40-400: The IRT Sixth Avenue Line , often called the Sixth Avenue Elevated or Sixth Avenue El , was the second elevated railway in Manhattan in New York City , following the Ninth Avenue Elevated . The line ran south of Central Park , mainly along Sixth Avenue . Beyond the park, trains continued north on the Ninth Avenue Line. The elevated line was constructed during the 1870s by
80-739: A bright side to Russia's heavy-handed treatment of its Jewish citizens, pointing out: It is inevitable that a movement based on atheism be anti-Semitic. The Communists must hate us. We want them to hate us. It gives us pride and dignity that we don't count them among our friends. Sokolsky died aged 69 on December 12, 1962, of a heart attack, in Manhattan. His funeral occurred at New York's Central Synagogue . Attendants included former President Herbert Hoover , Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy , FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover , General Douglas MacArthur , U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater , and New York City Mayor Robert F. Wagner . In January 1932, Sokolsky
120-635: A coalition of commercial establishments and building owners along Sixth Avenue campaigned to have the El removed, on the grounds that it was depressing business and property values. In 1936, work started on the underground Sixth Avenue Line , operated by the city as part of the Independent Subway System (IND). As part of the plan, three of New York City's private subway companies (the IND; the IRT; and
160-615: A large amount of scrap metal arriving on the market would free up metal to be sent to Japan. At a meeting of the New York City Board of Estimate in 1942, Stanley M. Isaacs, the Manhattan Borough President, denied that steel from the El was sold to Japan. Isaacs said that when the demolition contract was drafted in 1938, "at my insistence the contract provided that not one ounce of that steel could be exported to Japan or to any one else." Isaacs said that
200-626: A result of massive expansion in the city, the IRT signed the Dual Contracts with Brooklyn Rapid Transit (BRT) in order to expand the subway. The agreement also locked the subway fare at 5 cents for forty-nine years. The IRT unsuccessfully attempted to raise the fare to seven cents in 1929, in a case that went to the United States Supreme Court . The IRT ceased to function as a privately held company on June 12, 1940, when its properties and operations were acquired by
240-603: A vast anti-American conspiracy. In one of his columns he asked, "If our far eastern policy was not betrayed, why are we fighting in Korea?" In his newspaper column Sokolsky supported the right wing of the Republican Party. He wanted either Robert A. Taft or Douglas MacArthur to get the presidential nomination in 1952, and frequently criticized the Eisenhower administration . In 1951, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld
280-741: A woman of mixed Caribbean-Chinese descent. She died in 1933. From 1953 to 1974, the Federal Bureau of Investigation collected records about him. During the Cuban Missile Crisis . Sokolsky advocated a vigorous American response, asking: "Do we have to stand still until Soviet Russia has established a missile and submarine base in Cuba?" At a dinner laid on in his honor in 1962 by the American Jewish League Against Communism , Sokolsky found
320-666: The New York Herald Tribune through 1940. In 1940, he became a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist with "These Days" column, typically covering current politics, communism ( anti-communism ), or foreign affairs. In the NBC Radio Network program America's Town Meeting of the Air , he argued against Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins ' defense of the Social Security Act , calling
360-887: The Philadelphia Public Ledger and The New York Times . He also served as editor for the North China Star in Tientsin. He acted as an informant and propagandist for sundry conflicting Asian and Western clients, including Cen Chunxuan . He became "China's official intermediary between foreign bankers and Chinese ministries". Sokolsky became political adviser and friend to Sun Yat-sen , and wrote for his English-language Shanghai Gazette . He also befriended colorful characters that ranged from "Two-Gun" Cohen to Soong Mei-ling , and identified Chiang Kai-shek as "the only revolutionist in China who could make
