9/14-9/20/47

9/14 Sunday In the morning the kids played at cards, drawing pictures then we went to Clinton where they collected spoons. After lunch to Molly's for supper & meeting Milton's girl friend Shirley. Eugene played chess and did puzzles while Sylvia amused herself with her 'didey' doll.

9/15 To mother's for dinner. Lil, Harry & Susan there also. Sylvia [&] Susan amused themselves eating candy and raisins. Eugene and I played Pop some chess. Detroit housewives are crossing to Canada to shop at cheaper prices. Jack Kramer won the National singles over Frankie Parker - 4-6, 2-6, 6-1, 6-0, 6-3. Louise Brough upset Margaret Osborne to win the women's title 8-6, 4-6, 6-1.

9/16 Eugene drew "The Wise Men of Helm" by S. Simon - Jewish Folk-lore, "The Boy Who Knew What The Birds Said" by P. Colum, "Fun With Paper" by Leeming and Sylvia took "Peter and the Wolf". Sylvia's atrocious appetite may be due to her post-nasal drip which is very bad. Eugene cannot be deterred from poking and making passes at us. The first congressional probe of high prices at Providence heard the AFL, C.I.O., A.V.C.and P.C.A. call for a return of price control. 80 Slovaks were arrested in a plot to assassinate Czech president Benes. The Security Council dissolved the Greek border comm.

9/17 Sylvia burst into tears this morning when she found she had left her doll's bottle at Mom's. I bought her another after she had rejected two for size or lack of numbers. Incidentally, she doesn't want to go to the playground school. Lillian took the kids to the zoo yesterday They visited the children's zoo and had popcorn. The second session of the General Assembly opened at Flushing Meadow at 11AM yesterday with the delegates of 55 nations attending. Oswaldo Aranha of Brazil was re-elected president. His opening address stressed the possibility of war.

The picture below ("Eugene & Sylvia in September 1947") was pasted in the middle of this entry. 

 
9/18 Beat Mencher, Sylvia saying I played lovely after the game. LaGuardia collapsed and is seriously ill. Marshall at the General Assembly made six points. He proposed a resolution censuring the Balkans for causing the crisis in Greece and establishing a border commission. He proposed a permanent standing committee (to bypass the Security Council[}]. Proposed liberalization of the veto. Claimed disarmament cannot be instituted until the intern'l situation is cleared up. He was evasive on the Palestine issue. Blamed Russia in the Korean situation. Two million agricultural and factory workers are on strike.

9/19 Eugene got a comic book and after finishing it he wanted to go back to the store and exchange it. Vishinsky answered Marshall at the UN. He singled out nine Americans who have threatened Russia with war as an example of U.S. war-mongering. He attacked the Truman and Marshall Plans as violating UN principles in that they employ aid as a political weapon. He charged American corporations made 50 billion dollars profit in the war calling it blood money. Camden shipyards settled for 12¢ per hour increase. Unionist P.J. Warhol [?] has been seized for deportation. Lillian read "Three Came Home" by A. N. Keith - Experiences in a Jap. prison camp. I read "The Old Curiosity Shop". Lillian went to Bathgate Ave. bringing home sheeting, fruits, vegetables and liver at a saving and a pair of shoes for $2. Railway Exp. struck.

9/20 After lunch, downtown where we got an alarm clock at a pawnbroker's - $1.50, material for curtains and a few knick-knacks. A UN Comm. voted to bring the veto before the Assembly for revision. Anti-labor transit head Gen'l Gross resigned blasting O'Dwyer for sabotage. Wallace attacked Truman's hysteria in swearing in Defense Sec'y Forrestal ahead of time. Assorted renegades including Budenz, Manning Johnson and Zack are appearing against Santo in his deportation proceedings. LaGuardia is dead at 64.

9/7-9/13/47

9/7 Sunday In the morning to Walton. After lunch we spent the evening at St. James. Lost in an informal doubles tournament. Then lost to Weckworth. Eugene played five or six chess games including two with Pop who came over. Lillian read "East River" by S. Asch. "Unrealistic".

9/8 Eugene returned to school today. His teacher M Gerhold. Class B-5 (3a) Room 305. His previous teacher Mrs. Dwyer asked for him to be monitor of her class today. He also read them a story. Sylvia couldn't get into kindergarden  and will probably have to wait a year when she will enter 1A. She asked Lillian today if I ever had a beard and how you get one. Jews on the Exodus 1947 who have been shuttling back and forth after failing to run the blockade to Palestine are being forcibly debarked at Hamburg. The Nat'l Student Assoc'n voted to affiliate to the Intern'l Union of Students.

9/9 Beat Mencher. Eugene is messenger in his class. Sylvia is playing with her little friend Norma G. Mine strikes in Britain spread even against the union leaders advice. A drive is on to deport alien union leaders. Affected so far are Santo and Obermeier.

9/10 Lost to Schinasi. Sylvia went down alone with Mrs. Gallins and Norma but started to cry after about an hour. Jews were clubbed off the Exodus 1947 in Hamburg to the horror of the whole world.

