June 18: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

June 18, 2023 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1867, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “The petit jury of the United States Court at Richmond, on Monday, consisted of seven blacks and five whites. One of the colored jurors was formerly a body slave of Ex-Gov. [Henry A.] Wise. The other colored members were waiters and barbers.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1917, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON — Export control plans worked out by the State and Commerce Departments went to President [Woodrow] Wilson today as a basis for an executive order creating an agency to carry out export embargo provisions of the espionage act just passed by Congress.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1918, the Eagle reported, “Mrs. Adolphus Busch of St. Louis, returning from a long stay in Germany, is held temporarily at Key West, Fla., for examination by the immigration authorities and agents of the Department of Justice. She is chief owner of the great brewery and other properties ordered taken over yesterday by the alien property custodian. They are valued at several millions. Various questions are to be asked Mrs. Busch concerning chiefly her American citizenship, her movements while abroad and what, if any, means she now has of communicating with persons in Germany. Deportation is not contemplated, officials said today, and Mrs. Busch’s release in a day or two is expected.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1948, the Eagle reported, “‘What will I give him for Father’s Day?’ is a question still unanswered in a thousand minds at this point. We can only suggest that you not get panicky and run out and buy too fancily bottled preparations of after-shave lotion and the like. Men are not as keen for these expensive toiletries as women would like to think they are. You run the risk of getting his weak smile of appreciation — and then growing a bit disturbed inside of you because he wasn’t overly excited. Christmas is a better time to try and put that stuff over on him than on his very own Father’s Day. The conversation of two men overheard in the subway is a tip-off. They were well-dressed, solid types. One said to the other: ‘If anyone hands me any of that perfumed water as a gift on Sunday, I’m not going to like it.’ His friend agreed. ‘I’ve been using after-shave lotion a good many years but I really think they’ve gone too far with that stuff. I think it’s quite a waste of money.’ Of course, just like men, they didn’t say exactly what they would like — for which we listened hopefully. They got off onto garden tools and from that to fishing.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1954, the Eagle reported, “The Kings County Medical Society today warned that in the polluted air of Brooklyn and other boroughs it sees ‘potentialities of a serious disaster’ which could affect ‘the health of every citizen.’ In a report by its public health committee, steps were outlined to meet the ‘serious menace,’ including new legislation to control incinerator use, restriction of A and H-bomb experiments to regions ‘thousands of miles away’ and more funds for the city’s Department of Air Pollution Control, which, it said, was operating on a budget ‘pitifully small.’ Citing smoke, fumes and objectionable odors which generally are rendered harmless by wind and heat convection, the committee warned that at any time a ‘blanket’ of warm air may produce an ‘inversion’ and cause fog and smog disasters such as took 4,000 lives in London in 1950 and 18 in Donora, Pa., before that. It pointed to last Fall’s ‘smaze’ here which ‘was apparently responsible for a significant increase in the death rate of New York City.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1954, the Brooklyn Record reported, “Motorists will be able to make use of the beautiful triple lane, double-decked promenade highway Tuesday or thereafter, announces the office of Borough President John Cashmore. The portion of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway linking the modernized Brooklyn Bridge with the Gowanus Parkway and Belt System will then be open.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1954, the Record reported, “Judge John M. Harlan of the United States Court of Appeals, for the Second Circuit, delivered the commencement address at the graduation exercises of Brooklyn Law School in the Music Hall of the Academy of Music, 30 Lafayette Ave. Judge Harlan is a grandson of the late Justice John Marshall Harlan, who was for many years a Justice of the United States Supreme Court, and who fifty-eight years ago, in Plessy vs. Ferguson, wrote the dissenting opinion which foreshadowed the recent United States Supreme Court decision banning racial segregation in schools.”

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Alana de la Garza
Charles Sykes/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include businessman and politician Brooks Firestone, who was born in 1939; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Paul McCartney, who was born in 1942; “Taxi” star Carol Kane, who was born in 1952; “Blue Velvet” star Isabella Rossellini, who was born in 1952; “Dream On” star Brian Benben, who was born in 1956; Boyz II Men founder Nathan Morris, who was born in 1971; Hockey Hall of Famer and former N.Y. Rangers right winger Martin St. Louis, who was born in 1975; “Law and Order” star Alana de la Garza, who was born in 1976; country music superstar Blake Shelton, who was born in 1976; eight-time NFL Pro-Bowler Antonio Gates, who was born in 1980; and former N.Y. Rangers center Derek Stepan, who was born in 1990.

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THE HEAT OF BATTLE: Red Adair was born on this day in 1915. The Houston native began fighting oil well fires after serving in an Army bomb disposal unit during World War II. He founded Red Adair Co. in 1959 and during his career battled more than 2,000 land and offshore oil fires. In his 70s, he took part in extinguishing oil fires in Kuwait that were set by retreating Iraqi troops during the 1991 Gulf War. He died in 2004.

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SPACE FOR EVERYONE: Sally Ride became the first American woman in space on this day in 1983. The 32-year-old physicist and pilot was a mission specialist on a six-day trip aboard the space shuttle Challenger. Ride was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 2007. She died in 2012.

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

Quotable:

“The stars don’t look bigger, but they do look brighter.”

— astronaut Sally Ride, who went into space on this day in 1983