Columnist Joe Delaney: Remembering three historic dates in American history

Joe Delaney

Friday, Aug. 14, 1998 | 9:57 a.m.

WHERE WERE YOU on three fateful dates in our country's history: April 12, 1945; Nov. 23, 1963 and Aug. 16, 1977? ... On April 12, 1945, Master Sgt. Joseph P. Delaney, U.S. Army Air Corps, was back at Mitchel Field, Long Island, N.Y., had hitched a ride to the Queens Kew Gardens station, and boarded the "E" Train.

Two stations later, a man entered the car I was in and announced that President Roosevelt had died. ... There was an immediate, complete silence; a hush you could feel, almost hear. ... At 23rd Street and Eighth Avenue, my stop, midtown Manhattan was completely shut down.

New York City and most of the United States had come to a complete halt that afternoon. ... Three of us had agreed previously to have dinner that evening. ... Everything had closed so we settled for a long walk on Fifth Avenue as an alternative.

That evening

Initials are being used because of what ensued. ... R.B., a Master Sgt., was a W.A.S.P. Republican who later was part of Thomas E. Dewey's team when Dewey lost to Harry S. Truman in the 1948 presidential election. ... S.K., a Technical Sgt., was Jewish. ... Both were attorneys. ... American-Irish-Catholic JPD -- yours truly -- was to become an attorney eight years later. ... S.K. and I were Democrats from birth.

We walked for some time in silence when R.B. announced that he didn't like FDR when he was alive and not any better now that he was dead. ... Quiet, usually peaceful S.K. told R.B. to turn around and put up his hands. ... He did and S.K. decked him. ... Remember, this was wartime.

R.B. was up immediately. ... A police car stopped and we explained that it was all in fun. ... The officer didn't buy it so we told him the truth. ... He glared at R.B., asked S.K. if his hand was OK, and got back in the car. ... We were silent for an even longer period.

Nov. 23, 1963

The Park Central on 55th Street and Seventh Avenue was now the Park Sheraton. ... Now a Las Vegan, I was staying there for several days before driving down to Cherry Hill, N.J. ... I had been divorced one year. ... Walking up Seventh to Central Park South, I saw a group of people gathered around a parked cab, listening to the cab's radio.

Late for an appointment uptown, I got in the cab, a very unpopular move. ... The young cabbie had a soft Irish brogue. ... A priest leaving President Kennedy's hospital room said, "He's gone." ... The broadcast was interrupted by an announcement that this was not "official."

The cabbie looked over his shoulder and said solemnly, "If the good Father says 'He's gone,' he's gone." ... Driving on the New Jersey turnpike the next day, the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald made the whole series of events very personal to me.

It hit home

The actual pistol shot could be heard. ... When the assailant was named as Jack Ruby, it was a real shock. ... Several years before, I arranged for a Dixieland band, The Cell Block Seven, that performed in one of Jack Ruby's Dallas night clubs to appear on the Ed Sullivan TV show. ... The youngsters decided to drive to New York City and back, taking two weeks off.

On the night of the show, which was live, Sullivan spotted Yogi Berra and his mother in the audience and introduced them during the telecast. ... The Seven were shown at the closing but never played a note. ... A furious Jack Ruby wrote to my boss at RCA, the late Manie Sachs.

Sachs told me that Ruby was demanding I reimburse him for the money he had lost during the two weeks the Cell Block Seven were away, adding that he would "collect personally" if he ever caught me in Dallas. ... Manie thought Ruby was crazy and had thrown the letter away.

Aug. 16, 1977

Elvis Presley's death has had a tremendous impact upon his generation throughout the world. ... Elvis never did tour outside the United States; another story. ... The world had to settle for his "Aloha From Hawaii" TV special, seen by more than one billion people via satellite. ... The proof is that his estate now grosses more annually than Elvis ever did in any one year during his lifetime.

"Elvis -- The Concert," closing at the LV Hilton Sunday, the 21st anniversary of his passing, brought back the above memories. ... Perhaps, this may have stimulated a few memories of your own. ... See you next Thursday.