400-469: The ABC network through 1961. In 1948, he also became director of the American Jewish League Against Communism until his death in 1962. Sokolsky became a vocal supporter of Senator Joseph McCarthy , an intimate of J. Edgar Hoover , and a close friend of Roy Cohn , who eventually dedicated to him McCarthy , his sympathetic study of his former employer. The Korean War entrenched him in his suspicions of
440-650: The Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation , or BMT) would be combined into one system, and the IRT Sixth Avenue elevated would be demolished. The city of New York acquired the line from the bondholders of the Manhattan Railway Company for $ 12,500,000, of which the city recovered $ 9,010,656 in back taxes and interest, in 1938. Subsequently, the El was closed on December 4, 1938. It was razed during 1939 to make way for
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#1732771852944480-587: The February Revolution and went to Russia to write for Russian Daily News , an English-language newspaper. After the overthrow of the Kerensky government by the Bolsheviks , he became disillusioned with the revolution. His Columbia classmate Bennett Cerf was to observe many decades later: "Suddenly the flaming radical, Sokolsky, became the flaming reactionary, George Sokolsky, and one of
520-645: The Gilbert Elevated Railway , subsequently reorganized as the Metropolitan Elevated Railway. The line opened on June 5, 1878 between Rector Street and 58th Street. Its route ran north from the corner of Rector Street and Trinity Place up Trinity Place / Church Street , then west for a block at Murray Street, then north again on West Broadway , west again across West 3rd Street to the foot of Sixth Avenue, and then north to 59th Street. The following year, ownership passed to
560-602: The IRT Dyre Avenue Line . Its Brooklyn lines are underground with a single elevated extension that reaches up to New Lots Avenue , and the other reaching Flatbush Avenue via the underground Nostrand Avenue Line . The Flushing Line , its sole line in Queens , is entirely elevated except for a short portion approaching its East River tunnel and its terminal at Flushing–Main Street (the whole Manhattan portion of
600-422: The Manhattan Railway Company , which also controlled the other elevated railways in Manhattan. In 1881, the line was connected to the largely rebuilt Ninth Avenue Elevated; it was joined in the south at Morris Street, and in the north by a connecting link running across 53rd Street. And it ran 24/7. Due to its central location in Manhattan and the inversion of the usual relationship between street noise and height,
640-490: The 10% of the taxes that the federal government kept, while remitting 90% back to the states that were compelled to conform to a standard of minimum requirements for administering Social Security set by the federal government, "a service charge for coercion". Sokolsky toured the U.S., writing and making, speeches as an "industrial consultant" on behalf of NAM. The Senate 's La Follette Committee on Civil Liberties reported in 1938 that for his speaking engagements and other work he
680-537: The City of New York. Today, the IRT lines are operated as the A Division of the subway. The remaining lines are underground in Manhattan, except for a short stretch across Harlem at 125th Street and in northern Manhattan. Its many lines in the Bronx are predominantly elevated, with some subway, and some railroad-style right-of-way acquired from the defunct New York, Westchester and Boston Railway , which now constitutes
720-528: The IND line. The section of the IND line that was located under Sixth Avenue opened in December 1940. The footings for the elevated were rediscovered in the early 1990s during a Sixth Avenue renovation project. In order to alleviate any concern that the scrap metal might be exported to the Japanese , demolition contractor Tom Harris, who had received $ 40,000 to demolish the structure provided affidavits to
760-751: The IRT: The only line in Queens is the Flushing Line ( 7 <7> trains), under 50th Avenue, and over Queens Boulevard and Roosevelt Avenue . (of the East and Harlem Rivers, from south to north) Several pieces of pre-unification IRT equipment have been preserved in various museums. While some of the equipment are operational, others are in need of restoration or are used simply as static displays. Other NYC Subway companies: Also: George Sokolsky George Ephraim Sokolsky (September 5, 1893 – December 12, 1962)
800-580: The New York City Council that none of the iron would leave the United States. The inaccurate rumors were later included within the lines of E. E. Cummings 's 1944 poem "plato told." Twenty thousand tons of scrap metal from the El was sold to a dealer on the west coast who was in the export business. The New York Times pointed out in December 1938 that even if the scrap did not go directly to Japan, for possible use against China, such