9/11 Took the kids to the park after school while Lillian went to visit Sadie and see the new Robert. Eugene played the young people some chess while Sylvia picked "coffee". In a traditionally Republican stronghold, a Republican won a congressional by-election over a Democrat backed by united labor and pledged to combat the Taft-Hartley Bill. Food prices are causing national unrest. The AFL Executive Council called for a "Big 4" conference to end the international impasse. We saw "Dead of Night" a British psychological film with Michael Redgrave and "Wide Open Faces" made in 1938 with Joe E. Brown - terrible. Jane Wyman, Lyda Roberti, Sidney Toler.

9/12 Beat Weckworth. Eugene woke us at 8:30 so he missed school this morning. Sylvia vomited after lunch and Eugene complained of a stomach ache. An overflow crowd at the "Garden" heard Wallace, Aubrey Williams, Kingdon, Walsh, Canada Lee, Hirschmann, Robeson & Lena Horne, blast the American path to war and reaction at home at a P.C.A. rally.

9/13 Sylvia dawdles with her dry cereal at breakfast interminably. The city will probe high prices. Columbia U. has been found guilty of discrimination in employment by SCAD. The A.F.L. Exec Council has voted non-compliance with the slave law's provisions to submit non-Communist affidavits to the N.L.R.B.

8/31-9/6/47

8/31 Sunday In the morning to Walton with Eugene. After lunch by cab to Woodlawn. Pop lost a chess game with Eugene. Eugene stalemated with Alex G. with a handicap. The kids played a lot in the sandpile making pies with a small cup. We picked berries probably for the last time as they are growing scarce. Sylvia is impossible these days: whining, clinging to mother, stubborn as a mule. Beat Barth.

9/1 In the morning out with Eugene, Sylvia staying home rather than go to Walton. After lunch to Woodlawn picking up Molly & Sam in our cab. Pop won three out of four games with Eugene. I lost a close game to Al Berman and beat him and Jullis [?] Cullaus [?] at tennis. Sylvia played with two little girls and cards with Molly. She was very happy and lively today. Showered with both kids at home. A half hour after retiring Eugene came in with an abraded toe. Sylvia walked in sleepily to see the toe. Both were very cute. The Greek cabinet will emulate us by a purge of gov't workers & abolition of strikes. Hungarian elections saw dispute over the extent of fraudulent votes. UNSCOP asked partition of Palestine & freedom by Sept. 1949. Kramer & Schroeder won all singles from Australians Pails & Bromwich, the last day's being five set matches. Bromwich & Long beat Kramer & Schroeder in the doubles. This gave us the Davis Cup 4-1. The Legion asked for the suspension of the Bill of Rights, Outlawing of the C.P. and voted down the Wagner Ellender Taft Federal Housing Bill. Sadie's Robert born today.

9/2 Eugene drew "Nobody's Doll" by A. De Leeuw "Fun With Puzzles" by J. Leeming "The Boy Who Could Do Anything" (a repeat) - Mexican Folk Tales retold [by] Anita Brenner and Sylvia drew "The Story of Horace" by A. M. Coats. Sylvia got a blouse from Molly and Lillian a pretty apron. Eugene hands me one comic book each day which I hope will end his comic book reading. The Gov't coalition won 3-2 in Hungary. The C.P. led with over a million votes. Hundreds of thousands participated in Labor Day parades and demonstrations where Taft Hartley Bill was attacked and warnings given against war and depression. Lillian gave Sylvia a haircut.

9/3 Eugene mated Karl in the park in five minutes. Sylvia seems to be improving in her behavior. Truman arrived in Brazil met by a million welcomers. His speech holding out little hope for economic aid for Latin America closed the Inter-American conference. He hit at the new democracies of Europe saying the people were subjected to the same kind of domination we fight to abolish. Lillian read "Black Hamlet" by Wulf Sachs. We both read A.G. Hays "City Lawyer".

9/4 Beat Mencher, the kids annoying me by quarreling behind the fence. The British T.U.C. voted to help the govt in the crisis by supporting partial controls on workers. Prices are at an all time peak. Milk is 20¢. Meat is rising continually.

9/5 Sylvia has a little visitor - Norma G. Arnold P. has just called Eugene to come down and bring his "Bring the Animals Home" game in his new Animal book. 19 nations signed a mutual defense pact. P.R. is under fire with 130,000 signatures presented on a repeal drive though many are being challenged. The TWU bus division is threatening a strike in support of a pension system for its older employees.

9/6 To Walton in the morning. Sylvia is a corn on the cob addict. Hungarian Socialists are threatening to break away from the Communists over the issue of the elections. Sophoulis has replaced Tsaldaris in the Greek cabinet. The left wing won over the right in the State C.I.O. convention, the A.L.P. being endorsed and a resolution being passed to return our foreign policy to the New Deal path. Mary Wool[l]ey is dead at 84.