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MILESTONES: December 7, birthdays for Sara Bareilles, Terrell Owens, Nicholas Hoult

Brooklyn Today

December 7, 2017 Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Sara Bareilles. Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
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Greetings, Brooklyn.  Today is the 344th day of the year.

On this day in 1947, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle front page reported on a Jewish-Arab skirmish in three Arab neighborhoods near Tel Aviv. However, it was a local skirmish that angered New Yorkers — the decision to ban religious-themed Christmas carols from New York City school holiday programs. That decision was made by Assistant Superintendent of Schools Isaac Bildersee. Among the toughest critics of Bildersee’s ban was Mayor William O’Dwyer, who went so far as to accuse Bildersee of being less “solicitous” of banning Communists and other “Anti-God and Anti-American ideologies.”

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On this day in 1941, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle front page reported that President Franklin D. Roosevelt had sent an appeal to Japan’s Emperor Hirohito as a final resort to avoiding war. However, this story was published just as Japan launched its attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. It was already after 1 p.m. in New York and the Eagle, an evening newspaper, had gone to press before word spread of the attack.

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On this day in 1926, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle front page reported that U.S. President Calvin Coolidge’s annual message to Congress was heavy on the economy and light on specifics. Coolidge, pleased with the country’s “peace and prosperity,” recommended continuation of his policies and, in particular, recommended a tax reduction. The Eagle summarized the main points of the message (in addition to the tax rebate) that affected the radio, farming, merchant marine and banking industries, among others. However, he provided no specifics on how to implement these policies. Indeed, he seemed uninterested in even instructing Congress on how to proceed.

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NOTABLE PEOPLE born on this day include singer SARA BAREILLES, who was born in 1979; Hall of Fame baseball player JOHNNY BENCH, who was born on this day in 1947; Hall of Fame basketball player LARRY BIRD, who was born in 1956; actress ELLEN BURSTYN, who was born in 1932; philosopher and linguist NOAM CHOMSKY, who was born in 1928; U.S. Sen. THAD COCHRAN, who was born in 1937; U.S. Sen. SUSAN M. COLLINS, who was born in 1952; actor NICHOLAS HOULT, who was born in 1989; actor C. THOMAS HOWELL, who was born in 1966; former baseball player TINO MARTINEZ, who was born in 1967; former NFL superstar TERRELL OWENS, who was born in 1973; soccer player JOHN TERRY, who was born in 1980; and singer and songwriter TOM WAITS, who was born in 1949.

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WILLA SIBERT CATHER WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1873. The American author is best known for her novels about the development of early 20th-century American life, such as “O Pioneers!” and “My Ántonia.” She won a Pulitzer Prize in 1922 for her book “One of Ours.” Cather died in New York in 1947.

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TODAY IS THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARMENIAN EARTHQUAKE OF 1988. An earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale rocked the Soviet province, killing upward of 60,000 people. Many of the deaths were blamed on poor construction practices as many homes had been made of adobe, mud or stones; had unreinforced masonry or were prefabricated structures made of loosely connected concrete slabs. In the quake’s aftermath, Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev cut short his trip to the U.S. to fly home and head the massive worldwide relief efforts.

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TODAY IS INTERNATIONAL CIVIL AVIATION DAY. In 1996, the U.N. General Assembly proclaimed Dec. 7 as International Civil Aviation Day to commemorate the 1944 signing of the Convention on International Civil Aviation, which established the International Civil Aviation Organization.

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ELI WALLACH WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1915. The Brooklyn-born stage, screen and TV actor had memorable roles in such films as “The Magnificent Seven,” “How the West Was Won,” “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” and “The Godfather: Part III.” In 2010, he received an honorary Academy Award. He died in New York in 2014.

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THE NATIONAL SAFETY FIRE COUNCIL WAS FOUNDED ON THIS DAY IN 1979. It was founded to promote fire and burn prevention and life-safety awareness. For more information, visit nfsc.org.

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THE BROOKLYN HISTORICAL SOCIETY (BHS) will host “Jennifer Egan on ‘Manhattan Beach’” tonight at 6:30 p.m. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “A Visit from the Goon Squad” is back with a new novel uncovering Brooklyn’s waterfront history, from women working in the Navy Yard to mobsters running the Red Hook docks. She will sit down with Alexis Coe, author of “Alice+Freda Forever,” to discuss her extensive research and the process of building the book’s vibrant characters. For more information, visit brooklynhistory.org.

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

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“Having the critics praise you is like having the hangman say you’ve got a pretty neck.” — Eli Wallach, who was born in Brooklyn on this day in 1915

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