MILESTONES: September 25, birthdays for Mark Hamill, Barbara Walters, Scottie Pippen
Brooklyn Today
On this day in 1935, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle front page reported that Ethiopian troops closed the country’s border with Eritrea, forbidding trade. The political situation in Ethiopia was complex, with Britain and France preferring Italy as an ally and thus granting Italy free rein over East Africa. A week after the border closure, Italian Gen. Emilio De Bono, who in March 1935 was named commander-in-chief of all Italian forces in East Africa, marched into Ethiopia from Eritrea, doing so without the requisite declaration of war. Ethiopia responded by declaring war on Italy. Stateside, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was asking clergy nationwide for their viewpoints on the New Deal, which provided relief to the unemployed and elderly. The president believed that the clergy’s perspectives would be more accurate than those of government leaders. The Eagle reported on the first three pastors to respond. Although no Brooklyn clergy were reported among those consulted, the majority were in favor of New Deal benefits, along humanitarian lines.
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On this day in 1946, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle front page reported that, amid a severe shortage of red meat, the Fort Green Retail Meat Market was calling out, “Come and Get It!” Its secret was having its own buyers out west and its own slaughterhouse, meaning that it could operate independently of the Black Market … Meanwhile, prayers were being said for the Brooklyn Dodgers at Borough Hall when the Rev. Benney S. Benson, pastor of the Greenpoint Reformed Church and county chaplain of the American Legion, got on his knees to pray for the Brooklyn Dodgers. “Lord, give the Dodgers an even break [to win the pennant],” he prayed. His prayer was solitary at first, until photographers’ flashbulbs grabbed the attention of crowds. He repeated the prayer for the public. The Dodgers would go on to tie for first place with the St. Louis Cardinals for the pennant, but the latter team won that year. And the Dodgers were without Jackie Robinson, who had been sent up to their farm team, the Montreal Royals.