November 29: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

November 29, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1859, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “The most gentle and genial of American writers — the friend of Moore, of Jeffries, Scott and Rogers — the author of the legends of Sleepy Hollow, of the History of the Knickerbockers, of the life of Washington, and greater yet the Sketch Book — Washington Irving is no more. He died last night suddenly in Sunnyside. To the last he enjoyed excellent health, and preserved, unimpaired, his kind and cordial disposition. Washington Irving may be called the Goldsmith of our literature; like him, his pen never touched a subject that it do not adorn; like him he leaves behind him not one personal enemy. Mr. Irving was born, we believe, in the city of New York, where his father was a respected merchant, who left his son not entirely beholden to the sometime uncertain rewards of literature. He was awhile himself engaged in mercantile pursuits, which he early abandoned for literature … His literary career has been one of uninterrupted appreciation on the part of the public, and pecuniary profit to himself and his publishers.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1924, the Eagle reported, “BALTIMORE STADIUM — President and Mrs. Coolidge and 50,000 others were in attendance today at the annual clash between the Army and Navy elevens. The crowd was one of the most notable that ever gathered for the annual encounter between the service schools. From all along the Atlantic seaboard and from far inland states, trains and hundreds of motorcars brought to the city thousands of spectators to swell the crowd that turned out from the city itself. The presidential party, which, after motoring from Washington, reached the stadium at 12:45, were served with lunch on the grounds, and were present to cheer and applaud both the parades of the blue clad Navy midshipmen as they marched on the gridiron to be closely followed by the cadet corps. For the first half of the game President Coolidge occupied a box on the Navy’s side of the field as the guest of Secretary [Curtis D.] Wilbur. For the second half he was to join Secretary [John W.] Weeks on the Army’s side of the gridiron.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1950, the Eagle reported, “LAKE SUCCESS (U.P.) — The United States sets in motion today the United Nations machinery under which it may be necessary to fight World War III. The U.S. will press for a vote in the Security Council on a six-power resolution calling on the Chinese to withdraw from Korea. Russia already has announced its intention to veto the measure. After the veto, the U.S. will be free to take the measure to the veto-free General Assembly under the resolution adopted early in this Assembly session for use of national defense forces against an aggressor. If, as many delegates feared, the Oriental crisis erupts into World War III, it was likely to be fought under this machinery. The result would be to align the western democracies behind the U.N. flag against the Communist forces. Communist China appeared to have slammed the door on the possibility of successful East-West peace talks within the U.N. in the immediate future.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1962, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON (UPI) — Postmaster-General J. Edward Day has announced plans to speed up delivery of out-of-town mail by as much as 24 hours. Speedier delivery will be made possible by a zone improvement plan code called ZIP, designed for use by large-volume mailers. They produce 75 percent of the first-class mail. The ZIP code is tailored for use in electronic data processing equipment capable of handling mail addressing and processing at great speed. Large volume mailers also can use their own punch card equipment to pre-sort outgoing first-class mail more extensively than at present. The ZIP code will speed mail handling by hand in post offices — and eventually eliminate much of it. Day told a meeting of automatic data processing specialists from electric and gas utilities that the address on a piece of mail which has had no pre-sorting by the mailer often must be read as many as eight or 10 times by postal employees. But he said, ‘With ZIP coding, any clerk will be able to sort non-local mail merely by looking at the numbers.’”

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NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include Blues Hall of Famer John Mayall, who was born in 1933; “Rambling Rose” star Diane Ladd, who was born in 1935; trumpeter and composer Chuck Mangione, who was born in 1940; Young Rascals singer Felix Cavaliere, who was born in 1942; National Ski Hall of Famer Suzy Chaffee, who was born in 1946; “Lost” star Jeff Fahey, who was born in 1952; “St. Elsewhere” star Howie Mandel, who was born in 1955; former N.Y. Mets third baseman Howard Johnson, who was born in 1960; “Raging Bull” star Cathy Moriarty, who was born in 1960; “NYPD Blue” star Kim Delaney, who was born in 1961; “St. Elmo’s Fire” star Andrew McCarthy, who was born in 1962; “Iron Man” star Don Cheadle, who was born in 1964; former “Saturday Night Live” star Ellen Cleghorne, who was born in 1965; Baseball Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera, who was born in 1969; “Scary Movie” star Anna Faris, who was born in 1976; and Denver Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson, who was born in 1988.

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FOR THE RECORD: Charles Thomson was born on this day in 1729. The Ireland native was America’s first official record keeper and was chosen as secretary of the First Continental Congress on Sept. 5, 1774. Thomson recorded proceedings for 15 years and delivered his journals together with tens of thousands of records to the federal government in 1789. It was Thomson who notified George Washington of his election as president. He died in 1824.

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FIELD OF BATTLE: The first Army-Navy football game took place on this day in 1890. Navy won 24-0. Red Emrich scored four touchdowns (worth four points each) and kicked two field goals (worth two points each), and Moulton Johnson added the other touchdown to account for all the scoring.

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

Quotable:

“Losing feels worse than winning feels good.”

— former Brooklyn Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully, who was born on this day in 1927