May 29: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
ON THIS DAY IN 1844, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle said, “The Baltimore Democratic Convention. — This great national gathering, upon the result of whose deliberations the political complexion of our government for the next four years in a great measure depends, excites a very deep interest among all parties. The Democrats, embarrassed (if we may so speak) as they are with half a dozen aspirants for that highest of all earthly honors — the Presidency of the United States, and feeling, as they do, that either one of them may be safely entrusted with it, require more time for the discussion and ultimate reconciliation of conflicting claims than the Whigs — who have only one man to bring forward. To be sure, the Democratic numbers have long since indicated their preference clearly enough; but circumstances having recently occurred to change, or rather to enlarge the issues involved in the contest, it is deemed necessary by some of the delegates to enlarge their powers accordingly; and hence the unusual and earnest discussion of preliminaries — suggested by this peculiar state of things.”
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ON THIS DAY IN 1878, the Eagle reported, “Hon. John Scott Harrison, of North Bend, Ohio, died yesterday in his seventy-fourth year. He was the son of President [William Henry] Harrison and was the father of General Benjamin Harrison, of Indiana. Mr. Harrison was a member of Congress for two terms, and was a candidate for the third time, but was defeated by Mr. Wm. L. Groesbeck. Of late years he resided on the farm of his father at North Bend.” (Editor’s note: John Scott Harrison is the only man to have been both the son and father of a U.S. president. William Henry Harrison was elected in 1840 and Benjamin Harrison was elected in 1888.)
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ON THIS DAY IN 1884, the Eagle reported, “The Belmont Stakes for three year olds, one mile and a half, with sixty-three entries, of which twenty-two declared, will be run on Thursday, as will be also the Westchester Handicap, one mile and three furlongs, with thirty-four subscriptions, the weights for which will be published on Tuesday, and the last of the Spring fixtures will be disposed of on Saturday, this being the Jockey Club Handicap, one mile and three-quarters. This closed with twenty-two entries.”
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ON THIS DAY IN 1915, the Eagle reported, “The problem of providing for the constantly increasing street traffic at congested crossings in the older parts of the city have received the attention of real estate owners, architects, the police and finance departments of the city. The real estate owner is interested in two ways. Access to his property must be convenient and safe and he naturally does not like to be taxed too high for the creation of open spaces in parts of the city where land is expensive. Most solutions for the problem proceed on the theory of an intensive use of the space we already have. Traffic regulations are familiar and now the matter of double decking certain important crossings is again brought forward in many of the designs submitted in a competition gotten up by the Municipal Art Society for ‘An Architectural Solution of the Intersection of an Avenue and a Street.’ The exhibition of two hundred sets of drawings submitted to that society has just closed in the galleries of the National Arts Club, Gramercy Park.”
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ON THIS DAY IN 1934, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON (AP) — Sarah Wilson, Portland, Maine, schoolgirl, won the national spelling bee today, besting 18 other contestants. James Wilson of Peoria, Ill., who stumbled over the word ‘deteriorate,’ was second.”
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ON THIS DAY IN 1935, the Eagle reported, “PASADENA, CALIF. (AP) — New Hercules, the ‘exploding star,’ has suddenly flared up again, increasing its brilliance by 30 times, Prof. Alfred H. Joy, secretary of Mount Wilson Observatory, said today.”
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ON THIS DAY IN 1944, the Eagle reported, “ALLIED HEADQUARTERS, NAPLES (U.P.) — American troops pushed to within nearly 16 miles of Rome today in a new drive threatening to turn the enemy’s Alban Hills defenses from the south and to the northeast [into] seized heights within sight of the Italian capital. A German transocean dispatch from Rome said Allied shells and bombs were ‘raining ceaselessly’ on the outskirts of the capital while Romans ‘united in prayers for the salvation of their city.’ The Germans, reinforced by fresh troops drawn off from their forces above Rome, were counterattacking viciously with tanks and flamethrowers in a so-far futile effort to throw back 5th Army forces that were threatening their last defense line below the capital. American elements of the 5th Army made the closest Allied approach yet to Rome with a thrust from the north side of the old Anzio beachhead to within a mile south of Campoleone, below the Alban Hills and some seven miles southwest of the Appian Way stronghold of Velletri. Another American column, 15 miles to the north, battled its way through fierce enemy resistance to within nearly a mile of Valmontone and effectively blocked the via Casilina, the enemy’s main route of retreat from the 8th Army front to the southeast, with a heavy artillery bombardment that piled rubble across the highway. Troops in the hills overlooking Valmontone, 23 miles southeast of Rome and an important junction on the via Casilina, said they already could see the Italian capital.”
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ON THIS DAY IN 1963, the Eagle reported, “Citizens for Educational Freedom (C.E.F.), Bay Ridge chapter, will hear Prof. Mario M. Cuomo speak on ‘Federal Aid to Education — Pro and Con’ at Lutheran School Hall, 440 Ovington Ave., June 13, at 8:00 p.m. Prof. Cuomo is a member of the faculty of St. John’s University School of Law, a trustee of the Brooklyn Law Library, the executive vice president of the Catholic Lawyers Guild and a member of the Brooklyn law firm of Conner, Finn, Froeb and Charles.”
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ON THIS DAY IN 1963, the Eagle reported, “A group of more than 100 physicians, who take a scholarly interest in good food, wine and spirits, have given President Kennedy a keg of 46-year-old cognac for his 46th birthday today. The physicians’ Wine Appreciation Society of New York sent the keg Monday for Kennedy’s ‘health and pleasure.’ President Kennedy plans to celebrate his 46th birthday with a quiet dinner party tonight at the White House. The White House said Mrs. Kennedy is giving the dinner for the president and members of the Kennedy family, and would not release details because of ‘family tradition.’”
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Victoria Will/Invision/AP
Louis Lanzano/AP
NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include Basketball Hall of Famer and former N.Y. Knicks guard Richie Guerin, who was born in 1932; former Commissioner of Baseball Fay Vincent, who was born in 1938; “General Hospital” star Anthony Geary, who was born in 1947; Oingo Boingo founder Danny Elfman, who was born in 1953; singer and TV personality La Toya Jackson, who was born in 1956; “The Silence of the Lambs” star Ted Levine, who was born in 1957; “American Beauty” star Annette Bening, who was born in 1958; Oscar-winning musician Melissa Etheridge, who was born in 1961; “The Facts of Life” star Lisa Whelchel, who was born in 1963; “Orange is the New Black” star Laverne Cox, who was born in 1972; “The Boondocks” cartoonist Aaron McGruder, who was born in 1974; former Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony, who was born in Brooklyn in 1984; and “It Comes at Night” star Riley Keough, who was born in 1989.
Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP
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Special thanks to “Chase’s Calendar of Events” and Brooklyn Public Library.
Quotable:
“Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan.”
— former President John F. Kennedy, who was born on this day in 1917
Brooklyn Boro
View MoreNew York City’s most populous borough, Brooklyn, is home to nearly 2.6 million residents. If Brooklyn were an independent city it would be the fourth largest city in the United States. While Brooklyn has become the epitome of ‘cool and hip’ in recent years, for those that were born here, raised families here and improved communities over the years, Brooklyn has never been ‘uncool’.