Brooklyn Boro

April 9: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

April 9, 2023 Brooklyn Eagle History
Share this:

ON THIS DAY IN 1868, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “In the Senate yesterday [Charles] Sumner introduced a joint resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution providing that no person elected as President or Vice President who has once served as President shall afterwards be eligible to either office.”

***

ON THIS DAY IN 1917, the Eagle reported, “PARIS — Easter Day here has been like July 4 at home, for the American flag is everywhere. President [Woodrow] Wilson’s address is posted all over France and is being read in the public schools, and the growing enthusiasm over America’s decision is touching even the commoner walks of life in France. America is now looked up to more than ever as the savior of the nation and the whole country is alive with a new courage. Sentiment for America and of Americans was at its height yesterday at the Easter service in the American Church on the Rue Berri. The edifice was decorated with the flag of the United States and the Rev. Ernest Warburton Shutleff preached a patriotic sermon in which he called the war a holy one and waged for justice. Every seat was filled. The French people are hoping that Americans will realize early help will be most effective, and that the war will drag on as it has been unless America puts forth its utmost efforts immediately.”

***

ON THIS DAY IN 1939, the Eagle reported, “Again in the midst of war and fear of death, the troubled Christian world paused today to mark its most joyous anniversary — Easter, day of resurrection of the Prince of Peace with His promise of everlasting life. Hopeful on this day of Spring, which marks the end of Lenten quiet and Good Friday tragedy, the faithful gathered in their churches to hear the centuries-old Easter story and praise their God. The dawn services at Prospect Park were being repeated in varied form from St. Peter’s in Rome to Colorado’s Garden of the Gods; in the strife-torn Holy Land, in glamorous Hollywood’s Bowl, in Central Park, on Hot Springs Mountain in Arkansas; in Winston, Salem, where the Moravians repeated their 165-year-old rite; at Soldiers’ Field, Chicago; in Baltimore, in Forest Hills and Flushing, near the World’s Fair grounds. One of the most impressive sunrise services was to take place on the parapets of Fort Hamilton, where prayers were to be made in the shadow of the protecting guns of the fort.”

***

ON THIS DAY IN 1943, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON (U.P.) — Congress today received from President Roosevelt a sharply-worded warning to hold the line against inflation by boosting taxes and limiting individual spending or face the consequences of a runaway economy. For his part, Mr. Roosevelt issued an executive order which halted all wage and salary increases except in proven sub-standard cases, banned further retail price increases except those ‘imperatively required by law,’ and prohibited any job transfers for higher wages unless the change will aid in the prosecution of the war. Most congressmen wanted to study the executive order carefully before commenting. Immediate congressional reaction indicated that the president would get support from divergent groups for his objectives, but there were rumblings, too, of opposition. Mr. Roosevelt, in a statement accompanying the executive order, made it unmistakably clear that he plans to fight it out with Congress to assure continuance on an even more stringent basis of the anti-inflation program he set up last fall when he made James F. Byrnes the director of economic stabilization. ‘I am exerting every power I possess to preserve our stabilization program,’ Mr. Roosevelt said. ‘I am sure the Congress will cooperate.’”

***

Keshia Knight Pulliam
Charles Sykes/Invision/AP
Leighton Meester
Gary He/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include screenwriter and producer Marty Krofft, who was born in 1937; “The Waltons” star Michael Learned, who was born in 1939; former baseball umpire Joe Brinkman, who was born in 1944; sportswriter Peter Gammons, who was born in 1945; “The Rookie” star Dennis Quaid, who was born in 1954; fashion designer Marc Jacobs, who was born in 1963; model and actress Paulina Porizkova, who was born in 1965; “Sex and the City” star Cynthia Nixon, who was born in 1966; My Chemical Romance founder Gerard Way, who was born in 1977; “Tyler Perry’s House of Payne” star Keshia Knight Pulliam, who was born in 1979; N.Y. Mets pitcher David Robertson, who was born in 1985; “Gossip Girl” star Leighton Meester, who was born in 1986; “Twilight” star Kristen Stewart, who was born in 1990; “The Great” star Elle Fanning, who was born in 1998; and singer Jackie Evancho, who was born in 2000.

Gerard Way
Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

***

AN END IN SIGHT: The South gave up on this day in 1865. Gen. Robert E. Lee, commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, surrendered to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, commander in chief of the Union Army, ending four years of civil war. The meeting took place at the house of Wilmer McLean in the village of Appomattox Court House, Virginia. The formal surrender took place at the courthouse on April 12. The death toll of the war is estimated at a half-million men.

***

HOME TURF: The Astrodome opened on this day in 1965. Nicknamed the “Eighth Wonder of the World,” it was the home of the Houston Astros (1965-99), Oilers (1968-96) and Rockets (1971-75). It was also used as a shelter for people displaced by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. It closed in 2008.

***

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

 

Quotable:

“To me, baseball has always been a reflection of life. Like life, it adjusts. It survives everything.”

— Baseball Hall of Famer Willie Stargell, who died on this day in 2001

Subscribe to our newsletters


Leave a Comment


Leave a Comment