840-531: The Sixth Avenue El attracted artists; in addition to being the subject of several paintings by John French Sloan , it was also painted by Francis Criss and others. As of 1934, the following services were being operated: As with many elevated railways in the city, the Sixth Avenue El made life difficult for those nearby. It was noisy, it made buildings shake, and in the line's early years, it dropped ash, oil, and cinders on pedestrians below. Eventually,
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#1732771852944880-631: The U.S. in 1935, Sokolsky strongly sided with NAM in touting its conception of the American way of life . NAM followed the New Deal in laying claim to "the greatest good for the greatest number". Sokolsky encouraged NAM to reach out and awaken the passions of the American middle class in opposition to the "collectivistic" current of the New Dealers. Also in 1935, Sokolsky became a contributor to
920-680: The blacklist, either on his own or in consultation with Hollywood union leader Roy Brewer and/or actor Ward Bond , respectively the first and the second presidents of the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals . Artists who failed to meet the standards of political correctness were consigned to unemployment. [1] According to Victor S. Navasky , "Newspaper columnists such as George Sokolsky, Victor Riesel , Walter Winchell , Jack O'Brian , and Hedda Hopper were as happy to fill their spaces by getting
960-451: The center of one's aims and ambitions. Dinner parties at clubs and hotels, night after night of dancing and jazz, turn the sweet girl who comes here to marry a man out East into a tired matron while still in her thirties: blasé, wearied and uninterested in life." Sokolsky went on to complain about the corrosive effect of the "foreign exchange" upon the younger Chinese: "It would seem that every foreign vice and extravagance has its votaries among
1000-485: The charges against them in a letter. If the blacklisted artists refused to write a letter, they were fired. The studios submitted the letters from those who cooperated to the American Legion. The American Legion passed judgment on the acceptability of excuses, referring problematic cases to Sokolsky. As its "clearance man", Sokolsky worked pro bono on rendering a final decision on clearing the letter writer from
1040-523: The contractor was prohibited from exporting the steel from the El, and carried out his obligation to the letter. Reports of the supposed sale of the scrap to Japan persisted. In 1961, an attorney for the Harris Structural Steel Company, which was involved in the demolition, told syndicated columnist George Sokolsky that continued reports of the sale of steel from the El to Japan were not accurate. The attorney said that none of
1080-629: The convictions of contempt of the United States Congress against the Hollywood Ten , who had argued unsuccessfully that their First Amendment protections prohibited Congress from asking about their political activities. Thereupon, the American Legion presented the movie studios with a list of some 300 people, meant as a de facto blacklist . Those listed were given an opportunity to exonerate themselves by answering
1120-523: The deserved off the list as by putting the blameworthy on." Of course, distinctions between those who "deserved" removal from the blacklist and those who were "blameworthy" were determined, often arbitrarily, by the subjective judgment of powerful gatekeepers like Sokolsky. In March 1954, Sokolsky denounced the exposure of McCarthy on See It Now , broadcast on March 9, 1954, by Fred W. Friendly and Edward R. Murrow , in his Hearst newspaper column. Later that year, Time magazine characterized Sokolsky in
1160-647: The line is underground). The Flushing Line has had no track connection to the rest of the IRT since 1942, when service on the Second Avenue El was discontinued. It is connected to the BMT and the rest of the system via the BMT Astoria Line on the upper level of the Queensboro Plaza station. Source: Trunk lines include: Branch lines include: There were three Brooklyn lines built by
1200-437: The merits of subways versus the existing elevated rail system and on various proposed routes. Founded on May 6, 1902, by August Belmont, Jr. , the IRT's mission was to operate New York City's initial underground rapid transit system after Belmont's and John B. McDonald 's Rapid Transit Construction Company was awarded the rights to build the railway line in 1900, outbidding Andrew Onderdonk . The Manhattan Railway Company
