January 6: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

January 6, 2025 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1904, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON, JAN. 6 ― The Senate Committee on foreign relations today began consideration of the Panama canal treaty. The time was occupied principally by Senator Morgan in a discussion of the last clause of article 22 of the treaty relating to the new Panama Canal Company, and which under the treaty gives absolute title to the United States so far as the Republic of Panama is concerned. Senator Morgan attacked this right of Panama to surrender title. The committee will meet again tomorrow and probably every day for a week or more before the treaty can be reported to the Senate. No action was taken in regard to the nomination of William I. Buchanan to be minister to Panama, which was held up after being confirmed by a motion of Senator Morgan to reconsider.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1919, the Eagle said, “Theodore Roosevelt’s long illness in a Manhattan hospital confirmed many people in the belief that his health was permanently broken, but few thought that the end was near. The news of his sudden death, sent out from Oyster Bay early this morning, is a shock to the entire country such as the demise of no other citizen in private life would have occasioned. Whatever differences of opinion may have arisen among us over the events in his political career, it is not to be disputed that he won and retained to the end the largest personal following of any American of his own generation. His untimely passing ― he was at an age when much public activity might still have been expected of him ― will be regretted by millions of his countrymen who never met him; it will be a cause of profound grief to those who enjoyed his friendship and who felt the remarkable influence he exercised upon all who came into close contact with him.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1933, the Eagle reported, “New York City, with the rest of the Nation, today mourned the death of Calvin Coolidge, former President of the United States. At Army and Navy posts in the city elaborate military honors were paid in accordance with regulations prescribed for the occasion of the death of a President or former President. At Fort Hamilton, Brooklyn, Fort Totten, Queens, Governors Island and Fort Wadsworth, Staten Island, 13 guns were fired at reveille and then one gun every hour thereafter. At retreat, or just before sunset, the ‘Salute to the Union,’ of 48 guns, will be fired. At these military stations, all troops were paraded at 10 a.m. and the official order announcing the death was formally read. The cadets at West Point were similarly paraded at 10 o’clock and the order read to them. On all government and city buildings flags were flown at half-staff. Private buildings with flags also flew them at half-staff. The official period of mourning, during which flags will remain at half-staff, will continue for 30 days.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1937, the Eagle reported, “The Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York will act at its monthly meeting tomorrow on a report urging approval of construction of the proposed $60,000,000 Brooklyn-Battery tunnel, extending from Hamilton Ave. to West St., Manhattan, if it can be made self-supporting. The report, drafted by the chamber’s committees on public service in the Metropolitan district and on harbor and shipping, emphasizes that the project would increase assessment values in the Brooklyn area south of the Brooklyn Bridge and probably would draw more shipping to the port by making docking space along the South Brooklyn waterfront more accessible. ‘Your committees,’ the report states, ‘recognize that the bridges across the East River, designed when vehicular traffic was insignificant compared with the present day, have poor approaches and cannot handle existing traffic with dispatch. It will be a direct approach and continuous connection in Manhattan from the West Side highway and the proposed new East Side highway now being built for automobile traffic, also from West and South Sts. for heavy traffic. This will ought to relieve considerably the present traffic congestion at the approaches to the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges and somewhat at the Williamsburg Bridge.’”

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NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include College Football Hall of Fame coach Lou Holtz, who was born in 1937; “Mr. Bean” star Rowan Atkinson, who was born in 1955; Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Elizabeth Strout, who was born in 1956; World Golf Hall of Famer Nancy Lopez, who was born in 1957; Pro Football Hall of Famer Howie Long, who was born in 1960; “The Walking Dead” star Norman Reedus, who was born in 1969; “Big Brother” host Julie Chen Moonves, who was born in 1970; volleyball player Gabrielle Reece, who was born in 1970; former N.Y. Jets linebacker James Farrior, who was born in 1975; former NFL cornerback Asante Samuel, who was born in 1981; Oscar-winning actor Eddie Redmayne, who was born in 1982; and former “Saturday Night Live” star Kate McKinnon, who was born in 1984.

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ROUND AND ROUND: “Wheel of Fortune” premiered on this day in 1975. Created by Merv Griffin, it’s the longest-running syndicated game show in TV history. Players spin a wheel and guess letters in a word puzzle, winning money for every correct guess. The show is co-hosted by Ryan Seacrest and Vanna White.

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RETURN TRIP: NASA headed back to the moon on this day in 1998. Lunar Explorer, an unmanned probe searching for ice, was the first American craft to travel to the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. It found evidence of ice late in the year.

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

Quotable:

“Life is 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent how you respond to it.”

— College Football Hall of Fame coach Lou Holtz, who was born on this day in 1937