menace of runaway prices and wages. The present controls law dies next Saturday.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1952, the Eagle reported, “The complexity of modern living requires that the ‘wife, mother and homemaker’ be ‘a Fay Emerson, Mrs. Roosevelt, Florence Nightingale and Mother Cabrini’ rolled into one, City Court Justice Owen McGovern last night told approximately 418 graduates of the day and evening sessions of Bay Ridge High School. More than 2,500 persons attended the school’s 76th commencement in Brooklyn Technical High School. Elizabeth T. Fitzpatrick, principal, presided and conferred the diplomas. Justice McGovern, who viewed the modern woman’s role in ‘a fiercely competitive society’ as ‘as difficult as anything faced by the American woman of pioneer days,’ advised selection of a goal in life and driving toward it with ‘a relentless seriousness of purpose.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1953, the Eagle reported, “The cop on the beat is still the backbone of a police department. Given all the modern crime detection gadgets and scientific apparatus known to present-day law enforcement agencies, a police department can be no better than its foot patrolman — the man who represents the police department, as far as the community-at-large is concerned. Although there has been a fortunate reversal in the trend lately, for the past few years the department’s ‘ambassadors in blue’ have been a rapidly disappearing tribe. Whereas Brooklynites in the past would list the cop on the beat as ‘part of their neighborhood,’ there is nary a kid around today who knows the name of a cop — except, perhaps, if he happens to be the one directing traffic at a school intersection. There might be some opinion that the foot cop can no longer meet the demands of an ever-expanding city and its teeming population. But this conception has been disproved time and time again in the trouble spots of the city. The cop on the beat knows his beat and he knows its people. He knows who the trouble-makers are, he knows who the strangers are and he knows exactly where to get information. The old-timers in the department will tell you that half a detective’s work is done by the foot cop — if there is a foot cop around.”

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NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Mick Fleetwood (Fleetwood Mac), who was born in 1942; “Knots Landing” star Michele Lee, who was born in 1942; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Jeff Beck (The Yardbirds), who was born in 1944; former N.Y. Gov. George Pataki, who was born in 1945; “Robocop” star Peter Weller, who was born in 1947; former N.Y. Rangers coach John Tortorella, who was born in 1958; Mazzy Star singer Hope Sandoval, who was born in 1966; “The Office” star Mindy Kaling, who was born in 1979; model and philanthropist Petra Nemcova, who was born in 1979; “Friday Night Lights” star Minka Kelly, who was born in 1980; and former N.Y. Yankees pitcher Phil Hughes, who was born in 1986.

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MAN OF FAITH: Henry Ward Beecher was born on this day in 1813. The native of Litchfield, Conn., became pastor of Plymouth Church in Brooklyn Heights in 1847. From the pulpit, he advocated for many of the controversial issues of his era, including temperance, women’s suffrage, Darwinian evolution and, most notably, abolition. He died in 1887 and is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery.

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MERCY MISSION: The Berlin Airlift began on this day in 1948. In the early days of the Cold War, the Soviet Union challenged the West’s right of access to Berlin. The Soviets created a blockade, and an airlift to supply some 2,250,000 people resulted. The airlift lasted for 321 days and brought 1,592,787 tons of supplies into Berlin. Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin finally backed down and the blockade ended on May 12, 1949.

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

Quotable:

”Every charitable act is a stepping stone toward heaven.”

— minister Henry Ward Beecher, who was born on this day in 1813