June 24: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

June 24, 2023 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1923, Brooklyn Daily Eagle columnist Frederick Boyd Stevenson said, “What is going to happen in 1924? Who is going to be the next President of the United States? What is the Republican party going to do? What is the Democratic party going to do? What – But, hold on there! One question at a time, please. The man who can answer all of those questions is smart enough and big enough to be President himself. In the meantime, however, there is a feeling of unrest all over the country. No one seems to be exactly satisfied. There is dissatisfaction in the Republican ranks. There is dissatisfaction in the Democratic ranks. There is an indefinable yearning for something new — something that will get us away from the old sophistries, the worn-out cut-and-dried bunch of platitudes that have formed the basis of the party cries and inspirations for lo, these many years! People are getting sick of all the stuff and nonsense. Men and women are thinking for themselves. Partisanship is losing its grip … There’s only one thing left — A Third Party!”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1926, the Eagle reported, “The last of the series on the Associated Press was given last night at WJZ by M.A. Hughes, substituting for George Nader, general news editor of the A.P. Mr. Hughes told of the thrilling job of getting and distributing the news of the Titanic disaster and, as he told it, it sounded like a first-class novel being read by a clever reader. Though 12 years old, the story had all the ‘kick’ of today’s best and, as for sustained interest, it was there from first to finish.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1941, an Eagle editorial said, “It is a truism to say of men who die in the armed services that they died for their country, though they died in peace, as much as if the country had been at war. In the case of the submarine O-9 it is quite literally true that the disaster would not have occurred but for the pressure of the defense program. The submarine, built in 1918, had been taken out of commission and probably would never have been called into service again had not the need arisen to strengthen our Navy. The need arose and the O-9 was recommissioned. Then came the tragedy which took the thirty-three lives last week. What caused it we may never find out. But that the men died bravely, in the Navy’s tradition of bravery, we can be sure. The nation owes honor to their memory, and sympathy and consolation to the families they left behind.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1947, an Eagle editorial said, “As daring a piece of initiative as Brooklyn has seen recently comes to fruition tomorrow when Abraham & Straus, already one of the nation’s largest department stores, adds to its establishment an eight-story new building with 80,000 additional square feet of selling space. There will be a housewarming party to mark completion of construction of the new building. The structure will have in it a special events center, available ten months of the year for community activities as well as store interests. This is substantial recognition that such enterprises have their roots deeply bedded in the borough’s life and welfare. Abraham & Straus is to the congratulated for rendering such recognition.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1951, the Eagle reported, “The Department of Sanitation’s war to uproot the malevolent marijuana weed from the city’s vacant lots spread to Brooklyn yesterday as Chief Sanitation Inspector John E. Gleason moved with a squad of helpers into an extensive growth of the drug plant thriving in lush impudence along a section of Fairfield Ave. The inspector termed the marijuana patch an obvious cultivation, basing his judgment, he said, on the isolation of the locale. The weeds were growing beside the outlaying section of the thoroughfare, which runs between Sheridan Ave. and Crescent St. Although marijuana spreads like any other plant once its seeds mature, the sanitation officer explained, it first has to be introduced by someone interested in its cultivation. The Fairfield Ave. area offered an ideal location, he pointed out, because of the heavy screen of swamp grass with which the section is overgrown. Sanitation workers from the nearby Crescent St. landfill, a city land-reclamation project, spotted two men among the weeds several nights ago, Inspector Gleason said. The pair fled as the workers approached.”

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NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include “Knots Landing” star Michele Lee, who was born in 1942; former N.Y. Gov. George Pataki, who was born in 1945; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Mick Fleetwood (Fleetwood Mac), who was born in 1947; “Robocop” star Peter Weller, who was born in 1947; former N.Y. Rangers coach John Tortorella, who was born in 1958; Mazzy Star singer Hope Sandoval, who was born in 1966; “The Office” star Mindy Kaling, who was born in 1979; model and philanthropist Petra Nemcova, who was born in 1979; “Friday Night Lights” star Minka Kelly, who was born in 1980; and former N.Y. Yankees pitcher Phil Hughes, who was born in 1986.

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MAN OF FAITH: Henry Ward Beecher was born on this day in 1813. The native of Litchfield, Conn., became pastor of Plymouth Church in Brooklyn Heights in 1847. From the pulpit, he advocated for many of the controversial issues of his era, including temperance, women’s suffrage, Darwinian evolution and, most notably, abolition. He died in 1887 and is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery.

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MERCY MISSION: The Berlin Airlift began on this day in 1948. In the early days of the Cold War, the Soviet Union challenged the West’s right of access to Berlin. The Soviets created a blockade, and an airlift to supply some 2,250,000 people resulted. It lasted for 321 days and brought 1,592,787 tons of supplies into Berlin. Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin finally backed down and the blockade ended on May 12, 1949.

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

Quotable:

”Every charitable act is a stepping stone toward heaven.”

— minister Henry Ward Beecher, who was born on this day in 1813