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November 3: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

November 3, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle History
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ON THIS DAY IN 1942, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “Millions vote today for national, state and local offices in the first wartime general election since 1918 and one heavily weighted with presidential politics. Scattered contests bear directly on President Roosevelt’s future control of important segments of his party. Republicans are looking to today’s polling to raise new popular leaders before the people and to start the GOP on the comeback trail. An unforeseen Republican landslide would be interpreted in some degree as a vote of no confidence in Mr. Roosevelt’s conduct of the war. But candidates of all parties uniformly are pledged to continue the fight until the Axis is licked. The Democratic party is expected to lose some Senate and House seats but to retain control of the Congress. There also is a scattered weakening of Democratic state bulwarks and the Republican party is expected to add to its list of governors, notably in New York State, where Democrats have been in power 20 years.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1954, the Eagle reported, “Squeaking through in the closest state election in history, Averell Harriman emerged today as New York’s first Democratic governor in 12 years. Although he rode the crest of a nationwide Democratic wave that gave his party control of the House of Representatives, Harriman nursed a lead so slim that all voting machines in the state were ordered impounded by Governor [Thomas] Dewey. Harriman’s expected win was overshadowed by the crushing defeat of Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr., his running mate for attorney general. The son of the late president, touted as a big vote-getter, was flattened by Jacob K. Javits as thousands of voters split their tickets. Ticket-splitting was the vogue across the nation in the off-year election which apparently drew a record turnout of 45,000,000 despite generally bad weather. Control of the U.S. Senate remained up in the air but Democrats cut heavily into Republican gubernatorial ranks. With Harriman the victor by about 12,000 votes over Senator Irving M. Ives — barring a possible switch if a recount is ordered — he faced two uncomfortable problems. One was a Republican-controlled Legislature and the other was Javits, who will be in a position to embarrass the Democrats through his office as attorney general. All but two of the 22 Brooklyn Assembly districts were chalked up in the Harriman column. Ives carried the 9th and 12th Districts, both in the Bay Ridge area. Javits took those two and the 3rd A.D. in South Brooklyn and Brooklyn Heights, as well.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1962, the Eagle reported, “GENEVA (UPI) — Informed sources said today the International Committee of the Red Cross is studying the possibility of providing inspection machinery to verify the withdrawal of Soviet missiles from Cuba. A Red Cross spokesman declined all comment on reports that Soviet Premier Nikita S. Khrushchev had asked the Red Cross to supervise inspection in preference to the United Nations. But informed sources said the All-Swiss organization already had told United Nations Acting Secretary General Thant that it is ready to participate in some form of inspection. The Red Cross normally has no more than 30 delegates on duty at any one time to supervise its refugee and prisoner of war supervisory activities in widely scattered parts of the world and details must be worked out for expanded activities in Cuba. Additional observers would have to be recruited from among Swiss citizens should a formal acceptance of the Khrushchev plan be made.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1962, the Eagle reported, “The 2,700-member New York State Association of Trial Lawyers has renewed its drive for creation of a transit ‘watchdog committee’ to suggest and implement subway safety measures. Joseph Kelner, of Lake Success, association president, said the proposed committee would consist of Transit Authority officials, union personnel, city engineers and attorneys specializing in personal-injury cases. The association urged a safety program which would include: protective rails on all subway platforms to protect riders from being shoved off onto the tracks; a ‘clean-up campaign’ to reduce accidents caused by falls on refuse and rubbish; [and] adequate enclosures for subway entrance stairways to prevent accumulation of snow and ice on steps.”

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NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include “Marjorie Prime” star Lois Smith, who was born in 1930; former Democratic presidential nominee Mike Dukakis, who was born in 1933; “Gorky Park” author Martin Cruz Smith, who was born in 1942; former N.Y. Yankees pitcher Ken Holtzman, who was born in 1945; “To Sir with Love” singer Lulu, who was born in 1948; former heavyweight champion Larry Holmes, who was born in 1949; Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, who was born in 1949; actress and comedian Roseanne Barr, who was born in 1952; former “Saturday Night Live” star Dennis Miller, who was born in 1953; former N.Y. Giants quarterback Phil Simms, who was born in 1955; former N.Y. Mets reliever Armando Benitez, who was born in 1972; and model and TV personality Kendall Jenner, who was born in 1995.

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TROUBLED WATERS: On this day in 1906, the Second International Radio Telegraphic Conference, meeting in Berlin, proposed a new wireless distress signal: SOS. After its use during the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, SOS became the standard distress signal at sea. Though it hasn’t been used as a maritime distress signal since 1999, SOS is still a widely recognized code.

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FAKE NEWS: On this day in 1948, the Chicago Tribune made one of the biggest blunders in newspaper history with its front page headline “Dewey Defeats Truman.” While most straw polls had predicted that incumbent Democratic President Harry Truman would lose to his Republican opponent, New York Gov. Thomas Dewey, Truman trumped Dewey in the Electoral College, 303-189.

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

 

Quotable:

“You know there is a problem with the education system when you realize that out of the 3 R’s only one begins with an R.”

— comedian Dennis Miller, who was born on this day in 1953

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