June 30: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

June 30, 2023 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1907, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “The noise and smoke and red fire to celebrate this year’s Fourth of July will cost about $15,000,000. This money would build a half dozen warships, or dig East River tunnels sufficient to do away with the bridge crush, but no patriotic American would think of wasting $15,000,000 in such a commonplace and utilitarian way at the expense of an uncelebrated Fourth. The Glorious Fourth has become the most expensive day in the year. To prepare for its celebration thousands of men in big factories, covering hundreds of acres, work all the year long making fireworks and noise producers. In far off China, where they haven’t any Fourth of July, the clever artisans work 365 days a year in order that the American small boy may have little red firecrackers wherewith to burn his fingers, blow out his eyes and celebrate the Declaration of Independence with the noise that the American believes is absolutely essential to a proper celebration. The small boy who used to be content with a pack of firecrackers and a cap pistol now demands a gatling battery, a gallopade and Aztec fountain, a sunburst of Montezuma, a tree of liberty and a wagon load of bombs and skyrockets.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1912, the Eagle reported, “That John Jacob Astor, the fourth of the name, should perish in the sea by shipwreck seems fatally malign. It is as if the sea, which had done so much for the prosperity of the Astors, had at last exacted its inexorable toll, but only after more than a century of waiting. The original John Jacob Astor twice escaped shipwreck, and it was left for his great-grandson to pay the price. These two occasions in the stormy and fascinating life of that German butcher’s boy who founded the Astor fortune loom up vividly through forgotten history in these days when the loss of the Titanic lies over us like a pall.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1918, the Eagle reported, “AMSTERDAM, JUNE 29 — The rumors that the former Emperor Nicholas has been murdered are described as lies designed to incite the public by the President of the Executive Committee at Ekaterinburg. This message is dated June 24 and was telegraphed from Moscow to Berlin.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1950, the Eagle reported, “TOKYO (U.P.) — South Korean infantry pushed their way back into the East and West outskirts of Seoul today, the South Korean Mission reported, and General Douglas MacArthur ordered U.S. planes for the first time to attack Communist bases in North Korea. The North Korean Government radio said 27 American planes — identified by a later Moscow broadcast as B-29s — bombed the Northern capital of Pyongyang last night. If so, the American planes probably struck at air bases on the edge of the capital. The Korean Mission in Tokyo said the American-supported Southern army at last reports had driven within 2 1/2 miles on either side of the center of Seoul, the former South Korean capital. North Korean tanks were leaving the city by the east gate, it said. However, the Mission said it did not know whether the Southern forces actually had crossed the Han River, which curves in a semi-circle around the Southern edge of the city. The Mission said its information was received by telephone from the South Korean Government at the provisional capital of Taejon, where the government had fled just before the Northern invaders captured Seoul Wednesday.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1951, the Eagle reported, “Fire Commissioner George P. Monaghan is expected to shift over to the Police Department to replace Commissioner Thomas F. Murphy next week, it was learned at City Hall. Murphy’s appointment by President Truman as a Federal Judge was unanimously approved by the Senate yesterday.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1954, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON (U.P.) — President Eisenhower told reporters today that he asked the Atomic Energy Commission last year to reinvestigate Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer because he received a disturbing report about the famed physicist. The President at his news conference declined to go into any detailed evaluation of the 4 to 1 vote by the Commission yesterday which settled the matter by refusing security clearance for Oppenheimer. It found that he had had ‘imprudent and dangerous associations … with known subversives.’”

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David Alan Grier
Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include “Too Close for Comfort” star Nancy Dussault, who was born in 1936; N.Y. Mets World Series hero Ron Swoboda, who was born in 1944; “Married … With Children” star David Garrison, who was born in 1952; “In Living Color” star David Alan Grier, who was born in 1956; “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” star Vincent D’Onofrio, who was born in Brooklyn in 1959; guitar legend Yngwie Malmsteen, who was born in 1963; International Boxing Hall of Famer Mike Tyson, who was born in Brooklyn in 1966; “Along Came a Spider” star Monica Potter, who was born in 1971; “Castle Rock” star Lizzy Caplan, who was born in 1982; “American Idol” champion Fantasia Barrino, who was born in 1984; and Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer Michael Phelps, who was born in 1985.

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LEADING LADY: Lena Horne was born on this day in 1917. The Bedford-Stuyvesant native began singing with the chorus line at the Cotton Club in Harlem at age 16. A career on Broadway and in Hollywood followed in rapid succession and she soon became the symbol for African-American actors and singers trying to break the color barrier. She found success with both black and white audiences, although she did face her share of racial prejudice. She died in 2010. A forever stamp depicting her was issued in 2018.

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HERE AND NOW: The National Organization for Women was founded in Washington, D.C., on this day in 1966 by attendees of the Third National Conference on the Commission on the Status of Women. NOW’s purpose is to take action to bring women into full partnership in the mainstream of American society, exercising all privileges and responsibilities in equal partnership with men.

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

Quotable:

“It’s so nice to get flowers while you can still smell the fragrance.”

— singer Lena Horne, who was born in Brooklyn on this day in 1917