September 19: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

September 19, 2023 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1925, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “Brooklyn has passed Manhattan in point of population. The census figures when made public sometime next month will show this. The census figures will show also that Brooklyn, Queens, Richmond and the Bronx have all made their population gains at the expense of Manhattan. The 1920 census gave Brooklyn 2,018,356 as against 2,284,103 for Manhattan. Five years ago Manhattan had 265,747 more people than Brooklyn. Since then, however, the census figures will reveal, Brooklyn has not only wiped out this difference entirely, but has established a comfortable lead over its neighbor boro across the bridge. Extensive building operations throughout this boro are said to have been the chief cause of its growth in population. Most of the increase is in the Flatbush, Bay Ridge and Coney Island sections.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1945, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON (U.P.) — Armed with more authority than any predecessor, Secretary of Labor Lewis B. Schwellenbach today tackled the job of bringing peace to the nation’s troubled labor front. Simultaneously, responsibility for the nation’s stabilization program shifted from William H. Davis, director of the Office of Economic Stabilization, to Reconversion Director John W. Snyder. President Truman transferred OES to Mr. Snyder in a surprise move late yesterday. In his long-awaited reorganization of government labor services, Mr. Truman gave Mr. Schwellenbach authority over the War Labor Board and War Manpower Commission as well as a voice in making the wage stabilization policies under Snyder. With his new powers, Mr. Schwellenbach emerged as probably the strongest labor secretary in U.S. history. He recaptured not only functions that were divorced from the department under stress of war but inherited agencies set up in both peace and war to keep labor-management relations on an even keel.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1947, the Eagle reported, “UNITED NATIONS HALL, FLUSHING (U.P.) — Russia’s demand that the U.S. be branded guilty of ‘warmongering’ and that the American press be denied freedom to criticize the U.S.S.R. ‘on pain of criminal punishment’ headed today for overwhelming United Nations rejection. The immediate interpretation of the proposal by the Western powers was that the Soviet Union would impose on them the same kind of controlled press and restraints on freedom of speech existing within the Soviet Union. Soviet Delegate Andrei Y. Vishinsky himself could hardly hope for support from more than five U.N. members within the Soviet sphere … Vishinsky, who was prosecutor of the famous purge trials in Russia which resulted in countless death sentences, minced no words in disclosing what he would do with such ‘warmongers’ of the press and other citizens in the Soviet Union. He said: ‘Should any person in the Soviet Union make a statement even in infinitesimal degree resembling (those by U.S. ‘warmongers’), full of criminal greediness for a new manslaughter, such a statement would meet with a severe rebuff and public disapproval as a socially dangerous act leading to serious harm.’ The general reaction to Vishinsky’s slashing attack was that he overplayed his hand in a shocking manner.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1950, the Eagle reported, “POPLAR BLUFF, MO. (U.P.) — Four planes chased after a ‘flying saucer’ which hundreds of persons saw roaring across the sky, but the pilots said today that they couldn’t get near it. Police, airport and radio station personnel said ‘just about everyone in Poplar Bluff’ saw the mysterious spherical object for five or six hours yesterday afternoon. Civil Aeronautics Authority workers at Malden, 28 miles southeast of here, plotted its southeasterly course from 4 p.m. until dark. But descriptions of the object and guesses as to its identity were almost a dime a dozen. National Guard authorities at Memphis who sent two F-51 fighters up to check reports that a ‘translucent washtub’ was at large in the airlines were close-mouthed. A National Guard sergeant at Memphis confirmed that the F-51s climbed to 30,000 feet but could not make contact with the object.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1951, the Eagle reported, “TEHRAN (U.P.) — Iran condemned a Soviet spy to death today and declared a three-day postponement in the scheduled opening of trade talks with Russia. The move came amidst other swift developments cropping out of Iran’s bitter oil dispute with Britain. They included: 1. Finance Minister Mohamed Ali Varasteh resigned and a cabinet reshuffle was anticipated shortly; 2. Iran asked four British communications experts to return to their jobs because no Iranians could do the work; 3. Opposition newspapers urged the Shah to ‘use his prerogatives’ to halt Premier Mohamed Mossadegh’s drastic oil policies; 4. Retiring U.S. Ambassador Henry F. Grady left for home by plane with a ringing denunciation of Mossadegh as a man who ‘cannot see beyond his nose.’ Grady told associates: ‘It is a government of chaos. It is not a strong but rather a stubborn government. This government is getting Iran nowhere.’”

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NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include “Tom & Viv” star Rosemary Harris, who was born in 1927; “NCIS” star David McCallum, who was born in 1933; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Bill Medley (The Righteous Brothers), who was born in 1940; singer and actor Paul Williams, who was born in 1940; “Emergency!” star Randolph Mantooth, who was born in 1945; Oscar-winning actor Jeremy Irons, who was born in 1948; former “Good Morning America” co-host Joan Lunden, who was born in 1950; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Nile Rodgers, who was born in 1952; “Kiss Me Deadly” singer Lita Ford, who was born in 1958; country music star Trisha Yearwood, who was born in 1964; U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, who was born in 1965; broadcast journalist Soledad O’Brien, who was born in 1966; former N.Y. Yankees pitcher Jim Abbott, who was born in 1967; “The King of Queens” star Victor Williams, who was born in 1970; talk show host Jimmy Fallon, who was born in 1974; and “The Flash” star Danielle Panabaker, who was born in 1987.