Milestones: December 28, 2023

December 28, 2023 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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FIRST TO RESIGN AS VP — JOHN C. CALHOUN BECAME THE FIRST U.S. VICE PRESIDENT TO RESIGN FROM THIS OFFICE, ON DEC. 28, 1832. Calhoun, a South Carolinian who had been vice president during John Quincy Adams’ administration, threw his support to Andrew Jackson of Tennessee during the latter’s Presidential campaign and served as vice president for him as well. However, a political conflict later polarized as Calhoun prioritized states’ rights over the authority of the federal government, and he defended the agrarian South against the North, which was more industrial. Even though, in his role as vice president, Calhoun presided over the Senate, he was elected to a vacated seat in his home state and resigned as vice president to serve South Carolina.

Calhoun devoted the remainder of his political career to defending the slave plantation system against the growing anti-slavery movement. Calhoun, Daniel Webster of New England and Henry Clay of Kentucky comprised the “Great Triumvirate” of lawmakers during their time in Congress.

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MENTION OF GOD ADDED LATER — SCHOOLCHILDREN HAVE BEEN RECITING THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE FOR GENERATIONS, EVER SINCE CONGRESS OFFICIALLY RECOGNIZED THIS DECLARATION ON DEC. 28, 1945. It was originally composed in 1892 by Baptist minister Francis Bellamy, who at the time headed a committee of school superintendents, and he got a number of public schools to adopt the pledge as part of the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ landing in the New World. The Catholic fraternal service organization Knights of Columbus in 1954 tenaciously persuaded Congress to amend the pledge to say, “One nation, under God.” However, about 50 years later, a federal appeals court found the religious phrase to be unconstitutional. The U.S. Supreme Court, in the 2004 case Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow, ruled that requiring teachers to lead the Pledge is constitutional.

Michael Newdow, the respondent, an atheist and father of a girl who, he claimed, was being forced to recite the part “under God,” lost his argument on other grounds: he was found to not have full custody of his daughter and therefore ineligible to petition on her behalf.

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PROTECTING WILDLIFE — THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT, CONSIDERED AMONG THE MOST SIGNIFICANT ENVIRONMENTAL LAW IN AMERICAN HISTORY, was signed into law on Dec. 28, 1973. Although the U.S. government began taking action to protect endangered animals in the early 20th century, notably under President Theodore Roosevelt, it took the near-extinction of the once ubiquitous bison for the nation to realize the urgency of protecting wildlife from the proliferation of hunting, industry, pollution and especially deforestation (and destruction of natural habitats). The Endangered Species Act, which President Richard M. Nixon signed, mandated that the federal government keep a list of all species in need of protection, and prohibited federal agencies from jeopardizing such species or their habitats. The law also empowered the federal government to take more action to protect wildlife.

Even though the Endangered Species Act was enforceable only at the national level, it proved successful, with the populations of more than 100 varieties of animals showing a 90% recovery rate, and more than 200,000 acres of crucial habitats receiving protection.

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THRILLER GAME — THE SUSPENSE WAS ON DURING THE NFL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME OF DEC. 28, 1958, when the Baltimore Colts defeated the New York Giants, 23-17, in overtime. The NFL had its first overtime contest in a nationally-televised championship game that drew more than 45 million viewers and produced gross receipts of almost $700 thousand. The suspenseful game featured 16 future Hall of Famers: Johnny Unitas of the Baltimore Colts, and Giants running back (and future TV star) Frank Gifford and assistant coach Vince Lombardi, who would later lead Green Bay Packers to five NFL titles.

This “Greatest Game Ever Played” was hosted at New York’s Yankee Stadium.

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FIRST ADMISSION-PRICE MOVIE — THE WORLD’S FIRST COMMERCIAL MOVIE SCREENING TOOK PLACE AT THE GRAND CAFE IN PARIS ON DEC. 28, 1895. The producers were French brothers Louis and Auguste Lumiere who had developed a camera-projector called the Cinematographe. They unveiled their invention to the public in March 1895 with a brief film showing workers leaving the Lumiere factory. The Dec. 28 event was a screening of brief scenes from everyday French life. The audience paid an admission price. The Lumieres opened theaters (known as cinemas) in 1896 to showcase their work and sent crews of cameramen around the world to screen films and shoot new material. This proved popular in America. Later, the Lumieres also developed the first practical color photography process, the Autochrome plate, which debuted in 1907.

The Lumiere Brothers were undoubtedly intuitively named: Lumière is the French word for light, with synonyms meaning lamp and clarity.

See previous milestones, here.