5/8-5/14/49

5/8 Sunday Mothers Day. Lil got herself a pretty blouse and skirt as my present. The kids as usual made cards for Lil and Grandma. We had dinner out in the Chinese restaurant. The kids had chicken. Next we went to mother's bringing a nice blouse for her. We had a lot of fun with Peggy who has gotten big and cuter than ever. She does many things like waving goodbye, clapping hands, etc. (In the morning I lost to Phil Goldberg)

5/9 A bus strike was averted when two fired drivers were re-instated. O'Dwyer will seek a transit tsar to avoid further bus trouble. Ford has turned down mediation offers in the strike. A new constitution for Western Germany was approved by the Assembly 53-12.

5/10 Sylvia is learning to tell time but is confused about 2:15 and 2:30. Eugene is reading the book of 'Alger' stories I got him from the library. I read "The Informer" Lillian read Abzug's "Seventh Ave. Story". The Political Comm. of the Gen'l Assembly voted 33-11 to accept Israel in the UN. Former Communist Paul Crouch charged Communists had killed Julia Poyntz and thrown her into the East River. Another F.B.I. plant in the C.P., William Cummings testified Communists had timed a revolution here for within ten years of 1945. An I.L.G.W.U. organizer working on unorganized shops, William Lourye was stabbed and killed by three men.

5/11 Stayed home from scho work. Sylvia came home for lunch carrying her slacks instead of wearing them. When Lillian threatened her with not going back to school unless she wore them she said she would stay home. After much questioning it transpired she had talked after the teacher said "no talking". The teacher said she couldn't do anything in the afternoon. Lillian had quite a struggle getting her back to school. Sylvia drew "Ted and Nina go to the Grocery Store" by M. deAngeli "This is the milk that Jack Drank" by Scott and Shaw "Down Along Apple Market Street" by M. B. Hill and "Stories about Henry" by J.S. Tippett. The latter two she had had out before. Eugene drew "Tyll Ulenspiegel's Merry Pranks" by M. Jagendorf "Dr. Dolittle's Return" - Lofting. "The Big Six" A. Ransome and "The Crimson Fairy Book" - Lang. Lillian brought her fur coat down to the furrier for storage. The Hague administration was ousted from J.C. after 32 years when the City Commission headed [by] Hague's nephew Mayor. F.H. Eggers was defeated by a former Hague ward heeler JV Kenny 81,295 to 50,052. We both read "Family Circle" by C.O. Skinner. Lil read Ralph Ingersoll's "The Great Ones".

5/12 Eugene remarked that something Sylvia said was not "realistic". Sylvia is still very difficult. Gerhart Eisler under several sentences of jail terms jumped $23,500 bail and stowed away on a ship bound for Southampton. Israel was voted into the UN 37-12-nine abstaining. Acheson declared Franco must still be isolated as a Fascist. B. Raditsa a former Yugoslav official charged Russian diplomats were setting up Red secret police here.

5/13 65000 dress workers stopped work and demonstrated against the murder of organizer William Lourye. Anti-Communist Painter's Union leader Sam Lemkin "resigned" from all posts after it was disclosed he was a boss and had cheated the city on $90,000 worth of contracts.

5/14 Eugene's nose is badly stuffed again and he gets argyrol packs. We went to the 'Grand' to see 'Paisan' the great Italian film of the closing days of the war. It is a documentary type. Also "Caught" with James Mason, Barbara Bel Geddes and Robert Ryan of which we only saw a part. Sylvia nagged all through the show and Eugene blew his nose throughout in great discomfort. An explosion of a trailer truck in the Holland Tunnel touched off many smaller explosions fires, filled the tunnel with poison gas and felled seventy. A score of trucks were destroyed.