1240-623: The most important columnists in the United States of America." In March 1918, "the Bolsheviks kicked him out" of Russia. With the help of Trotsky, he was able to flee to China, landing with one Yankee dollar in his pocket to work for the Committee on Public Information in Shanghai. He continued as special correspondent for English-language newspapers such as St. Louis Post-Dispatch and London Daily Express as well as contributor to
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1280-535: The revolution stick". Sokolsky's 14-year-long stint in China enabled him to hold himself out as an expert on Asian matters upon his repatriation to the U.S. His experience of Chinese culture was tinged with ambivalence: "Perhaps in no other city does so much human energy go into the search for amusement as among the foreign population of Shanghai. Ladies go to their amusements with even greater avidity. Work at home can always be done by boys and amahs and club life becomes
1320-589: The steel from the El reached Japan directly or indirectly. All trains ran local, express trains utilized the Ninth Avenue express stations north of 53rd Street. Interborough Rapid Transit Company The Interborough Rapid Transit Company ( IRT ) was the private operator of New York City 's original underground subway line that opened in 1904, as well as earlier elevated railways and additional rapid transit lines in New York City . The IRT
1360-423: The words of one of his friends, as one who "can be called the high priest of militant U.S. anti-Communism". Sokolsky never relented in his animadversions against world communism and its self-appointed standard bearer, the U.S.S.R. In February 1962, Sokolsky startled his readers by asserting that "if Khrushchev falls, we shall have immediate war." In 1922, Sokolsky broke a social taboo by marrying Rosalind Phang,
1400-491: The younger Chinese in Shanghai who, meeting largely with the wider elements of the foreign population, copy their lust for pleasure as though it were the hallmark of modernity." In 1926 Sokolsky became associate editor for The Far Eastern Review until March 1931. It was in China that Sokolsky inaugurated his lifelong association with the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM). After returning to
1440-495: Was a weekly radio broadcaster for the National Association of Manufacturers and a columnist for the New York Herald Tribune , who later switched to The New York Sun and other Hearst newspapers. He was also an expert on China . Sokolsky was widely regarded as Joseph McCarthy 's mentor. He even introduced McCarthy to Roy Cohn and G. David Schine , two key players in McCarthy's Red Scare . George Ephraim Sokolsky
1480-510: Was born on September 5, 1893, in Utica, New York . His father was a Russian-born rabbi . In 1917, Sokolsky received a BA from Columbia University's School of Journalism . While at Columbia University, Sokolsky became a leader among student radicals and headed the welcoming committee for Leon Trotsky who arrived in New York in early January 1917. In February 1917, Sokolsky was attracted by
1520-629: Was paid nearly $ 40,000, through publicity firm Hill & Knowlton , by the NAM and the Iron and Steel Institute . He encapsulated his political philosophy in personalized slogans: "I do not like coercion in any form. I prefer spontaneous enthusiasms." Sokolsky wrote signed columns attacking the Roosevelt administration for its failure to support the Kuomintang . In 1948, Sokolsky became a commentator for
1560-491: Was purchased by the city on June 12, 1940, along with the younger BMT and IND systems, to form the modern New York City Subway . The former IRT lines (the numbered routes in the current subway system) are now the A Division or IRT Division of the Subway. The first IRT subway ran between City Hall and 145th Street at Broadway , opening on October 27, 1904. It opened following more than twenty years of public debate on
1600-588: Was the operator of four elevated railways in Manhattan with an extension into the Bronx . On April 1, 1903, over a year before its first subway line opened, the IRT acquired the Manhattan Railway Company by lease, gaining a monopoly on rapid transit in Manhattan. The IRT coordinated some services between what became its subway and elevated divisions, but all the lines of the former Manhattan elevateds have since been dismantled. In 1913, as
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