February 27: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

February 27, 2023 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1860, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “The Republican Party have very adroitly taken advantage of the popularity of the lecture system to propagate their principles. Under the guise of literary entertainments, such men as G.W. Curtis, Wendell Phillips, and others have in our lecture rooms preached the doctrines of Seward and Helper. Many who habitually attend lectures are generally attracted more by the desire to see some celebrity than by the subject of his discourse; and many go to see Phillips, Garrison, and Cassius M. Clay out of mere curiosity to see the men, as they would as soon go to see Barnum’s mermaid. As a class, lecture-goers are a people who do not usually attend political meetings. Latterly, the disguise of literary discourses has been thrown off, and the Republicans have openly announced their political lectures. But clinging to the claptrap of the lecture system, they have brought out only great guns from abroad, whose fame and notoriety had excited a curiosity to see them. A course of Republican lectures is now in progress at the Cooper Institute. Phillips, Giddings, and Clay have delivered themselves; tonight, Abraham Lincoln, Douglas’s Republican competitor from Illinois, will hold forth.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1942, the Eagle reported, “The city of New York today has $200,000 to provide air raid siren coverage of all five boroughs. Police Commissioner [Lewis] Valentine revealed last night that Mayor [Fiorello] LaGuardia has made available that sum for purchase of sirens to augment the 70 already on hand. He also announced that the 70 sirens will be divided equally between Brooklyn and Queens before other parts of the city are given attention. The commissioner said a contract for installation of seven more sirens in the Coney Island, Bath Beach, Flatbush and Borough Park sections has been awarded to the Berkshire Electric Company of 50 Court St., bringing to 21 the number already contracted for. Three have been installed.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1948, the Eagle reported, “HELSINKI (U.P.) — Finland today received from Russia a proposal for a pact between them. Informed political quarters said the Russians sought a full military alliance with the Finns. Official sources, which confirmed receipt of the Soviet proposal, refused to say what kind of pact was proposed. Responsible political sources said only the Communists in Finland would support any proposal for a full military alliance. They said the other parties, and probably President Juho K. Paasikivi as well, would seek to limit such a pact to joint resistance against any German aggression. The revelation of the Russian proposal coincided with hurried government conferences.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1951, the Eagle reported, “SCITUATE, MASS. (U.P.) — Former Air Force scientist Dr. Anthony O. Mirarchi says flying saucers may have been missiles launched by a foreign power to carry out photographic missions over the nation’s atom testing grounds. ‘The missiles sighted,’ he said last night in an interview, ‘may have been on test runs to see how far they would go. However, the fact that the greatest number have been sighted over New Mexico leads me to lean toward the conclusion they were on reconnaissance to carry out photographic missions.’ It was recalled that shortly after the government announced plans to build the new hydrogen bomb plant in South Carolina, residents reported seeing ‘flying saucers’ in that area. Dr. Mirarchi, who was chief of the Air Force’s Atmospheric Composition Bureau of the Geophysical Division in 1950, said he reached his conclusion after investigating more than 300 reports of flying saucers. He said his theory was substantiated by his experience in New Mexico when he set up phototheodolites — a special camera to record bearings — and nothing happened in three months. ‘The logical conclusion was that the word had been passed back through the spy system,’ he said. ‘The missiles were stopped as long as we were on the spot. At one time we gave some weight to the theory the missiles were built by this nation, and that our agency was simply established to test the security of the saucer project.’ Dr. Mirarchi’s theory conflicts with that of Dr. Urner Liddell, a Navy scientist. Dr. Liddell said that flying saucers were plastic balloons sent into the upper atmosphere for radiation research.”

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James Worthy
Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include Oscar-winning actress Joanne Woodward, who was born in 1930; political activist Ralph Nader, who was born in 1934; “Hill Street Blues” star Barbara Babcock, who was born in 1937; civil rights activist Charlayne Hunter-Gault, who was born in 1942; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Neal Schon (Journey), who was born in 1954; Iron Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith, who was born in 1957; Basketball Hall of Famer James Worthy, who was born in 1961; “Full Metal Jacket” star Adam Baldwin, who was born in 1962; Spanx founder Sara Blakely, who was born in 1971; former TLC member Rozonda Thomas, who was born in 1971; singer-songwriter Josh Groban, who was born in 1981; and “Fantastic Four” star Kate Mara, who was born in 1983.

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HALLOWED GROUND: On this day in 2006, President George W. Bush signed a proclamation designating a seven-acre plot at Duane and Elk streets in Lower Manhattan as a national monument. From the 1690s to the 1790s this land served as a cemetery for free and enslaved Africans and it is believed to be the resting place of more than 15,000 people.

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A FINAL SALUTE: Frank Buckles died on this day in 2011. He was born Feb. 1, 1901 and served as a corporal in the U.S. Army in World War I. As a civilian abroad during World War II, he was captured by the Japanese and imprisoned for three years in the Philippines. He was freed by the Allies in February 1945, got married in 1946 and spent the rest of his life as a farmer. He was widowed in 1999 at age 98. In February 2008, after the death of 108-year-old Harry Richard Landis, Buckles became the last surviving U.S. veteran of World War I. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Quotable:

“The love of learning, the sequestered nooks,

And all the sweet serenity of books.”

— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who was born on this day in 1807