MILESTONES: December 11, birthdays for John Kerry, Hailee Steinfeld, Rider Strong

Brooklyn Today

December 11, 2017 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

John Kerry. AP Photo/Matt Dunham

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Greetings, Brooklyn. Today is the 348th day of the year.

On this day in 1916, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle front page reported that the Rev. Dr. S. Parkes Cadman, pastor of Central Congregation Church of Brooklyn, had been called back into military duty as a chaplain. The congregation, not liking this one bit, demanded that the military extend his leave of absence. But War Secretary Baker responded to the congregation that not only are these exceptions not made, but military chaplains were especially needed during the Christmas season.

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On this day in 1941, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle front page screamed that the U.S. had declared war on the Axis powers. The article below reported that Germany and Italy declared war on the U.S. and further, according to Hitler, “honoring their obligations under the tri-power military alliance, and coming to the aid of Japan in the struggle forced upon her.” As surprised as Germany was that Japan had been the aggressor in the attack on the United States, he nonetheless tried to make it sound as if the reverse were true.

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On Dec. 10-11, 1936, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle front page featured the stories of British King Edward VIII’s abdication from the throne, and his brother’s taking over the crown (see below). Edward had been told that he would have to choose between the crown and his love for Wallis Simpson, an American divorcee. Edward, finding that he could not abandon the love of his life (and he was already past 40 years old), chose her over the monarchy.

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NOTABLE PEOPLE born on this day include former baseball player Jay Bell, who was born in 1965; rapper and actor Mos Def, who was born in Brooklyn in 1973; actor Gary Dourdan, who was born in 1966; actress Teri Garr, who was born in 1947; singer and songwriter David Gates, who was born in 1940; singer Jermaine Jackson, who was born in 1954; former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who was born in 1943; singer Brenda Lee, who was born in 1944; actress Donna Mills, who was born in 1940; Oscar Award-winning actress Mo’Nique, who was born in 1967; Oscar Award- and Tony Award-winning actress and singer Rita Moreno, who was born in 1931; filmmaker Susan Seidelman, who was born in 1952; actress Hailee Steinfeld, who was born in 1996; hockey player Mark Streit, who was born in 1977; actor Rider Strong, who was born in 1979; actor Ken Wahl, who was born in 1954; and singer Curtis Williams, who was born in 1962.

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FIORELLO HENRY La GUARDIA WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1882. Popularly known as the “Little Flower,” La Guardia was not too busy as mayor of New York City to read the “funnies” to radio listeners during the New York newspaper strike. He said of himself: “When I make a mistake, it’s a beaut!” La Guardia was born in New York and died there in 1947.

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TODAY IS KALEIDOSCOPE DAY. It is a day to celebrate the kaleidoscope on the day its inventor, the prominent scientist David Brewster, was born in 1781. Brewster, a physicist, mathematician and astronomer, invented the instrument in 1815 to assist him in his study of optics and patented it in 1817. His term kaleidoscope comes from the Greek: kalos, meaning “beauty”; eidos, meaning “form”; and scopos, meaning “watcher.” Upon its initial manufacture, the kaleidoscope was a roaring success in Europe and the U.S. Brewster died in 1868 in Scotland.

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NAGUIB MAHFOUZ WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1911. The only author from the Arab world to win the Nobel Prize in Literature (1988), Mahfouz was born in Cairo, Egypt. His work depicted a rapidly transforming Egypt, and his masterwork “The Cairo Trilogy” chronicles three generations of an Egyptian family in the 1920s and 1930s. He wrote scores of novels, short stories and articles and much of that work was made into films in the Arab world. In 1994, he survived a knife attack that damaged his nerves and slowed his output. Mahfouz died in Cairo in 2006.

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KING EDWARD VIII ABDICATED ON THIS DAY IN 1936. Christened Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David, King Edward VIII was born became Prince of Wales in July 1911. He ascended to the English throne upon the death of his father George V in 1936, but the coronation never took place. He abdicated on Dec. 11, 1936, in order to marry “the woman I love,” twice-divorced American Wallis Warfield Simpson. They were married in France in 1937. Edward was named Duke of Windsor by his brother-successor George VI. The duke died in Paris in 1972, but was buried in England.

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THE BROOKLYN HISTORIAL SCOCIETY (BHS) will host “Book Talk: ‘Women in the World of Frederick Douglass’” tonight at 6:30 p.m. Leigh Fought, historian and professor of American History at Le Moyne College, paints an alternative portrait of abolitionist and social reformer Frederick Douglass by examining the lives of the women around him. In her latest work, Fought sheds light on Douglass’ relationships to his mother, grandmother, slave mistresses, wives Anna Murray and Helen Pitts and many other women who nurtured, challenged and united with him in shared struggles for emancipation, the right to vote and equality. 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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“Good art provides people with a vocabulary about things they can’t articulate.” — Mos Def, who was born in Brooklyn on this day in 1973