March 7: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

March 7, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1845, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “THE UNITED STATES SENATE. — Iowa and Florida being admitted into the Union increases the number of States in our confederacy to twenty-eight, without including Texas. The Senate will hereafter comprise 56 members, or 58 including those from Texas; and the House 225, or including those from Texas, 227. The Legislature of Iowa does not meet until January next, and will comprise 17 Senators and 39 Representatives. The seat of government is at the city of Iowa, in Johnson County.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1890, the Eagle reported, “A public meeting will be held at Plymouth Church, on Sunday evening, in the interest of negro education in the South as represented by the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute at Tuskegee, Ala. Mr. Booker T. Washington, principal of the school, and the Rev. Lyman Abbott will be the speakers. A quartet of Tuskegee students, under the leadership of R.H. Hamilton, will sing plantation songs. The Tuskegee School is an outgrowth of the Hampton Institute, and several prominent Brooklynites are interested in its welfare. It is taught exclusively by negro teachers.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1895, the Eagle reported, “Edwin Forbes, who during the war was special artist for Frank Leslie at the front and witnessed most of the principal battles of the war, died yesterday of Bright’s disease at his home on Lenox road, Flatbush. The funeral will take place tomorrow evening. Besides being an artist, the deceased was an author of considerable note and an inventor, among his inventions being the race track starting apparatus now used in Australia. A widow and daughter survive him.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1918, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON — The plan to introduce daylight saving in this country has been held up. There is a bill emanating from the House, providing that clocks be turned back an hour on March 30 and set ahead again on October 30. There is also a bill, sponsored by Senator Calder, providing that the period should be from May 1 to October 1. Consideration was blocked by Representative Madden (Ill.), who insisted that the war finance corporation measure should have precedence on the score of its urgency.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1921, the Eagle reported, “President Harding began his second work day in the White House by beating his entire force of secretaries and clerks to the executive offices. He arrived shortly after 8:30, a full half hour before work usually begins, and for some time was the only official present in that end of the White House. As soon as the President had settled himself at his desk he called for his new Airedale dog ‘Laddie Boy,’ who was assigned a place for the day on a couch in the President’s office.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1924, the Eagle reported, “LONDON — Meetings of the Islamic Associations are being summoned throughout India, says the Calcutta correspondent of the Daily Telegram, to consider the action of the Turkish Government in abolishing the caliphate at Constantinople. Those bodies which have met have made indignant protest at what they consider an outrage of their faith. Islam, they say, is faced with a serious crisis, which can only be solved by a plebiscite of the entire Moslem world.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1953, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON (U.P.) — American officials today predicted that the new leaders in the Kremlin will move quickly after Stalin’s funeral to purge Soviet and satellite leaders who might threaten their newly won power. These officials feel there also is a slight possibility of a falling-out between Premier Georgi M. Malenkov and his rivals that could shake Russia and the Communist world to its foundations. Authorities pointed out that Malenkov, as Stalin’s ‘shadow’ over the years, knows all the techniques for ruthlessly stamping out opposition with guns, prison cells and slave labor camps. ‘They will have to clean house again, and it’s anybody’s guess where it will start and stop,’ one official said. News that the Soviet leaders had been chosen a mere 20 hours after Stalin died came as a surprise to this government. The White House and State Department declined comment. But officials and congressmen generally agreed the implication was that Russia cold war policies continue in full force, if not increased. The Soviet reorganization was regarded as a Kremlin effort to present a solid front to the free and Communist worlds as a warning against action aimed at capitalizing on Stalin’s death.”

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Amanda Gorman
Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include International Motorsports Hall of Famer Janet Guthrie, who was born in 1938; “Hill Street Blues” star Daniel J. Travanti, who was born in 1940; Pro Football Hall of Famer Lynn Swann, who was born in 1952; “Breaking Bad” star Bryan Cranston, who was born in 1956; two-time World Series champion Joe Carter, who was born in 1960; “Tell it to My Heart” singer Taylor Dayne, who was born in 1962; “Fifty Shades of Grey” author E.L. James, who was born in 1963; “Less Than Zero” author Bret Easton Ellis, who was born in 1964; “The Upshaws” star Wanda Sykes, who was born in 1964; former N.Y. Mets second baseman Jeff Kent, who was born in 1968; Oscar-winning actress Rachel Weisz, who was born in 1970; “The Office” star Jenna Fischer, who was born in 1974; “That ’70s Show” star Laura Prepon, who was born in 1980; swimmer and Olympic gold medalist Chase Kalisz, who was born in 1994; and poet and activist Amanda Gorman, who was born in 1998.