September 12: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

September 12, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1939, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “Brooklyn and Queens motorists will be zipping along the $28,000,000 Belt Parkway well in advance of July 1, 1940, the deadline set by the PWA in allotting $12,000,000 for the 31-mile highway, according to Park Commissioner Robert Moses. The roadway, encircling large parts of the two boroughs, is now 38 percent completed and the final phases of construction are progressing rapidly, Mr. Moses said yesterday while inspecting the project with city and Federal officials.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1943, the Eagle reported, “Leo Durocher and his Dodgers used the forlorn Phillies as a springboard to leap back into second place yesterday afternoon when the Brooklyn bunch registered a 7-2 victory at Ebbets Field without getting up much of a sweat … Gil Hodges, the latest kid signed by Branch Rickey, was spotted chasing batting practice before the game. He has been a shortstop, but is a little slow for that assignment, judged by big league standards.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1945, the Eagle reported, “Chief Inspector John J. O’Connell today was given the inside track as successor to Police Commissioner [Lewis] Valentine, whose resignation becomes official at midnight Friday. Manhattan Police Headquarters veterans were pointing out that Inspector O’Connell has been cleaning out his desk and office and giving every indication that he will change his quarters, probably moving upstairs to the Commissioner’s office. Meanwhile, the radio world unveiled an affable and easily accessible Mr. Valentine at a cocktail party last night in the Hotel Waldorf-Astoria. Mr. Valentine is about to step in as master of ceremonies for the Gangbusters program at something like $50,000 a year salary. Mayor LaGuardia was among those present at the party. He drew himself a scotch and soda but he refused to loosen up on the identity of Mr. Valentine’s successor.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1947, the Eagle reported, “ST. LOUIS (U.P.) — The Sporting News, national baseball weekly, today named Jackie Robinson, Negro first baseman of the Brooklyn Dodgers, as its choice for ‘Rookie of the Year.’ Publisher J.G. Taylor Spink, author of the story, emphasized that Robinson’s selection was based solely on his ability as a hitter, runner, fielder and team man. ‘The sociological experiment that Robinson represented,’ Spink wrote, ‘the trail-blazing that he did, the barriers he broke down, do not enter into the decision … Jackie Robinson has done it all in his first year as a major leaguer. What more could anyone ask?’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1953, the Eagle reported, “HOLLYWOOD (U.P.) — Lucille Ball, television’s top actress, maintained today she registered to vote as a Communist in a 1936 primary election only to please her Socialist grandfather. But the red-haired comedienne, star of the ‘I Love Lucy’ show, denied ever joining the Communist Party or ever casting a ballot for a Communist candidate. Representative Donald Jackson (R., Cal.) agreed ‘there is no indication that Miss Ball ever was a member of the Communist Party.’ Jackson disclosed yesterday that an investigator for the House Committee on Un-American Activities, of which he is a member, had taken testimony from the actress. ‘Miss Ball has cooperated with the committee investigator in all respects,’ Jackson said. ‘She has acknowledged her Communist Party registration.’ Jackson said, nevertheless, the committee plans to continue to investigate Miss Ball’s case because ‘no case is ever closed.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1953, the Eagle reported, “NEWPORT, R.I. (U.P.) — Senator John F. Kennedy (D., Mass.), once one of the nation’s most eligible bachelors, takes an heiress as his bride here today. Kennedy, son of former Ambassador to Great Britain Joseph P. Kennedy, will wed Jacqueline Lee Bouvier of Newport at 11 a.m. in St. Mary’s Catholic Church. Archbishop Richard J. Cushing of Boston will officiate at the wedding, which caps the social season in this fashionable summer resort. Miss Bouvier, a descendant of prominent Washington and New York banking families, met the tousle-haired Kennedy while working as an inquiring reporter for the Washington-Times Herald. She is 24 and he is 36. Twenty-six attendants will participate in the wedding ceremony, which will be followed by a reception at Miss Bouvier’s Hammersmith Farm home, where she was presented to society in August, 1947.”

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Jennifer Hudson
Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include “Dallas” star Linda Gray, who was born in 1940; folk singer Maria Muldaur, who was born in 1943; “Police Academy” star Bruce Mahler, who was born in 1950; “Midnight Run” star Joe Pantoliano, who was born in 1951; “The Thorn Birds” star Rachel Ward, who was born in 1957; Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer, who was born in 1957; political commentator Greg Gutfeld, who was born in 1964; singer-songwriter Ben Folds, who was born in 1966; singer-songwriter Jennifer Nettles, who was born in 1974; “Gotham” star Ben McKenzie, who was born in 1978; “American Idol” winner Ruben Studdard, who was born in 1978; Basketball Hall of Famer Yao Ming, who was born in 1980; Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Hudson, who was born in 1981; “Shameless” star Emmy Rossum, who was born in 1986; 2020 National League MVP Freddie Freeman, who was born in 1989; and “Reality” star Sydney Sweeney, who was born in 1997.

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FRONTIER SPIRIT: On this day in 1962, President John F. Kennedy told an audience of 40,000 people at Rice University that he wanted to land a man on the Moon before 1970. “But why, some say, the Moon?” he said. “Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask, why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? … We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”

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NOW PLAYING: Today is Video Games Day, a time for kids to celebrate the fun they have playing and to thank their parents for all the consoles, games and quarters they have provided to indulge this enthusiasm.

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Special thanks to “Chase’s Calendar of Events” and Brooklyn Public Library.

Quotable:

“For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple and wrong.”

— journalist H.L. Mencken, who was born on this day in 1880