November 6: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

November 6, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1918, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “At noon today the contest for governor between [Charles S.] Whitman and [Al] Smith was so close that it seemed the official result would not be known until the soldier vote has been canvassed. This may delay an official determination for several days, possibly a week, or more. With 550 districts missing, the vote at noon today was: Whitman, 928,692; Smith, 958,231. This gives Smith a lead of 29,569. This lead is being steadily reduced as returns from the upstate districts are received. It has been figured that if Whitman is to overcome the present Smith lead, he must report a plurality of 55 from each of the missing 550 districts. His supporters claim that it is possible for him to do this, as the missing sections are largely Republican. It, therefore, seems probable that with the completion of the entire state vote, save the soldier vote, Whitman may obtain a slight lead. The Democrats are making strong claims for a big majority of the soldier vote and confidently expect this to elect Smith. This is an eventuality which many sober-minded Republicans are inclined to admit.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1946, the Eagle reported, “A Republican tidal wave, which swept Gov. Thomas E. Dewey, U.S. Senator-elect Irving M. Ives and the entire GOP state ticket into office and assured their party of control of the incoming 80th Congress today literally swamped the Democratic coalition behind the Mead-Lehman slate in the once-powerful New Deal Brooklyn stronghold. Complete returns after New York’s first statewide election since World War II disclosed fully a third of the candidates running on the Democratic slate, some with left-wing American Labor as well as Liberal party endorsements, being dragged down to defeat in the largest Republican state and local sweep since the Harding presidential landslide of 1920. Although all nine Democratic representatives running for reelection in Brooklyn were returned to office, despite an evident protest which voters were making to register their dissatisfaction with conditions under the Truman national administration, the Brooklyn Democratic organization, ranking as the largest in the state, suffered the loss of two Supreme Court seats, one in the City Court and nearly half the places its members had controlled in the Legislature.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1954, the Eagle reported, “As the upstate elections boards continued their recanvass of votes in the photo-finish gubernatorial contest, New York City officials announced that plans have been completed for the official recanvass of the city’s balloting Tuesday. Unofficial reports from outlying counties showed Senator Irving Ives, Republican candidate, inching to within 8,820 votes of Averell Harriman, unofficial governor-elect. Here in the city, 27 teams of lawyers, each with a representative of the major parties as a member, will recheck the thousands of voting machines now under police guard in a Board of Elections warehouse. Hopeful Republicans point out that all they need for an Ives victory is an average of one vote gained in each of the state’s election districts. Yesterday Ives gained some 837 votes in the upstate canvass. Biggest gains for Ives were chalked up in rechecks of Suffolk, Ulster and Yates counties. Meanwhile, Attorney General Nathaniel Goldstein announced he was investigating reported voting frauds in two upstate counties — Albany and Erie — as well as in New York City, Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1962, the Eagle reported, “NEW YORK (UPI) — Voters throughout New York State go to the polls today in an off-year election of unusual significance. The decisions they make will cast long shadows on the futures of both major parties, nationally and locally, and on the careers of a number of leading politicians. The voters will choose a governor, a U.S. senator, 41 congressmen and state senators and assemblymen, a state controller, a state attorney general, and a judge for the State Court of Appeals. The polls open at 6 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. Despite an unusually heavy registration of more than seven million voters, leaders in both parties look for a lighter vote than in 1958, when Republican Nelson A. Rockefeller was elected governor. This has been a brief and rather tepid campaign and it was interrupted at its height by a national emergency that diverted everyone’s attention for more than a week.”

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NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include Oscar-winner Sally Field, who was born in 1946; Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Cunningham, who was born in 1952; journalist and author Maria Shriver, who was born in 1955; “Gossip Girl” star Kelly Rutherford, who was born in 1968; “X-Men” star Rebecca Romijn, who was born in 1972; actor and basketball player Lamar Odom, who was born in 1979; singer-songwriter Ben Rector, who was born in 1986; Oscar-winner Emma Stone, who was born in 1988; and soccer player Jozy Altidore, who was born in 1989.

Rebecca Romijn
Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

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THE MARCH OF TIME: John Philip Sousa was born on this day in 1854. The American composer and band conductor is remembered for stirring marches such as “The Stars and Stripes Forever,” “Semper Fidelis” and “El Capitan.” He died in 1932.

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THE EARLY DAYS: “Good Morning America” premiered on this day in 1975. The ABC morning program, set in a living room, is a mixture of news reports, features and interviews with news makers and people of interest. It was the first program to compete with NBC’s “The Today Show” and initially aired as “A.M. America.” Hosts have included David Hartman, Nancy Dussault, Sandy Hill, Charles Gibson, Joan Lunden, Lisa McRee, Kevin Newman and Diane Sawyer.

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

Quotable:

“The one fact pertaining to all conditions is that they will change.”

— journalist and economist Charles Dow, who was born on this day in 1851