September 23: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

September 23, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1931, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “More than 13 percent of Brooklyn’s elementary and junior high school register continued to stay away from school today because of infantile paralysis. This is a greater percentage than in any other borough. After school got under way yesterday, a Board of Education check of representative schools of various boroughs showed that 12.8 percent of Manhattan’s children were absent due to the paralysis scare; 11.2 percent in the Bronx; 11.1 percent in Queens; 13.2 percent in Brooklyn and only 4.8 percent in Staten Island. This made a city-wide average of 11.44 percent. Superintendent of Schools O’Shea pointed out in normal times there are at least 5 percent who do not show up the first day of the school year. A check showed that the greater number of absentees came from the sections of the more well-to-do, many of whom have summer places and are keeping their children there until the first of October or until the weather becomes cooler. Doctors and nurses are busy in every school today watching for sickness, particularly any case of paralysis.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1937, the Eagle reported, “A proclamation designating Oct. 12 as Columbus Day was made public by President Roosevelt yesterday. The proclamation reads in part: ‘Whereas Public Resolution 21, 73rd Congress, approved April 30, 1934, provides: That the President of the United States is authorized and requested to issue a proclamation designating Oct. 12 of each year as Columbus Day. Now, therefore, I, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States of America, under and by virtue of the authority vested in me by the aforesaid public resolution, do by this proclamation designate Oct. 12, 1937, as Columbus Day, and do direct that on that day the flag of the United States be displayed on all Government buildings; and further, I do invite the people of the United States to observe the day with appropriate ceremonies in schools and churches, or other suitable places.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1947, the Eagle reported, “UNITED NATIONS HALL, FLUSHING (U.P.) — U.N. Secretary General Trygve Lie warned the great powers today that continuation of their disunity and suspicion of each other will wreck the United Nations and lead to war. In a solemn address closing general debate at the U.N. Assembly, Lie appealed to the great powers — especially the United States and the Soviet Union — to abandon their diplomatic war and ‘show a willingness to compromise.’ ‘Without such a will, without cooperation and agreement, let me emphasize that no mechanism for the maintenance of international peace and security, however perfect, can be effective,’ he said. Russia countered Lie’s address by accusing the United States of willfully seeking to break its postwar international agreements.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1949, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON (UP) — President Truman today shattered the illusion of an American A-bomb monopoly with the announcement that the Russians recently set off an atomic explosion. His brief, calmly phrased disclosure also exploded the widely held notion that the United States still had several years of grace before the Soviet giant could produce the most destructive weapon ever made by man. The announcement was made simultaneously in London by Prime Minister Clement Attlee. Most U.S. defense officials had put the deadline year, when America’s cold war enemy finally would be poised for an all-out atomic armaments race, at 1951 at the earliest. Not before 1952, they said, could Russia begin to manufacture nuclear weapons in quantity. The president gave no indication as to whether Russia has got to the place where she can manufacture A-bombs. He did not indicate whether U.S. intelligence knows the extent of Russia’s atomic developments. But he told the people: ‘We have evidence that within recent weeks an atomic explosion occurred in the U.S.S.R.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1951, the Eagle reported, “LONDON, SEPT. 22 (U.P.) — An anxious Britain prayed tonight for the well-being of King George VI, gravely ill with a lung condition. But an announcement from Buckingham Palace said no operation had yet been performed and none would take place tonight … Members of the royal family, including Queen Mother Mary and Princess Elizabeth, visited the palace during the evening … Later Elizabeth attended a benefit performance of the moving picture, ‘Lady With a Lamp,’ and was cheered by crowds at Leicester Square as she kept the promise she had made many weeks ago.”

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NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include “All of You” singer Julio Iglesias, who was born in 1943; “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman” star Mary Kay Place, who was born in 1947; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Neal Smith (Alice Cooper), who was born in 1947; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Bruce Springsteen, who was born in 1949; “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” star Rosalind Chao, who was born in 1957; former NFL coach Marvin Lewis, who was born in 1958; “Seinfeld” star Jason Alexander, who was born in 1959; “Boston Public” star Chi McBride, who was born in 1961; former N.Y. Mets pitcher Pete Harnisch, who was born in 1966; singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco, who was born in 1970; “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” star Anthony Mackie, who was born in 1978; and former N.Y. Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain, who was born in 1985.

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EIGHTH ROCK FROM THE SUN: Neptune was discovered by German astronomer Johann Galle on this day in 1846. The planet is 2.796 billion miles from the sun and takes 164.8 years to revolve around it. Its diameter is about 31,000 miles, four times the size of Earth.

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SPACE FOR LIVING: “The Jetsons” premiered on ABC on this day in 1962. The cartoon sitcom followed the exploits of George Jetson and his family, who lived in the space age of the mid-21st century. Although it was canceled after one season, its popularity in syndication led to a brief revival in 1985.

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

Quotable:

“If you listen, you’ll learn. If you talk over each other, you don’t accomplish anything.”

— Oscar-winning actor Mickey Rooney, who was born in Brooklyn on this day in 1920