August 20: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

August 20, 2023 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1946, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “Mayor [William] O’Dwyer and Borough President [John] Cashmore wielded pick and shovel today in ground-breaking ceremonies for the first postwar construction on the $25,000,000 Brooklyn-Queens Connecting Highway. The ceremonies took place shortly after noon at Amity and Hicks Sts., launching construction on Contract 1 for the first section of the long-proposed cross-Brooklyn traffic artery. No homes are to be affected by construction of the first section, Mr. Cashmore pointed out. All structures were removed in 1941 when Hicks St. was widened to 160 feet from Hamilton Ave. to Atlantic Ave. A luncheon for the officials who took part in the ceremonies followed at the Hotel Bossert. Eventually the highway will run from the end of Gowanus Parkway at Hamilton Ave. along Hicks St. to Atlantic Ave., then swing toward the waterfront and run along a three-level structure overhanging Furman St. After skirting the Brooklyn Heights area, it will connect with Park Ave., curve through Williamsburg to Meeker Ave., and then, by viaduct, to the Kosciusko Bridge over Newtown Creek to Queens.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1946, the Eagle reported, “Giant commercial airlines will take off from Floyd Bennett Field on regularly scheduled trans-ocean and cross-country flights within six weeks, it was indicated today as a formula was prepared by city and navy officials for airline use of the airport without hampering the navy’s expanded reserve pilot training program. Although no definite date was announced when commercial airlines would move into the field, thereby making Brooklyn a major air terminus, Mayor O’Dwyer, it was believed, was planning to make the transition about Oct. 1. After an hour-long conference yesterday in the airport’s administration building, the Mayor told reporters that the city was working toward ‘the earliest possible date for occupancy.’ The conference, attended by ranking navy and city officials, set up a preliminary procedure whereby the city will have temporary use of a major part of the 1,280-acre airport to relieve the rapidly mounting congestion of commercial air traffic at LaGuardia Field. President Truman has given his blessing to the Mayor’s plan for acquisition of the field. The need for additional airport facilities in the New York area was emphasized today by major airlines which reported substantial increases in flight schedules. American Airlines, United Air Lines and Pennsylvania Central Air Lines announced record increases in domestic air traffic, and Air France said it would increase its New York-to-Paris service from two to three planes weekly.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1947, the Eagle reported, “A plan to set up a municipal lottery expected to yield $300,000,000 to $400,000,000 a year was proposed today to Mayor O’Dwyer as a means of rehabilitating the city’s finances and insuring retention of the 5-cent subway fare. The plan, authored by William Beckerman, Brighton Beach real estate broker, would set up an organization called the United Philanthropic Society of New York City with membership dues of $10 per year, payable quarterly. Each member would receive a certificate giving the right to participate in a drawing to be held every three months for a list of more than 1,000 prizes ranging from $25 to $10,000.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1949, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON (U.P.) — Air Force investigators who turned up two tattered disk-type airplanes in an abandoned Maryland tobacco shed hinted today the discovery may ‘break’ the flying saucer mystery. They were searching for a missing inventor who built the two craft and reportedly got one of them into the air before disappearing with his wife and child about 10 years ago. ‘It is apparent that both ships would give the appearance of flying disks,’ said a spokesman for Air Force investigators who have worked on the flying saucer mystery for two years with little or no tangible result. ‘They could well be the prototype of what have been reported as flying saucers,’ he said. The investigators hoped to find Jonathan E. Caldwell, whose attempt to sell stock to finance production of the disk planes he invented reportedly was blocked at the time by Maryland authorities.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1953, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON (U.P.) — Official confirmation that Russia has exploded an H-bomb today swept the world into a deadly new lap of the atomic arms race and brought Congressional demands for stepped up U.S. defenses. Chairman Lewis L. Strauss of the Atomic Energy Commission announced shortly after midnight that the United States detected an atomic explosion in Russia on Aug. 12. He said ‘subsequent information’ indicated the Russians had tested an H-bomb. His statement followed by less than two hours a Moscow communique which said that ‘one of the types of the hydrogen bomb was exploded’ in the Soviet Union ‘a few days ago … for experimental purposes.’ Strauss made it clear that the United States was far ahead of Russia in developing the awesome H-bomb, which may release up to 1,000 times as much destructive force as an atomic bomb.”

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NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include former N.Y. Yankees third baseman Graig Nettles, who was born in 1944; journalist Connie Chung, who was born in 1946; “Reaper” star Ray Wise, who was born in 1947; “Fringe” star John Noble, who was born in 1948; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin), who was born in 1948; “Perfectly Good Guitar” singer John Hiatt, who was born in 1952; “Thirtysomething” star Peter Horton, who was born in 1953; weather forecaster Al Roker, who was born in 1954; “Pleasantville” star Joan Allen, who was born in 1956; “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” star James Marsters, who was born in 1962; Limp Bizkit founder Fred Durst, who was born in 1970; “Arrival” star Amy Adams, who was born in 1974; “Supernatural” star Misha Collins, who was born in 1974; N.Y. Rangers president and general manager Chris Drury, who was born in 1976; wrestling commentator Byron Saxton, who was born in 1981; “Hacksaw Ridge” star Andrew Garfield, who was born in 1983; and “Skyscraper” singer Demi Lovato, who was born in 1992.

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

Quotable:

“Some kids dream of joining the circus, others of becoming a major league baseball player. I have been doubly blessed. As a member of the New York Yankees, I have gotten to do both.”

— former N.Y. Yankees third baseman Graig Nettles, who was born on this day in 1944