7/10-7/16/49

7/10 Sunday It rained half the day. Played anagrams with Madeline. We did the Times puzzle. Beat Julie Meltzer in a chess game. At night, shuffleboard, hitting the penny.

7/11 Got a hitch home at the Bloomingburgh traffic light. Rep. Velde of the Unamerican Comm. charged Judge Kaufman presiding at the Hiss perjury trial had shown his [bias? or "he's"?] in favor of Hiss. A U.S. aide in Shanghai was relieved after 66 hour detention at a police station. It was claimed he had been badly beaten. He was charged with interfering with a parade, beating policemen, insolence, etc.

Sylvia will go into Class 2-5 Room 310 - Miss Costigan Hours 8:35 to 11:50 - 12:45 to 3 PM Entr. North Gate. Eugene goes into 5-4 R. 403 Miss Deveraux. He got 99 in spelling 96 in Arith. All others A's and S's. 

7/12 The Amer. Assoc'n of University Prof. upheld the right of teachers to be Communists as long as the party is legal. Ben Davis denied the party advocated a separate Negro nation in the South. Mindszenty's life sentence was upheld by the Hungarian court of Appeals. Tito will seal the Greek-Yugoslav border and cease aid to the guerillas. At the U.A.W. Convention, delegates refused to give wider powers to the officers but asked that charters of left wing unions be revoked. Australian Mine Union leaders were imprisoned for contempt of court. Miners are on strike. 14 were arrested in Alabama in a probe of the hooded floggings. Ray Robinson retained his welterweight championship by outpointing Kid Gavilan in 15 rounds.

7/13 Will have cleaning and double filling at dentist. Bill including xrays - $14. Two major air crashes wiped out over seventy persons. One was in India, the other in L.A. 13 Journalists were killed including Knickerbocker, S Burton Heath, Bertram D Hulen, William H Newton, George L Moorad. J.F. Dulles, new N.Y. Senator in place of Wagner supported the Atlantic Pact against Taft. The London dock strike spread now involving over 13,000 workers.  Reuther's slate won by about 8-1 in U.A.W. elections. W G Grant opposed Reuther. The A.L. All stars defeated the N.L. 11-7.

7/14 Mayor O'Dwyer, champion mind changer will run for re-election! Murray has called a strike against those steel companies which will not accept Truman's 60 [day] truce. The Vatican announced it will excommunicate all Communists and fellow travellers [sic].

7/15 Beat Geller. The World Council of Churches called upon all Christians in totalitarian countries to resists anti religious teaching and acts. In India Nehru's tour against Communism is meeting with some jeers and violence.

7/16 Left for Soss. Tennis players Drobny & Cernik ordered to quit a Swiss tournament because of the presence of German & Spanish players, renounced Czechoslovakia and remained to play. Sam Sage & Tracy Doll, two of the remaining leftists in the U.A.W. were expelled by a close vote at the convention for making public a suppressed report of corruption in one of the locals. The Board of Regents held hearings on the Feinberg Anti Subversion Bill. It announced a plan to check every school employee annually. In the evening we went to the Bloomingburgh Auction where dozens of pieces of "furniture" went for 10¢ apiece. Lil bought a cake for 85¢.

7/3-7/9/49

7/3 Sunday We went bathing in the river. At night we attended the casino opening. Dimitroff is dead at 67. It was the hottest day of the year in the city 95. Attlee and MacArthur denounced the British and Jap. Communists respectively.

7/4 We were caught at the river by a sudden downpour but were rescued by two cars. It was the first rain in 38 days. At night we played word games in the bungalow. German Communists urged the end of the Western State. Ted Schroeder won the Wimbledon title beating Drobny in five sets, but he was not pressed too hard.

7/5 Played Eugene a chess game at the river. Took the kids pictures on "White rock" where Sylvia loves to be taken. The Dep't of Classroom teachers of the N.E.A. criticized loyalty oaths as 'useless'. The city had a record 96.7 ending in a violent windstorm.

