3/31-4/6/46

3/31 Sunday Bob Kurland of the Oklahoma Aggies has been named the Nation's outstanding basketball player for the second year in a row. He is 7 ft. tall. Rocky Graziano with an eight lb. advantage K.O.'d Welter-weight champ in the 2nd round of a non-title bout. This afternoon we went downtown by 5th Ave. bus. We stopped at Rockerfeller [sic] Center to see the ice skaters. Then to the "News Bldg" to see the giant globe rotating on its axis, a real treat for Eugene. Incidentally he got two more state automobile licenses down town, W. Va. and Wis. to make a total of 31. Iranian Premier Ghavam has charged Ambassador Ala with exaggeration and following that declared full confidence in him. In Stuttgart German police in a black market raid killed a Jew and wounded several when resistance was offered to their provocative actions. At Nuremberg, Russians objected to revelations of a secret pact in 1940 to divide Poland and the Baltic states between Russia and Germany as irrelevant and provocative. Leon Kobrin died today.

I remember always enjoying that globe, and still found it fascinating as an adult. I think this is the first full mention of my "collecting" state license plates; I remember that I did that, but didn't know I saw that many, and I don't know who kept count! 

4/1 This [see the scanned-in page] is one of the drawings by Pierotti that I copy for Eugene from time to time. They appear in P.M. We went to the library where Eugene drew "Peter and Polly in Summer" by Rose Lucia, "A First Reader" by Baker and Thorndike and "straight up" by H B Lent about helicopters. Played some chess with Eugene. Undressing for bed he told me the story of the two giraffes in the bears cage which he makes up. Sylvia goes through the night now without going to the toilet. Lillian read Satan's Sergeants by Josephine Herbst - not very impressive. I read Gitlow's "I Confess". We both read "Babbitt" where Lewis portrays a "solid citizen" of a thriving city where money and position is the touchstone of success, who has his fling at sex and politics but subsides to orthodoxy with little difficulty. 400,000 miners walked out at midnight. Two of the Ferguson brothers have been cleared of charges of disorderly conduct. The Soviet Union is the first to pay its full contribution to the UNO - $1.723,000. Westinghouse is out to smash the union which is in the eleventh week of a strike. 31 Columbia Tenn. negroes have been indicted on charges ranging up to attempted murder with a few whites included for window dressing. Premier Georgieff has formed an exclusively "Fatherland Front" cabinet in Bulgaria. Greek elections brought violence and death with about 50% abstaining in answer to E.A.M. boycott. Allied observers, excluding Russia, will rule on the "freeness" of the election. Van Acker has formed a Belgian cabinet.

Clearly, I did not inherit his artistic talent. The drawing on the left was cut out from the newspaper and pasted in (P.M. was a well-known leftist newspaper that we read), and the right is his drawn copy, drawn directly in the diary.  

4/2 A tidal wave is sweeping the Pacific, set off by an under water earthquake. Hundreds of victims have been reported. Bulgaria has approved a bill for agrarian reform and confiscation of illegally acquired property. A half-dozen major leaguers have already "jumped" to the Mexican League for much higher salaries. The Populist (Monarchist) Party in Greece has gained about 35% of the vote, a majority insufficient to nullify the boycott of the leftist parties, it is believed. O'Dwyer has asked for the largest budget in the city's history - $857,131,849. 1000 Nazis were rounded up in a drive to smash a threatened revival of the Nazi party.

4/3 Gen Homma has been executed. 5000 transit workers are on strike in Detroit. England has arranged the independence of Trans Jordan with the right to keep troops there. Another tidal wave hit the Pacific Rip [sic]. B.C. Reece is the new G.O.P. head. Gen Gort is dead. Noah Beery has died.

He clearly wrote "Rip", but I assume "Rim" was intended.

4/4 Eugene was out of school and in bed today with a slight cold. The "House" committee voted to continue O.P.A until June 30, 1947 when it must end. At the UNO Council meeting Iran was willing to drop its dispute with Russia if the latter completed its evacuation by May 6 with the matter remaining on the agenda for possible consideration at any time. The Soviet Union, with Gromyko still absent stated that an understanding with Iran has solved the problem and that the question of oil concessions is not connected with the presence of troops as the question was raised first in 1944. The K.K.K. is openly recruiting in Florida where it has been legally incorporated.

4/5 Eugene came home from school in the morning complaining of an earache. He went to bed. Lillian took his temperature - just over 100º and put drops in his ear. The earache didn't seem to be of any consequence. Sadie and the kids came over in the afternoon followed by Mollie and Milton. Played a chess game with Milton, my first in years and managed to eke out a victory. Mollie brought Sylvia the sleeping doll. Two German Communists in the American zone have received surprisingly harsh sentences of 5 years imprisonment for usurping authority to the "party". The Soviet Union denounced Igor Gouzenko, clerk in the Soviet Embassy in Canada who turned against his country, as a thief. Sen. Pepper attacked British imperialism violently and defended Russia against the "Hate Russia" crowd in a turbulent Senate session. The "Council" voted to defer further action on the Iranian case until May 6. Russian troops are evacuating Iran exclusive of any deals with Iran. Azerbaijan Iran will be dealt with by the Iran gov't exclusively. A Persian-Soviet oil company will be formed.

4/6 The Win the Peace Conference opened in Wash D.C. with Sen Taylor, Rep Coffee, Dr C H Brown and R J Thomas among the early speakers. The Conference supported by a list of progressive organizations and congressmen is aimed especially at stopping the gang up against the Soviet Union. Sen. Meyers has attacked Britain's duplicity in granting the independence of Trans Jordan in contravention of several treaties as the territory is part of mandated Palestine. The Dodgers have signed two more Negroes for their Nashua farm team of the N.E. League. These are Roy Campanella and Donald Newcombe. The Yale and Towne strike has been settled after 5 months. The increase is 12 1/2¢ per hour. The Central Trades has threatened any A.F.L. unions participating in the May Day parade. Played Eugene some chess today. He seemed all right all day in bed but at night complained his eyes itched and rubbed them violently. His temperature was normal. We were almost persuaded not to go to Herbert Zlotchew's Bar Mitzvah but finally decided to go. Sadie had generously offered to stay. The affair was at Kaplan's 76 - 2 Ave. Eugene awoke during the night a few times.


Don't know who the Zlotchew's were, but we also went to Clark Zotchew's Bar Mitzvah last October, at the same place.