ON THIS DAY IN 1934, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “The biggest iceberg threat in years is drawing extra Coast Guard precautions to protect North Atlantic shipping lanes. Already, Coast Guard officials say, North Atlantic shipping lanes have moved 60 miles southward, pending word from the service that the ice threat has passed. Lt. Com. Edward H. Smith, a recognized authority, predicts about 630 bergs will cross northern ship paths between April and July. The average is around 300. Last year no iceberg of any size reached the shipping lanes but in 1929 a record of 1,000 was set. The cutter Mendota has been ordered by Rear Admiral H. G. Hamlet, Commandant, to sail from Boston to join the cutter General Green in studying ice movements in the North Atlantic. Since the Titanic tragedy in 1912 an international ice patrol has been maintained during Spring months through agreement with other nations. In some cases bergs large enough to damage shipping have drifted as far south as Newport, R.I.”
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ON THIS DAY IN 1940, the Eagle said, “The Nazi invasion of Denmark and Norway was hardly 12 hours old when ardent advocates of a third term began to proclaim that it made Mr. Roosevelt’s renomination absolutely necessary. This is in line with the theory of the third-termites that if the international situation grew worse Mr. Roosevelt could be persuaded to run again and could be re-elected. And that theory rests, in turn, partly on the belief that the President is generally recognized to be superlatively qualified to conduct our foreign policy and partly on the belief that in time of crisis the voters will hesitate to change leaders. Whether Mr. Roosevelt is remarkably qualified to conduct our foreign policy is a question in itself. He has an exceptional background of experience. He is especially familiar with naval and military matters. Even the professionals admit that, for an amateur, he is extremely well versed in naval strategy and tactics. In fact, as a young amateur during the World War, he was able to teach the professional navy men a trick or two. On current developments he is no better informed than almost any man would be who had the facilities available to the President. He has appointed some good Ambassadors and Ministers. However, there are probably at least 50 newspaper correspondents in Washington who, in the ability to collect, digest and appraise information, are equal or superior to the best of the campaign contributors rewarded by Roosevelt with foreign posts. Certainly a good many newspaper men, both in Washington and in the foreign service of American newspapers and press associations, have a greater knowledge of history, diplomacy, military matters and European affairs in general than many of the President’s official reporters from abroad.”
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ON THIS DAY IN 1945, the Eagle reported, “PARIS (U.P.) ― American 9th Army tanks raced across the Elbe River into the 50-mile ‘home stretch’ before Berlin today and U.S. 3rd Army columns broke into the Germans’ East Front supply bases with a 46-mile dash for Leipzig and Halle. Censored field dispatches said the 9th Army’s 2nd (hell on wheels) Armored Division was riding full-tilt for the doomed Nazi capital after a spectacular 55-mile advance in 12 hours that carried up to and across the Elbe at an undisclosed point near Magdeburg. Magdeburg, Berlin’s main outer bastion 60 miles southwest of the capital, was outflanked by the explosive American breakthrough and the speed of the drive indicated Berlin itself might be reached by nightfall. One or more of the six Elbe bridges in the Magdeburg area possibly was taken intact by the American armored rush, suggesting the fleeing Germans had duplicated their disastrous blunder in failing to blow up the Rhine bridge at Remagen last month.”
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ON THIS DAY IN 1946, the Eagle reported, “Marking the first anniversary of the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt, people everywhere met today to pay homage in special ceremonies held in his memory. Special services which began in churches throughout the country this morning were followed by ceremonies held in schools and offices and informally wherever people met and remembered the late President. At Midwood High School 1,000 students gathered in the assembly hall to pay tribute to him in special ceremonies at which the first Roosevelt memorial award was made and an oil study of the late President was presented to the school by the graduating class of 1945.”
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NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include composer and actor Herbie Hancock, who was born in 1940; “Modern Family” star Ed O’Neill, who was born in 1946; N.Y. Jets co-owner Woody Johnson, who was born in 1947; “The Wonder Years” star Dan Lauria, who was born in Brooklyn in 1947; talk show host David Letterman, who was born in 1947; “Presumed Innocent” author Scott Turow, who was born in 1949; “Manhunter” star Tom Noonan, who was born in 1951; “Internal Affairs” star Andy Garcia, who was born in 1956; “Jericho” star Alicia Coppola, who was born in 1968; former N.Y. Rangers left winger Adam Graves, who was born in 1968; “Romeo + Juliet” star Claire Danes, who was born in 1979; Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who was born in 1981; model and actress Brooklyn Decker, who was born in 1987; and “Brooklyn” star Saoirse Ronan, who was born in 1994.
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TO YOUR HEALTH: On this day in 1955, the polio vaccine developed by American physician Jonas Salk was deemed to be “safe, potent and effective.” The spread of the dreaded infantile paralysis declined by 95 percent following the introduction of preventive vaccines. The first mass inoculations of children with the Salk vaccine began in Pittsburgh on Feb. 23, 1954.
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WE HAVE LIFTOFF: Space Shuttle Columbia began its maiden voyage on this day in 1981. Astronauts John Young and Robert Crippen, on the first manned U.S. space mission since Apollo-Soyuz in 1976, spent 54 hours in space (36 orbits of Earth) before landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California on April 14.
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Special thanks to “Chase’s Calendar of Events” and Brooklyn Public Library.
Quotable:
“People say New Yorkers can’t get along. Not true. I saw two New Yorkers — complete strangers — sharing a cab. One guy took the tires and the radio; the other guy took the engine.”
— talk show host David Letterman, who was born on this day in 1947
