March 14: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
ON THIS DAY IN 1933, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary [William H.] Woodin said today bank deposits were exceeding withdrawals generally in the cities where banks were being reopened and that ‘the era of fear’ was completely passed. He made his statement after reports had come to the Federal Reserve Board of progress toward opening hundreds of banks in the country today. Referring in his talk with newspapermen to the fact that the banks had started reopening on March 13, Woodin said: ‘The people have been co-operating with us magnificently. I am beginning to believe a superstition I have long maintained — that is, that 13 is my lucky number. In a little while the stress of the present will have passed. People are using the reopened banks as banks were intended to be used — as a convenience in paying their bills and safeguarding their funds. In other words, the country understands what the administration is doing and is showing its confidence — that means everything.’ Secretary Woodin said that it was not the intention of the government to direct regulations against small holders of gold coin or certificates, and that there will be no interference with coin collectors. [He] said the appointment of conservators to banks of high repute did not warrant a deduction that such banks were necessarily in difficulty.”
***
ON THIS DAY IN 1949, the Eagle reported, “LONDON (U.P.) — Foreign ministers of the five Western Union countries met behind closed doors today to speed up work on the Atlantic pact and other moves designed to maintain Western initiative in the cold war. Today’s meeting was called three weeks earlier than originally planned, exemplifying the crush of conferences called by the West to prepare its military, political and economic defenses before Russia can regain the initiative. Reports from Vienna said Russia also had called a meeting to map new strategy in the continuing struggle with the West. These reports said Eastern European military chiefs were conferring with Soviet army leaders in Debrecen, Hungary. Today’s conference brought together the foreign ministers, as well as the defense and finance ministers or their deputies, of Britain, France, Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg.”
Brooklyn Boro
View MoreNew York City’s most populous borough, Brooklyn, is home to nearly 2.6 million residents. If Brooklyn were an independent city it would be the fourth largest city in the United States. While Brooklyn has become the epitome of ‘cool and hip’ in recent years, for those that were born here, raised families here and improved communities over the years, Brooklyn has never been ‘uncool’.