Milestones: April 2, 2024

April 2, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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CANONIZED IN 2014 — POPE JOHN PAUL II, the most well-traveled pontiff in history and the first non-Italian to be elected since the 1500s, died on April 2, 2005 at his Vatican residence after a long period of frailty. He had been elected after the unexpected death of Pope John Paul I, who died just 33 days after becoming pontiff in 1978. A conservative pope who had grown up in Communist Poland, John Paul II was a staunch opponent of communism and war. Fluent in six languages besides Polish and Italian, he traveled to the United States and Brooklyn on October 1, 1979, almost a year after being elected Pope on October 16, 1978. During that visit, he made a surprise visit to St. James Cathedral-Basilica in Downtown Brooklyn, according to the parish’s website.

Here in Brooklyn, the Brooklyn Eagle covered a tri-parish joint procession on Sunday, April 27, 2014, to celebrate Pope John Paul II’s canonization, with special services at St. Frances de Chantal Church, a parish serving the Polish community in Borough Park.

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CONTROVERSIAL VOTE — JEANNETTE PICKERING RANKIN, THE FIRST WOMAN ever elected to Congress, on April 2, 1917, finally got to take her seat in the U.S. Capitol as a representative from Montana, following a monthlong debate on whether women could serve in Congress. A Social worker by profession, Rankin successfully ran on the Republican ticket on a progressive platform of women and children’s rights, and U.S. neutrality in what was then still the European War. In fact, during her first week in office, she was one of only 50 representatives who voted against the American declaration of war, after the Senate had already voted by a wide majority for war.

Rankin held her ground on her controversial vote, citing both her pacifist beliefs and the fact that popular opinion in her home state was against going to war.

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DECLARATION OF WAR SUPPORTED — PRESIDENT WOODROW WILSON, ADDRESSING a joint session of Congress on April 2, 1917, asked the lawmakers for a declaration of war, which would have the United States join the European conflict on the Allied side. Wilson’s request followed Germany’s increased attacks on shipping in the Atlantic Ocean and the revelation of the contents of the Zimmerman Telegram. A U.S. newspaper had published the Zimmerman Telegram, in which Germany promised to help Mexico regain the territory that comprised three states: Texas, New Mexico and Arizona if the central American country would join the war against its northern neighbor. Outraged Americans supported Wilson’s plea to join the war and “make the world safe for democracy.”

Realizing that large numbers of troops would be necessary to fight this war, Wilson signed the Selective Service Act in May 1917, requiring men between 21 and 35 years of age to register for the draft. One infantryman who volunteered for active duty was a future U.S. President, Harry S. Truman.

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‘JUST THE FACTS, MA’AM’ — HE WAS BEST KNOWN AS SERGEANT JOE FRIDAY, but the actor playing this lead in the 1960 TV police and crime series “Dragnet” was Jack Webb, born as John Randolph Webb on April 2, 1920. Sgt. Friday’s no-nonsense instructions “Just the facts, ma’am” became a staple of the program, set in Los Angeles. Jack Webb was also a director and producer, and the brains not only behind “Dragnet” but also for another police drama series, “Adam-12.”

“Dragnet” was first conceived for radio and premiered in that medium in 1949, running until 1957. Then, in 1967, the television series debuted.

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FIRST, A LAW BANNING EGG ROLLING — THE U.S. PRESIDENT WHO DEBUTED THE FIRST White House Easter Egg Roll, which was held on April 2, 1878, was Rutherford B. Hayes. The tradition continued until President Franklin D. Roosevelt ended it in 1942 during World War II. However, the spring after his 1953 inauguration, President Dwight D. Eisenhower reinstated the popular custom, on April 6 of that year.

Congress in 1876 had actually passed a law prohibiting egg rolling to protect the White House lawn. Rain on Easter Sunday 1877 made the law moot. President Hayes agreed in 1878 to hold the egg roll to please children who wanted to participate.

See previous milestones, here.