3/9-3/15/47

3/9 Sunday To mothers for dinner, Lil Harry Susan also. We walked all the way in cool weather. We bought a sparkler for Susan which flashes different colors due to the emery on the rotating wheels. The kids were fascinated by it so on the way home we got them one. They took turns holding it a block each. Read King Lear. Lillian read "Imperial City" of Elmer Rice. Herb Sorrell Film Studio Union leader was kidnapped and badly beaten. The John Ericsson burned with $1,500,000 damages. An unsuccessful attempt was made to assassinate Roxas.

3/10 Sylvia this morning said "When I grow up I'll have children and my children will have children but I'll be dead and my children will be dead." Then, "I hope it's not so." What she said may have been a little different but I can't remember exactly. There is a strong rivalry at all times between the kids. Eugene loves to skip. Carrie C. Catt is dead at 88.

That's the first time I remember him commenting like that about what he wrote. 

3/11 Sylvia joined the pre school class at St. James playground and enjoyed it. Eugene will not attempt to explain anything. His stock answer is "I don't know". The Big Four conference opened in Moscow yesterday. Molotov asked that China be placed on the agenda. An A.F.L. comm. after an on the spot investigation denounced gov't control of the trade unions in Argentina and recommended no collaboration with them. The Supreme Court upheld collective bargaining rights for foremen. After a five week grilling David Lilienthal was approved for chairman of the Atomic Energy Comm. by an 8-1 vote of the Senate Committee. Only Bricker voted no. Loughlin resigned last week as Tammany Hall leader and was replaced by Frank Sampson.

3/12 Sylvia went to playground school again being very disconsolate when there was no paper for her to draw and cut out. Eugene wrote a piece in school which may appear in the bulletin. Truman asked Congress today for a half million dollar loan to reactionary Greece and Turkey as a bulwark against Russia and Communism. Sec'y of Labor Schwellenbach in a shocking statement asked Congress to outlaw the C.P. as a group committed to the overthrow of the government. President McNear of the strike bound TP & W railroad was assassinated. Reid Robinson, President of the M.M.&S.W.U. resigned to remove a weapon in the hands of the enemies of the union. He had made the error of soliciting a loan from the President of a company during union negotiations with the company. Robinson will remain a rank & file worker. V.P. M. Travis will replace Robinson. Russia has rejected an American protest in the arrest of Hungarians accused of conspiracy against Russia & Hungary. The State Senate passed the much discussed Condon-Wadlin Bill to bar public workers from striking. All Democrats opposed the bill. In Moscow Molotov criticized failure of Allied dismantling of Nazi war plants. We have refused to place China on the agenda.

3/13 Harry Boykoff broke all "Garden" scoring records amassing 54 points in a St. Johns victory over St. Francis 71-52. Bevin in Moscow attacked Russia's German policy countering Russia's attack on Anglo-American German policy. 500 demonstraters [sic] sat down in Albany in protest against the Condon-Wadlin anti-strike bill. After school we went downtown buying The Pied Piper of Hamelin and records of the Anniversary Song for Lillian and ourselves from the proceeds of the sale of Pop's "atom smasher". Eugene had his first homework, in arithmetic, his spelling having been O.K. Sylvia said she was glad she had a daddy like me (as I say things to make her laugh). At night to an A.L.P. meeting at P.S. 80 where Paul Ross O'Dwyer's Admin. Sec'y and Lenny Strauss warned of fascism's coming to America.

"atom smasher" ?????

 3/14 Eugene is the first to have finished his 'reading' contract in school and is free to do anything he pleases during "reading". Sylvia has been taking my seat whenever I get up for anything so that I can pick her up and deposit her on the floor. Wallace has denounced Truman's plan to aid Greece and Turkey militarily. Lillian and the kids went to a magic show in St. James Park which was enjoyed by all.

3/15 Bills being passed in Albany include a teachers pay bill which it is claimed will result in pay cuts for many teachers ultimately, a local tax bill on cigarettes, amusements, etc. to raise money for improvements. Dewey will not relinquish any part of the $600,000,000 surplus he inherited Wallace's answer. [?] In the yard this morning Sylvia cried because she was afraid of Mimi. Upstairs Eugene cried when Sylvia kicked him in the teeth in a scuffle. When Lillian threatened to debar Eugene from Arline D's.6th birthday party this afternoon, Sylvia interceded for him. The kids went to the party, all being dispersed about 4 o'clock because it was too noisy.

I haven't been able to figure out the anomaly "Wallace's answer". Would seem to have something to do with the previous day's entry; the two words do appear on a new line.