May 5: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

May 5, 2023 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1935, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “CHURCHILL DOWNS, LOUISVILLE, KY., MAY 4 (AP) — Omaha, sturdy colt owned by William Woodward of New York, today captured the 61st Kentucky Derby with a smashing stretch drive that withstood the challenge of Roman Soldier. Whiskolo, an outsider, finished third, and Nellie Flag, the crack Calumet filly and favorite, finished fourth. Omaha, replacing the Greentree Stable’s Plat Eye as the pacemaker, took command of the race on the last turn and beat Roman Soldier, the Texas Derby winner, by a scant three-quarters of a length in a sensational stretch drive. The winner, son of Gallant Fox, which captured the 1930 derby, covered the mile and a quarter in 2 minutes, 5 seconds. This was three and one-fifth seconds short of Twenty Grand’s record. The race was run before a crowd estimated at more than 45,000 in cold, raw weather with a drizzling rain falling.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1937, the Eagle reported, “LONDON (AP) — Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin pleaded for industrial peace today ‘at this moment of the coronation’ as the London bus drivers’ strike threatened to spread. A delegation representing London’s 12,000 street car workers demanded permission from the Transport Union to join the walkout of 25,000 busmen and a national coal strike threatened. As debate started in the House of Commons on the decision of Welsh and English miners to strike, Baldwin appealed ‘to the handful of men on whom rests peace or war to give the best present that could be given to the country at this moment of the coronation’ by settling their differences. The street car employees want the same objectives as the striking busmen, a cut in their working day from 8 to 7½ hours. London’s huge transportation system, already hard hit by the bus strike at the peak of pre-coronation traffic, would be further paralyzed by a street car strike. The Prime Minister, evidently alluding to his forthcoming resignation, told Commons, ‘I am going to make my last appeal in this House’ for settlement of the coal dispute. ‘The whole world has its eyes on London,’ Baldwin pleaded.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1937, the Eagle reported, “HOLLYWOOD (AP) — Peace hopes flourished today in the strike of 6,000 film studio unionists after tense hours marked by an outbreak of rioting and renewal of negotiations. While six men were hospitalized by an inter-union clash, steps were taken which might send 11 unions of the Federated Motion Picture Crafts back to work and meet demands of the Screen Actors Guild for improved studio conditions. Intervening with producers, the Los Angeles Central Labor Council submitted a proposal for study today as a basis for ending the strike. The Actors Guild opened a conference with producers last night. Another gathering, the massed members of the F.M.P.C. in the Legion Boxing Stadium, was informed pickets from the International Longshoremen’s Association and the C.I.O. would join the studio lines today. In the first large-scale violence, 30 members of a gang stormed into offices of the International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees on Santa Monica Boulevard. Doors were crashed, windows broken, water bottles were sent hurtling about the rooms, furniture was smashed, and several men were thrown down a stairway. The I.A.T.S.E., affiliated with the American Federation of Labor like the Federated Crafts, is not on strike. The six men who required hospital treatment were seeking to join the organization to obtain studio work.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1953, the Eagle reported, “Adlai E. Stevenson wrote today that the Nationalist Chinese army ‘is not so strong as people think’ and has no great chance of rallying millions of Communist-ruled Chinese to its support. Summing up impressions gained in Japan, Korea, Formosa and Hong Kong in the first of a series of articles for Look magazine, the defeated Democratic presidential candidate said he believes American policy in the Far East is ‘succeeding … better than many frustrated and impatient Americans think.’ But he warned that the nation may ‘have to learn to live with’ a Korean stalemate and that patience may be ‘the cheapest and the best solution’ to the problems of Asia. He said if a U.S.-backed invasion of China is to be undertaken as ‘the initial instrument of liberation in China, then there is much more planning and preparation, political and military, to be done.’”

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NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include “Millennium” star Lance Henriksen, who was born in 1940; “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” star Michael Palin, who was born in 1943; “Raiders of the Lost Ark” star John Rhys-Davies, who was born in 1944; TV personality Kurt Loder, who was born in 1945; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Bill Ward (Black Sabbath), who was born in 1948; Dream Theater singer James LaBrie, who was born in 1963; “Mad Men” star Vincent Kartheiser, who was born in 1979; “Boy Meets World” star Danielle Fishel, who was born in 1981; two-time Super Bowl champion Randall Gay, who was born in 1982; “Superman” star Henry Cavill, who was born in 1983; pop superstar Adele, who was born in 1988; “King of R&B” Chris Brown, who was born in 1989; and world champion figure skater Nathan Chen, who was born in 1999.

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IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE?: The American Medical Association was organized on this day in 1847 when 250 delegates attended a meeting in Philadelphia. It was the first national medical convention in the U.S. The association now has more than 270,000 members.

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A STAR IS BORN: The first U.S. astronaut went into space on this day in 1961. Alan Shepard, aboard Freedom 7, projected 115 miles into space in suborbital flight, reaching a speed of more than 5,000 mph. Ten years later he commanded the Apollo 14 mission and hit two golf balls on the surface of the moon. He died in 1998.

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TRACK RECORD: Secretariat won the Kentucky Derby 50 years ago today. A crowd of 134,476 saw the horse finish in 1:59 2/5, a record that still stands. He then won the Preakness Stakes on May 19 and took the Triple Crown by winning the Belmont Stakes on June 9. The two-time Horse of the Year was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1974 and died in 1989.

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

Quotable:

“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”

— philosopher Soren Kierkegaard, who was born on this day in 1813