MILESTONES: September 12, birthdays for Jennifer Hudson, Yao Ming, Emmy Rossum
Brooklyn Today
On this day in 1937, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle front page reported that then-President Franklin Delano Roosevelt pledged peace to an American citizenry skittish about developments in Europe … NYC election primary results had popular mayoral incumbent Fiorello H. LaGuardia running against Democrat Jeremiah T. Mahoney. (LaGuardia would prevail in the November election.) Mahoney was an activist for social reform in his own right, fighting against religious and racial discrimination. He later became a state supreme court justice … Meanwhile, that front page also announced the marriage of Genevieve Livingston Estes (known familiarly as Bunnie) to Nicholas Ridgely du Pont, first lady Eleanor Roosevelt’s brother. Both the bride and groom were from prominent families.
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On this day in 1942, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle front page picked up a report from Radio Moscow that the Russian Army had fought back German soldiers invading Stalingrad. The harsh Russian winters served as an extra line of defense for the people of Stalingrad … Locally, Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia was incensed to receive junk in return for several months of begging for new firefighting equipment: The 30,000 feet of new hoses for the city’s auxiliary firefighting services — essentially six miles of hose — was useless because it did not fit the city’s hydrants.