November 7: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

November 7, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1892, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “The populists are the factor of greatest uncertainty in the presidential campaign. The Republicans look to them for whatever gains they expect to make in the South. The Democrats anticipate heavy gains from their cooperation in the West and Northwest. If the fusion tickets South and West poll anything like the vote expected for them the result may be to cast the election into the house. That, of course, would insure the presidential succession to Grover Cleveland.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1899, the Eagle reported, “UTICA, N.Y. — Voting machines were used throughout this city today for the first time and they worked well. In some places forty votes were cast in thirty minutes. In one district the first hundred votes were cast in eighty minutes. Some voters required four or five seconds to cast their ballots. Occasionally a man was found who consumed two or three minutes’ time, but they were few. Not over two men in the entire city failed to comprehend the machines.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1924, the Eagle reported, “With midnight marking the end of the thirtieth consecutive rainless day, all drought records have gone by the board. The longest dry period ever before recorded came in September of 1884 when there were 28 consecutive days without appreciable rainfall. Despite this unprecedented dryness and the added fact that the average daily temperature for October has been two-thirds of a degree above normal, the chances are 2 to 1 in favor of the coming winter being a mild one. ‘Analysis of the records of the past half century,’ said Weather Forecaster James H. Scarr to an Eagle reporter today, ‘shows that two times out of every three a warm October has been followed by an open winter. The percentage of probability, therefore, is strongly in favor of this winter being a mild one. There have, however, been some distinct reversals of this percentage of probability in which warm Octobers have been followed by very cold winters.’ From Middletown, N.Y., comes evidence that the continued warmth of the past month has at least fooled the turtle family of that neighborhood into believing that there isn’t going to be any winter. Charles E. Claphan has found in a sandbank ten newly-hatched snapping turtles, which ordinarily do not break out of their eggs until six months from now.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1948, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON, NOV. 6 (U.P.) — The Harry S. Trumans have a new four-year lease on the White House but, it developed today, they’ll have to move out anyway. The 150-year-old ‘firetrap’ at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., the nation’s most famous home, has to be repaired to make it safe — safe not only for the Trumans and future Presidential families but also for the hundreds of thousands of visitors from all lands who call there every year. The job is expected to cost in the neighborhood of $1,650,000. Just when Mr. and Mrs. Truman and daughter Margaret will have to move out depends on progress of the repair job. But the tottery old mansion was officially closed to visitors today, dashing the hopes of Washington society for a brilliant social season. When the time comes for the Trumans to move, they probably will transfer their belongings up the street to the Blair House at 1651 Pennsylvania Ave. That is the Government’s official guest house for visiting foreign dignitaries. The White House has been repaired frequently since the first residents, President and Mrs. John Adams, moved their trunks there in 1800.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1958, the Bay Ridge Home Reporter said, “Bay Ridge voters decided Tuesday that it wasn’t time for a change. They re-elected everybody. And since everybody was mostly Republicans, the old Dodger refrain of ‘wait till next year’ echoed through two of Bay Ridge’s Democratic clubhouses. John H. Ray (R-United Taxpayers) was sent back to Congress from the Bay Ridge-Staten Island district. John J. Rooney (D-Lib), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, won another term from voters in the Sunset Park-South Brooklyn district. Republican State Sen. William T. Conklin got another two-year lease on his Albany seat. 9th A.D. GOP Assemblyman Frank McMullen, who just completed his 14th year on the job, and who barely campaigned at all, was a shoo-in over Democratic-Liberal Everett J. McGarry, who waged a vigorous fight for the job. In the 12th A.D., Republicans claimed victory for Assemblyman Luigi R. Marano on the basis of a close count — 15,487 for Marano and 15,054 for Democratic-Liberal candidate Frank Vaccaro, a former assemblyman. The 3rd A.D. re-elected GOP Assemblyman Harry Donnelley. The only ray of Democratic sunshine to come through the clouds was in the 7th A.D., where Democratic Assemblyman Louis Kalish, who is also Dem leader of the district, retained his seat.”

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NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include former N.Y. Yankees catcher Jake Gibbs, who was born in 1938; Baseball Hall of Famer Jim Kaat, who was born in 1938; “Secret Agent Man” singer Johnny Rivers, who was born in 1942; model and actress Jean Shrimpton, who was born in 1942; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Joni Mitchell, who was born in 1943; DJ and music producer Jellybean Benitez, who was born in 1957; “The Brady Bunch” star Christopher Knight, who was born in 1957; DJ and music producer David Guetta, who was born in 1967; “Pitch Perfect” star Adam DeVine, who was born in 1983; former N.Y. Yankees pitcher Sonny Gray, who was born in 1989; and “Royals” singer Lorde, who was born in 1996.

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TRUNK SHOW: The elephant debuted as the symbol of the Republican Party on this day in 1874 when Thomas Nast used one in a satirical cartoon in Harper’s Weekly. Nast also popularized the donkey as the symbol of the Democratic Party.

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TALKING POINTS: “Face the Nation” premiered on this day in 1954. The CBS counterpart of NBC’s “Meet the Press” employs a similar format: panelists interview a well-known guest. In 1983 the panel was changed to include experts in addition to journalists.

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

Quotable:

“If you think too long, you think wrong.”

— Baseball Hall of Famer Jim Kaat, who was born on this day in 1938