November 9: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

November 9, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1898, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “OYSTER BAY, L.I. — The coolest, the healthiest and the happiest politician in New York State this morning is Theodore Roosevelt. When the suggestion was made to him that the election was a personal and not a party triumph, he laughed and shook his head in mild denial. The Colonel awoke this morning at his home on Cove Neck at 8 o’clock, after retiring at 1. His neighbors and fellow townsmen had made a merry night of it and the tumult of celebration did not abate about Roosevelt’s home until nearly daybreak, but the noise did not disturb the rest of the Governor-elect. He was in fine fettle when he arose this morning and, putting on a gray bicycle suit with green golf stockings, he sauntered down to the library, where a bundle of 200 congratulatory telegrams from all sections of the country was awaiting him. Forty of these came from his scattered corps of Rough Riders and twenty from New York policemen. The latter the Governor-elect displayed with pride. These messages came so rapidly that it required the whole time of the butler to sign for them.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1938, the Eagle reported, “While New Deal Democrats, from President [Franklin] Roosevelt on down, acclaimed his triumph over District Attorney [Thomas] Dewey by a 68,558-vote plurality, Governor [Herbert] Lehman today saw his entire state ticket carried into office in the face of an adverse twist of fate which forces him to face a hostile, Republican-controlled Legislature at Albany for the first two years of his new four-year term … As returns from 9,042 of the 9,051 election districts of the state gave Governor Lehman a total vote of 2,382,140 to 2,313,582 for Dewey, the Republican prosecutor, who waged the toughest political battle against Lehman in the latter’s public career, was cheered as a candidate who, in defeat, achieved the status of ‘a national figure.’ … The GOP, retaining its control of the Assembly, also captured the Senate and will run the upper house of the Legislature by a vote of 27-24. The newly elected Senate and Assembly will remain in office until the end of 1940.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1942, the Eagle reported, “Governor-elect Thomas E. Dewey’s landslide at the ballot box did more than throw the Democrats out of power in New York State and clear the way for the first Republican administration at Albany in more than 20 years. The result qualified at least one Republican candidate for major honors as a political soothsayer of state-wide results while also reestablishing confidence among individual Republican county chairmen in their ability to call the turn in their own bailiwicks. Six weeks before the election, Democrats scoffed openly and members of his own party went in for eyebrow lifting when Edwin F. Jaeckle of Buffalo, Republican state chairman, declared Mr. Dewey’s upstate plurality on Nov. 3 would equal or exceed the 619,000 majority he received north of the Bronx in his 1938 campaign … He went on record Sept. 23 with his prediction that Mr. Dewey would exceed his 1938 upstate plurality, and added further irritation to the political sensibilities of his party’s opponents by declaring the Democrats were so worried over prospects their normal New York City pluralities would be torn to shreds that ‘they cannot see straight.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1954, the Eagle reported, “‘Operation Recanvass’ — of the unofficial returns in the race for governor between Averell Harriman and Senator [Irving] Ives — got underway slowly at a Brooklyn warehouse at 445 12th St. today — under many watchful eyes. Besides Board of Elections personnel, there were many watchers from the offices of Attorney General Nathan L. Goldstein and State Investigations Commissioner William B. Herlands, as well as from the law committees of the various parties. Meanwhile, the same thing was going on in the four other boroughs, and in many upstate counties, although state Republican leaders had virtually abandoned hope that the recanvass would upset the slim victory margin, on the basis of unofficial returns, of Harriman, the Democratic-Liberal. With revisions so far, Harriman enjoyed a 12,182-vote spread over his GOP opponent.”

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Vanessa Lachey
Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include Baseball Hall of Famer Whitey Herzog, who was born in 1931; “CSI” star Robert David Hall, who was born in 1947; Oscar-winning director Bille August, who was born in 1948; Blue Oyster Cult bassist Joe Bouchard, who was born in 1948; “The Incredible Hulk” star Lou Ferrigno, who was born in Brooklyn in 1951; L7 drummer Demetra Plakas, who was born in 1960; “Star Trek: Voyager” star Robert Duncan McNeill, who was born in 1964; rapper and actress Pepa, who was born in 1964; U.S. Hockey Hall of Famer Bill Guerin, who was born in 1970; “Grey’s Anatomy” star Eric Dane, who was born in 1972; actor and singer Nick Lachey, who was born in 1973; TV personality Vanessa Lachey, who was born in 1980; “Huge” star Nikki Blonsky, who was born in 1988; and “Crazy, Stupid, Love” star Lio Tipton, who was born in 1988.

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KING OF THE HILL: Bob Gibson was born on this day in 1935. The Omaha native broke into the major leagues with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1959 and was one of the most dominant pitchers of the 1960s and early 1970s, winning 20 or more games five times. In 1968, he had a 1.12 ERA, the lowest in major league history. He was also the MVP of the 1964 and 1967 World Series. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1981 and to the MLB All-Century Team in 1999. He died on Oct. 2, 2020.

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LIGHTS OUT: A massive northeast blackout occurred on this day in 1965. The failure began in western New York at 5:16 p.m., cutting power to much of the northeastern U.S. as well as Ontario and Quebec in Canada. More than 30 million people in an area of 80,000 square miles were affected. The experience provoked studies of the vulnerability of 20th-century technology.

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

Quotable:

“Why do I have to be an example for your kid? You be an example for your kid.”

— Baseball Hall of Famer Bob Gibson, who was born on this day in 1935