Milestones: January 5, 2024

January 5, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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THE KING WHO DEFIED A POPE — POPE CLEMENT VII ON JAN. 5, 1531, DISPATCHED A LETTER TO KING HENRY VIII, OF ENGLAND, forbidding him to remarry under penalty of excommunication. Good Ol’ Henry, on whom the previous Pope, Leo X, had bestowed the title “Defender of the Faith” for his opposition of the Protestant Reformation, now found it inconvenient to obey the Pope when the English throne still lacked a legitimate heir. He sought to divorce his first wife, Catherine, who could not produce a male child. However, Catherine’s parents — King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain — were powerful Catholics. Henry himself was a devout Catholic, but for political expediency, he needed to clear the way to produce a male child. After the threat of excommunication, he ignored the papal ruling, married Anne Boleyn, issued decrees severing papal supremacy from England, and declared himself head of the Church of England.

Henry had initially sought to end his marriage in a manner consistent with the Catholic Church, by an annulment from his levirate marriage, as Catherine had first been married to Henry’s elder brother, Arthur, who then died. Although levirate marriages were a Biblical commandment, Henry needed a papal dispensation to wed Catherine in the first place.

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PRAGUE SPRING — ALEXANDER DUBCEK, A SLOVAK WHO SUPPORTED LIBERAL REFORMS. ON JAN. 5, 1968, SUCCEEDED THE STALINIST RULER OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA, Antonin Novotny, and began a short period of greater liberties that became known as the Prague Spring. During his first few months in power, Dubcek initiated a series of political and economic reforms that granted the public increased freedom of speech, as well as the “rehabilitation” of political dissidents. Dubcek set out to brand “communism with a human face.” The Soviet Union’s response to these reforms, though, was to invade Czechoslovakia, on August 20, 1968, with 600 troops deployed as part of the Warsaw Pact — ironically drawn up in 1955 as a treaty of friendship and defense alliances between Warsaw, Poland, the Soviet Union and several Eastern bloc republics. Authoritarian rule returned to Czechoslovakia under the pro-Soviet leader Gustav Husak, who repealed Dubcek’s reforms.

However, during the 1989 collapse of Communist governments across Eastern Europe, Prague again became a center of resistance and demands for democratic reforms. Husak resigned, clearing the way for Dubcek’s return to politics as chairman of the new Parliament. Playwright Vaclav Havel was ultimately elected president of Czechoslovakia.

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START OF BAMBINO’S CURSE? — THE NEW YORK YANKEES MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL CLUB ON JAN. 5, 1920, purchased from the Boston Red Sox its star outfielder, George Herman “Babe” Ruth for $125,000. Babe Ruth had played six seasons already with the Red Sox, leading them to three World Series wins. Cognizant of his value to the Yankees, Ruth negotiated for a raise and got a salary to please him. Breaking his home run record brought such profit to the Yankees that they were able to leave the Polo Grounds, which they shared with the National League’s New York Giants, and build their own stadium in The Bronx. Thus, Yankee Stadium became known as “the house that Ruth built.”

However, the sale of Ruth would haunt the Boston Red Sox for more than eight decades, as that team had an 86-year World Series championship drought. By contrast, the Yankees won 39 American League pennants and 26 World Series titles.

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SET A WORLD RECORD FOR BRIDGES — CONSTRUCTION BEGAN ON SAN FRANCISCO’S NOW-ICONIC GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE ON JAN. 5, 1933, as workers began excavating 3.25 million cubic feet of dirt for the structure’s huge anchorages. The idea for this bridge had been conceived as early as the 19th century California Gold Rush, but it would not take root until 1916, and then more hurdles appeared, foremost among them the Great Depression. Finally, Bank of America agreed to purchase the entire bridge project to help San Francisco’s local economy. The Golden Gate Bridge officially opened on May 27, 1937, and was, at the time, the world’s longest bridge span. During the first public crossing the previous day (May 26), 200,000 people walked, ran and even roller-skated over the new bridge.

The 1.7-mile bridge became the longest suspension-span bridge in both the United States and the world until 1964 when Brooklyn beat it out. The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge opened that year in New York harbor, connecting the boroughs of Brooklyn and Staten Island, and is the longest suspension bridge in the United States. (Japan beat out the world title in 2019 with its own bridge.)

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‘SPACE, THE FINAL FRONTIER…” — JAN. 5 IN TWO CONSECUTIVE YEARS SAW THE PREMIERE OF TWO NEW STAR TREK EPISODES: “The Galileo Seven,” on that day in 1967 and “The Gamesters of Triskelion” in 1968. Episode 16 of the first season of what is now called “Star Trek: The Original Series,” titled “The Galileo Seven,” deals with a crashed shuttlecraft and the Vulcan Spock’s austere and logical leadership angering an already fearful crew, until he makes an uncharacteristic move. In “The Gamesters of Triskelion,” Kirk, Chekov and Uhura are forced to train with thralls (that word denotes slavery) to fight like gladiators as body-less cerebral beings place bets on their chances of winning. Then Kirk gives the brain-creatures a wager they can’t refuse.

The original series, the brainchild of Gene Roddenberry, ran three seasons from 1966-69, starring William Shatner as the swashbuckling Captain James T. Kirk and Leonard Nimoy as his even-tempered, logical and scientific first officer Spock. The series realized its full popularity in syndication before turning into a franchise of successful spinoffs and movies.

See previous milestones, here.