Back in 2007, WNYC noted that in 1942, "radio stations, newspapers and magazines maligned the borough of Brooklyn no less than 2,623 times," a decrease from the prior year when that number was 6,457. Did these certificates have anything to do with the drop?
In 1941, Brooklynite Sidney Ascher founded "The Society for the Prevention of Disparaging Remarks About Brooklyn." There were said to be around one million members, including Borough President John Cashmore, Betty Smith (the author of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn), and even President Harry Truman.
Ascher would watchdog the media, and make note of each time a cruel word was spoken of the borough. He also managed to accomplish many other things while defending the borough, including penning Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1945 "Fala" speech, and when he was a teenager, developing the "Miss Rheingold" beer competition that won awards in national advertising circles.
