November 16: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

November 16, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1914, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “Chief interest in financial circles today centered upon the inauguration of the Federal Reserve System of Banking and the re-opening of the New York and New Orleans Cotton Exchanges after an interval of three and a half months. Sentiment in the Wall Street district continues cheerful and prices of securities were again firm to strong … Up to noon it was estimated that $50,000,000 had been taken in at the Federal Reserve Bank at 62 Cedar street. Some little confusion was occasioned here by the delivery of five or six trunks filled with the new Federal reserve notes, which should have been delivered to Assistant U.S. Treasurer Vogel at the Sub-Treasury. These notes are the first of the new issue to be received here and were consigned to Federal Reserve District No. 2 (the New York district).”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1946, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON (U.P.) — A scrap among Democrats for the position of House minority leader was in prospect today. A close contest among Republicans for the post of majority leader already was in progress. It was learned, meanwhile, that Representative Everett M. Dirksen (R., Ill.), had definitely decided to become a candidate, making it a four-way race. The other Republican contenders are Representatives Charles A. Halleck, of Indiana; Clarence J. Brown, of Ohio; and Thomas A. Jenkins, also of Ohio. Among the Democrats there was growing evidence of a wide-open caucus battle unless Speaker Sam Rayburn consents to take the minority leadership job and he has said he will not. Rayburn must step down from the speaker’s chair when the new Congress convenes to make way for the present House Republican leader Joseph W. Martin of Massachusetts. The present Democratic leader is Representative John W. McCormack, of Massachusetts. Many Southern Democrats believe, however, that since a majority of House Democrats are Southerners, the floor leader should be a Southerner. In the belief that Rayburn would be acceptable to all House Democrats, several of his colleagues have applied to the Texan to reconsider and take the job.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1948, the Eagle reported, “Eleven expectant mothers taking the home nursing course of Brooklyn Chapter, American Red Cross, today sent Princess Elizabeth a copy of their text on the care of children for use in bringing up her young prince. A letter signed by the women and their instructor, Louise E. Wilson, said they shared the new mother’s ‘joy and happiness’ in the baby’s arrival and wanted her to have the book as a ‘token of goodwill from the people of Brooklyn.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1954, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON (U.P.) — Secretary of State John Foster Dulles said today any moves by Red China to carry out its professed intention to conquer Formosa [Taiwan] would involve hostilities with the United States. Dulles also told a news conference that the Tachen Islands, where Chinese Reds sank a Nationalist China destroyer escort, conceivably could be involved in the defense of Formosa. He would not say outright that the U.S. 7th Fleet should participate in the defense of the Tachen Islands where naval action has flared. He refused to say under what circumstances the U.S. would participate in the defense of the islands. While the islands are 200 miles from Formosa, he said they embraced early warning systems which would detect air raids from the Red China mainland.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1962, an Eagle editorial said, “The National Council of Teachers of English is disturbed at the rising pressures to remove important books from classrooms and libraries. Local censorship groups are suddenly finding ‘pornography’ in familiar classics that students have pored over for years, the teachers say, and such old favorites as Hawthorne, Thoreau, Walt Whitman and even Mark Twain are regarded by the censors with so much ill-founded suspicion that their works are being omitted or inadequately represented in the high school curriculum. This, teachers say, often leaves them with only a small list of ‘nice’ books that fail to excite students about the pleasures of reading. Certainly the majority of Americans do not want to see youth deprived of some of the most important parts of its literary heritage.”

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Marg Helgenberger
John Shearer/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include “Cry Baby” singer Garnet Mimms, who was born in 1933; singer-songwriter Troy Seals, who was born in 1938; singer-songwriter Chi Coltrane, who was born in 1948; “CSI” star Marg Helgenberger, who was born in 1958; former N.Y. Mets and Yankees pitcher Dwight Gooden, who was born in 1964; singer-songwriter Diana Krall, who was born in 1964; “The Bold and the Beautiful” star Maeve Quinlan, who was born in 1964; “The Cosby Show” star Lisa Bonet, who was born in 1967; “The Goonies” star Martha Plimpton, who was born in 1970; singer-songwriter Allison Crowe, who was born in 1981; former N.Y. Knicks forward Amar’e Stoudemire, who was born in 1982; and former “Saturday Night Live” star Pete Davidson, who was born in 1993.

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BREAKING NEWS: The New York Evening Post was first published on this day in 1801. Founded by Alexander Hamilton, it is one of the oldest continuously published newspapers in the country. Today, the Post is owned by News Corp and has the fourth largest distribution in the U.S.

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A TOAST TO THE COAST: The Lewis and Clark expedition reached the Pacific Ocean on this day in 1805. Their Corps of Discovery had glimpsed it on Nov. 7, moving Clark to write in his journal, “Great joy in camp! We are in view of the Ocean, this great Pacific Ocean which we have been so anxious to see. And the roaring or noise of the waves breaking on the rocky shores … may be heard distinctly.”

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

Quotable:

“Life is like a trumpet. If you don’t put anything into it, you don’t get anything out of it.”

— Blues legend W.C. Handy, who was born on this day in 1873