January 6: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

January 6, 2023 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1907, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “The cocaine habit, which leads to the madhouse, is increasing to an alarming extent in Brooklyn. It has not yet reached the proportions that it has in Baltimore, where it has become a municipal problem, nor has it obtained such a hold on the population as in Chicago, where its victims number 70,000. But the use of the drug has become so prevalent in this borough as to occasion serious concern to the medical profession, and to cause more than one expert to predict that, unless something is done to check its growth, cocaine will within a very few years be sending nearly as many persons to the hospitals as alcohol does today.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1944, the Eagle reported, “Householders in the city were told bluntly today that they must accept whatever coal they can get — anthracite or bituminous, and in any size or grade — or go without heat. The announcement came from Edwin A. Salmon, city fuel administrator, who confirmed reports that the fuel situation remains critical by disclosing there is insufficient hard coal on hand to meet even the emergency orders certified by the Health Department. On the heels of the announcement came the forecast of colder weather tonight and tomorrow with no further indication of increased fuel supplies. Promises of city and federal officials last week that additional stocks of coal would be obtained for the metropolitan area went unfilled. Even supplies of soft coal appeared to be dwindling, with no immediate indication that more fuel would be brought into the area. Although the moderate temperatures of the past few days was thought to have eased the situation somewhat, the Health Department reported it had received 1,363 complaints of no heat in the 24 hours ending at 4 p.m. yesterday. Of the 734 cases investigated, 293 buildings were found to have been without coal.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1955, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON (U.P.) — President Eisenhower appealed to the new Democratic Congress today to cooperate with him lest the ‘paralyzing indecision’ of divided government interrupt America’s ‘heartening progress’ toward peace and prosperity. His plea for ‘good will and harmony,’ on domestic legislation as well as in the traditionally bipartisan fields of defense and foreign policy, was the keynote of a generally optimistic State of the Union message outlining his 1955 program. Mr. Eisenhower told a joint session of the House and Senate that the condition of the U.S. economy is good and getting better. He was ‘hopeful of continuing progress’ toward durable peace, but admitted that the current international situation is ‘merely world stalemate.’ The only major surprise in his 6,400-word message was a request for prompt federal action to relieve an ‘unprecedented classroom shortage’ in the nation’s schools. He promised to submit detailed recommendations to Congress next month.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1955, the Eagle reported, “The Brooklyn Civic Council charged today that the Transit Authority has ‘grossly deceived’ the public by making ‘untrue’ claims that the subways are running on a self-sustaining basis. In a report released by Arno J. Biedermann, president of the council, the civic group accused the authority of disguising a ‘large transit deficit by the use of funds which were authorized in 1951 for capital construction.’ The report, prepared by Joseph B. Milgram, transit committee chairman, said New Yorkers — and especially those from Brooklyn — were given ‘firm pledges’ in 1951 that the $500,000,000 bond issue approved by public referendum would be used to construct a 2nd Ave. subway in Manhattan, a Utica Ave. line in Brooklyn, an extension of the Nostrand Ave. line in Brooklyn and several similar projects. Instead, Mr. Milgram charged, part of the $500,000,000 originally pledged for new construction ‘is now being used for ordinary repairs and improvements which should be paid for out of income.’ Mr. Milgram, who maintained he had documentary proof of such pledges by the old Board of Transportation, said the ‘Transit Authority has no moral right to take funds which were solemnly pledged for new projects and use them to cover up its mishandling of the existing lines.’”

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NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include College Football Hall of Fame coach Lou Holtz, who was born in 1937; “Mr. Bean” star Rowan Atkinson, who was born in 1955; Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Elizabeth Strout, who was born in 1956; World Golf Hall of Famer Nancy Lopez, who was born in 1957; Pro Football Hall of Famer Howie Long, who was born in 1960; “The Walking Dead” star Norman Reedus, who was born in 1969; “Big Brother” host Julie Chen Moonves, who was born in 1970; volleyball player Gabrielle Reece, who was born in 1970; former N.Y. Jets linebacker James Farrior, who was born in 1975; former NFL cornerback Asante Samuel, who was born in 1981; Oscar-winning actor Eddie Redmayne, who was born in 1982; and former “Saturday Night Live” star Kate McKinnon, who was born in 1984.

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ROUND AND ROUND: “Wheel of Fortune” premiered on this day in 1975. Created by Merv Griffin, it’s the longest-running syndicated game show in TV history. Players spin a wheel and guess letters in a word puzzle, winning money for every correct guess. The show is co-hosted by Pat Sajak and Vanna White.

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RETURN TRIP: NASA headed back to the moon on this day in 1998. Lunar Explorer, an unmanned probe searching for ice, was the first American craft to travel to the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. It found evidence of ice late in the year.

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

Quotable:

“Life is 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent how you respond to it.”

— College Football Hall of Fame coach Lou Holtz, who was born on this day in 1937