Brooklyn Boro

June 16: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

June 16, 2021 Brooklyn Eagle History
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ON THIS DAY IN 1927, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “Brooklyn drew from its deepest wells of homage today to pour over Col. Charles A. Lindbergh the most humanly enthusiastic acclaim with which it has ever anointed a hero. Magnificently spontaneous, after delays and waiting that might have been expected to tone down the demonstration of any community, Brooklyn came from its homes in numbers far surpassing what had been expected and greeted Colonel Lindbergh with a demonstration that for sustained force at least equaled the one in Manhattan last Monday. The biggest crowd that has risen and bowed to him on any one spot since he stepped out of the cockpit of the Spirit of St. Louis at Le Bourget more than three weeks ago tore its lungs, its hair and its heart on the Parade Grounds of Prospect Park when he appeared there as calm, as reserved and as grinning as a schoolboy on a holiday.” 

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ON THIS DAY IN 1928, the Eagle reported, “Rapidly approaching their 136th hour of constant dancing — broken only by those 15 minutes of rest which aren’t rest — 29 determined couples of young men and young women were still moving slowly and solemnly about Madison Square Garden today in quest of the $5,000 prize promised the winning team in the international dance marathon. To win this event, a couple must outlast all others. That is all there is to it. It is a case of the survival of the fittest. Only five couples dropped out in the last 24 hours. The judges and doctors insist that the eliminations will be slower and less frequent from now on. The favorites in the race remained. Since the marathon is scheduled to keep going until but one couple is left, Milton D. Crandall, its boss, has arranged to move the dancers down to the basement of the Garden next Thursday, or fight night, if necessary.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1948, the Eagle reported, “CAIRO (U.P.) — The Arab states have served notice on Count Folke Bernadotte that they will reject any Palestine solution calling for partition or setting up a Jewish state, the secretary general of the Arab League said today. Abdel Rahman Azzam Pasha, the league secretary, said the Arabs told the United Nations mediator that they were willing to discuss any solution which did not involve partition of Palestine. Bernadotte and two assistants conferred for more than two hours with Azzam, Premier Mahmoud Nokrashy Pasha of Egypt, and the premiers of Lebanon and Trans-Jordan. Nokrashy said the talk was ‘exploratory’ and Bernadotte did not put forth any definite proposal for a Palestine settlement.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1953, the Eagle reported, “County Judge Samuel S. Leibowitz became the city’s first candidate for mayor today when he accepted the nomination of the Fusion party at an unusual noontime rally in the heart of the Brooklyn waterfront. In a free-swinging speech, Leibowitz told 1,000 dockworkers — members of Local 808, International Longshoremen’s Association — at 1st Ave. and 52nd St. that ‘your mayor’ had been the  ‘arch culprit’ responsible for the ‘creeping paralysis’ in the fight against organized crime. It was an obvious reference to the administrations of both Mayor [Vincent] Impellitteri and his predecessor, William O’Dwyer. Leibowitz called on the people to ‘rise up’ in November and trample on ‘the callous indifference of those who manage our public affairs.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1954, the Eagle reported, “Francis Cardinal Spellman returned today aboard the American Export liner Independence from Rome, where he attended the canonization of Pope Pius X. Cardinal Spellman had a private audience with Pope Pius XII and said he found him ‘surprisingly well.’ He took note of the recent shipments of arms to Guatemala from Communist countries, saying, ‘We are beginning to become apprehensive about our own hemisphere. They say the guns are being put in there for hunting purposes, but we know there are not that many partridges in Guatemala.’”

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John Cho
Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP
Lamont Dozier
Richard Drew/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include National Book Award recipient Joyce Carol Oates, who was born in 1938; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Lamont Dozier, who was born in 1941; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Eddie Levert (The O’Jays), who was born in 1942; former Connecticut Gov. Jodi Rell, who was born in 1946; “Roseanne” star Laurie Metcalf, who was born in 1955; 1981 NBA Rookie of the Year Darrell Griffith, who was born in 1958; reigning PGA champion Phil Mickelson, who was born in 1970; “Star Trek” star John Cho, who was born in 1972; Olympic gold medalist and former New York Ranger Rick Nash, who was born in 1984; former “Saturday Night Live” star Abby Elliott, who was born in 1987; and “Best Friends Whatever” star Lauren Taylor, who was born in 1998.

Laurie Metcalf
Andy Cropa/Invision/AP

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WORDS OF WISDOM: Abraham Lincoln delivered his “House Divided” speech on this day in 1858. Beginning his campaign for the Illinois U.S. Senate seat, he addressed the Republican State Convention at Springfield, saying, “A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved; I do not expect the house to fall; but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other.”

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A NEW PERSPECTIVE: John Howard Griffin was born on this day in 1920. The American author and photographer was deeply concerned about racial problems in the U.S. To better understand black life in the South, he darkened his skin with chemicals and ultraviolet light and kept a journal during his travels. The result was his best-known book, “Black Like Me” (1961). He died in 1980.

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

Quotable:

“Fear dims even the sunlight.”
— author John Howard Griffin, who was born on this day in 1920

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