4/18-4/24/48

4/18 Sunday Eugene complained of a stiff neck this morning. After lunch we visited the Popes in Bklyn. Danny is adorable, bright-eyed and energetic. We brought two racing autos on a track. He kept examining the tunnel on the track to ascertain why the autos stopped there. Eugene had an advantage on Al in a chess game but lost the end game. I split games with Al. At home Eugene had 102°. He got an aspirin, some oil of wintergreen and gargled. The curb strike ended with a 10% raise. Vincent J Kane [?] died at 52.

4/19 Eugene in bed all day, but normal. His fever yesterday was evidently due to constipation. Lillian showed the kids "Jack and the Beanstalk" with the new projector I got. 27 million Italians voted yesterday and today in a vital election. Arabs claim Soviet officers are leading Jewish armies. Several thousand heard Paul Robeson in his defying a University ban.

4/20 Eugene's temp reached 100° when he left the bed so he stayed in again today. He has a slightly sore throat. He built a giant airplane swing. Paul Ross assistant to Mayor O'Dwyer resigned in protest over the Mayor's fare rise stand. Wallace denounced the Police state bill soon to be introduced. JH Lawson first Hollywood figure to be tried by a Federal Court was found guilty of contempt of Congress. No other issue was allowed to be injected into the case except the one as to whether Lawson refused to answer the question "Are you or have you ever been a member of the C.P." Lewis and the UMW were found guilty of civil and criminal contempt for the recent walkout.

4/21 Sylvia met an old friend of hers in the playground today, named Harriet. They romped for a while, going on the see-saw. Eugene was better but stayed home to have his eyes examined at Columbia U. Lillian also had her eyes checked because of a last minute cancellation. Neither needed new lenses but they recommended new lenses for reading for Lillian. Sylvia refused a couple of invitations to have drinks with the doctors. O'Dwyer announced his decision to raise the subway fare to 10¢ and buses 7¢ bypassing a referendum and 300000 petitions against a rise. The Italian election results were approximately - Christian Democrats 48% Popular Front 31¢ [sic] in the greatest campaign of intervention from outside a country against a party. U.S. proposed a trusteeship over Palestine with provision for police forces. Lewis was fined $20,000 and the union $1,400,000  for criminal contempt. Miners are again walking out in protest. 200,000 attended Gaitan's funeral. Quill resigned from the A.L.P. with a red-baiting blast. A N.Y. C.P. meeting was attacked. Yonkers "Worker" canvassers were arrested and Detroit newsstands were raided for "red" literature. Walter Reuther was gravely wounded by an unknown assailant.

4/22 Eugene wanted to leave a few minutes earlier after lunch so he could speak to another boy about a Passover play they're supposed to write. Lillian went down to Irving Rosenberg about an inverted toe nail which had been paining her. He fixed it up for her. Our project X in Italy cost us $4000,000 it is disclosed.
 
4/23 Lillian had to go over to Molly's early to prepare the meal for tonight as Molly did not feel well. After school Lillian came home to dress the kids. Then I stopped over at Mom's with the kids while Lillian went directly to Molly's. Later at Molly's with Sam, Mike Evelyn & Isabel & Milton, Shirley and Mrs. Perl [?] we had a delicious supper. The kids played an exciting game of jet planes and shooting. We got home at the unusually late hour of 10:15 with the games. Detroit police picked up left-wing Ford union leaders in the Reuther shooting. Jews captured Haifa when the British evacuated it forcing an Arab surrender after killing a hundred in a terrific battle. The Steel Trust plans to cut prices and refuse wage raises. 800 Communists were jailed in Brazil. A five week revolution in Costa Rica ended in victory for General Figueres who will form a military junta to take over the gov't on May 8 re-write the constitution and call for national elections. The Chinese Communists regained Yenan.

4/24 Eugene drew "New Stories To Tell To Children" by S.C. Bryant (Mrs. Borst) Creswick's "Robin Hood" "Wonderful Adventures of Nils" by Lagerlof. When Sylvia saw the beautiful illustrations in "In Henry's Backyard" by Weltfish and Benedict she drew it rather than the story of an Eskimo boy she had intended to take. The former book is based on the pamphlet "Races of Mankind". At five o'clock Evelyn and Isabel who had slept over at Molly's came here. The kids played games, I joining with them in "hide and seek". Isabel intends to marry Eugene! The kids went up to the Singers to see their new television set. Soon Sylvia came down in tears with no explanation. She clings to Isabel. Ford trade union leader Nelson Davis is being held in suspicion in the Reuther case in an apparent frame-up. He is an admitted Communist. Cops clubbed striking packing workers on the picket line and in their union hall to break up mass picketing and allow scabs to return to work.