Milestones: February 7, 2024

February 7, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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‘BRITISH INVASION’ — TODAY, FEB. 7, 2024, MARKS THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BEATLES’ LANDING IN THE UNITED STATES FOR THEIR FIRST AMERICAN TOUR. The musical “British Invasion” was launched when the Fab Four landed at New York City’s recently-renamed John F. Kennedy Airport in southern Queens (its previous name was Idlewild Airport). The Beatles’ welcoming committee was a crowd of 3,000 screaming fans — most of them girls. Two nights later, after the arrival of John Lennon and Ringo Starr — both 23 — Paul McCartney (21) and George Harrison (20), the band performed on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” attracting 73 million viewers. The group then made their first public concert appearance in the United States on Feb. 11 at the Coliseum in Washington, D.C., with 20,000 fans present. The next day, the Beatles gave two back-to-back performances at Carnegie Hall.

During April 1964, all five best-selling U.S. singles were Beatles songs.

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STATES IMMUNE FROM LAWSUITS — THE ELEVENTH AMENDMENT TO THE U.S. CONSTITUTION (ADDRESSING SOVEREIGNTY OF THE STATES) WAS RATIFIED ON FEB. 7, 1795. The 11th Amendment restricted the powers of the federal judiciary in relation to the states and reaffirmed individual states’ sovereignty by prohibiting lawsuits against them. The text reads, “The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State.” One of the first lawsuits to challenge Article III of the Constitution was Chisholm v. Georgia (1793), in which a South Carolina citizen of that name sued Georgia for unpaid debts it incurred during the War of Independence. Georgia refused to appear on the grounds that federal courts could not hear suits against states, but the Supreme Court ruled, by a four-to-one vote, that Chisholm’s suit against Georgia could proceed in federal court.

One Senator from Massachusetts, Caleb Strong, was shocked by the Chisholm ruling and quickly pushed for an amendment that would give states broad immunity. Another catalyst for him was the lawsuit that a British subject, disgruntled over the seizure of his property, brought against Massachusetts.

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STOOD UP TO KING HENRY VIII — SIR THOMAS MORE, BORN ON FEB. 7, 1478, WAS ASCHOLAR, LAWYER, writer, member of parliament and chancellor in the reign of Henry VIII. More, who had originally discerned a call as a monk, instead entered the service of King Henry VIII and became one of his most competent and trusted advisors and diplomats. More had a part in editing King Henry’s famous rebuttal to Martin Luther, who rejected the Roman Catholic Church’s sacraments. However, when Henry wanted to annul his marriage to his first wife, Queen Catherine of Aragon, More stood up to him and refused to recognize what he viewed as divorce. King Henry VIII subsequently broke with the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church and declared himself the head of the Church of England. He also had More, later called the “Man for All Seasons,” pronounced guilty of treason and imprisoned in the Tower of London on April 17, 1534, and beheaded at Tower Hill on July 6, 1535.

For More’s steadfastness to his faith, the Roman Catholic Church canonized him as a saint four centuries later, on May 19, 1935.

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PLEA BARGAIN GAINS TRACTION — THE FIRST PLEA BARGAIN WAS ARRANGED ON FEB. 7, 1881, WHEN A MAN NAMED Albert McKenzie of Alameda, CA, pleaded guilty to embezzlement. McKenzie had taken $52.50 from the sewing machine company that employed him, a felony action. Although he had the Constitutional right to a trial by jury (7th Amendment provision), the alternate option of pleading guilty to reduced charges had grown popular, and that is the path McKenzie chose. During 30 years from 1880 to 1910 in Alameda County, about 10% of defendants were changing their “not guilty” pleas to “guilty of lesser charges” or pled guilty to reduced charges.

The plea bargain allowed McKenzie to avoid the pressures of trial and prosecution. Today, it is a frequently used option in law enforcement.

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EDITED UNTIL DEATH — JAMES AUGUSTUS MURRAY, BORN FEB. 7, 1837, WAS AN ENGLISH LEXICOGRAPHER WHO WORKED ON THE OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY that was first published on Feb. 1, 1884. The self-educated Murray was the third editor of this project that chronicled the history of the English language from the 12th century to the present. Murray and his successors worked to define each word, providing examples of its usage. He edited about half of the dictionary, working with assistants, and spent the last 40 years of his life doing so.

When he died in 1915 in Oxford, Murray was still working on the letter T.

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CHAPLIN’S PERSONA — ‘THE TRAMP,’ ACTOR CHARLIE CHAPLIN’S COMEDIC CREATION, MADE HIS DEBUT ON Feb. 7, 1914, in the movie short, “Kid Auto Races at Venice,” by Keystone Studios. Chaplin had been a vaudeville star, but taking to the silent films with the Tramp’s forlorn but mischievous nature proved successful. “The Tramp” sported a tiny mustache and twirled a cane. wearing a little derby, a tight-fitting jacket, baggy trousers and floppy shoes. Over the next two years, he made 12 films, including “The Immigrant” and “The Vagabond.” “The Tramp” is also the title of a silent film starring Chaplin, which he wrote and directed in 1915.

Toy companies were swift to capitalize on the craze and soon mass-produced Tramp dolls, which were selling all over the U.S. and worldwide.

See previous milestones, here.