7/6 The big kids here play 'guns'. The smaller ones play 'house' or 'school'. Chiang emerged to ask for U.S. aid to save China. The delgate to the N.E.A. in a special assembly supported ouster of Communist teachers. Gil Green at the trial of the '12' admitted having pledged allegiance to Stalin and to work for World revolution.

7/7 Played chess with Eugene. Picked berries. We play poker at night. Eugene and Norma were stung by bees. We applied sugar packs to the sting. The Eastern democracies are ending trade with Tito.

7/8 We played shuffleboard today. Pirinsky, Amer. Slav. Congress leader had his bail canceled and was sent to Ellis Island to prevent any possible escape, in an unprecedented move, since he has not been found guilty of anything yet. Slovak villagers who had attacked police got jail sentences.

7/9 Played ball, tennis against the wall, chess at the river, Eugene beating Cliff Soss and Marty Meltzer. The Hiss jury standing 8-4 for conviction was dismissed after 28 hours, unable to come to an agreement. Ben Davis on the stand in the trial denied the party advocates violence. Yugoslav speakers likened Soviet Russia to Czarist Russia. At night we played shuffleboard and charades at the nightly campfire.

6/26-7/2/49

6/26 Sunday We went to Woodlawn where I beat Hotez and Waldman. We batted a ping pong ball around on the grass with paddles later. At home we had ice cream sodas and sat on the fire escape. Sylvia said I was in grandma's stomach 41 years ago. She also has a baby in her stomach, she said, but it will come out when she grows up.

6/27 Yesterday was the hottest day of the year - 94°. There was a record traffic jam in the city. Housing expediter Woods gave permission for rent increases where more value is put into property or improvements in service given. Politics including religious discrimination in our schools was denounced by Protestant Episcopalians. Rightist Korean politicians Kim Koo was assassinated by some of his own henchmen. Berlin rail workers eill return after a five week strike. They have been promised 100% payment in West marks and no reprisals. A new international labor body was formed at Geneva to rival the left wing W.F.T.U. Riggs defeated Budge for the pro title 9-7,3-6,6-3,7-5. 

6/28 Lil and the kids left for Soss's Bungaloes at Bloomingburgh NY together with Madeline and the kids. They willl share a bungaloe for the summer. Total cost $525. Canada's Liberal Party retained its power for another five years in general elections. Pastoral letters and meetings of church officials were banned unless authorized by the Czech gov't. Harold Christoffel won a reversal of his perjury conviction through a Supreme Court verdict 5-4. The basis was that a quorum of the Hose Comm. which had questioned Christoffel had not been established. The first groups of Jap. prisoners of war repatriated by Russia appeared to be converted to Communism. Beat Levy & Dumbrava.

Interesting spelling of "bungaloe". 

6/29 Injunction powers were voted into the labor bill by the Senate 50-40. Senator Wagner, ill for several years, resigned. A Civil Rights Congress meeting in the Garden heard CB Baldwin, Dennis, Maltz, Patterson, Robeson, Bessie Mitchell and Reid Robinson indict the crushing of American democracy.

6/30 Beat Dumbrava. Nationalist bombers attacked Shanghai slums killing 200. The "House" approved the National Housing Bill 228-185. It provides a slum clearance program, low rent housing, housing research and farm housing aid. Staunch Slovak Catholics drove off Czech police who had come to arrest priests.

7/1 Went to Dr. Robbins who took four small xrays. Judith Coplon was convicted as a spy by a jury out 27 hours. Miss Coplon had claimed she met V. Gubitchev, Russian aide, only because she was in love with him. She claimed she had confidential State papers for help in a Civil Service exam and to write a novel. JF Dulles testified he had urged Hiss to quit his Carnegie post because of talk about his Communist affiliations. Hiss had denied this. A new trial has been ordered for the celebrated case of the six Trenton Negroes accused of murder. Mao Tze-tung affirmed his faith in Russia and expectation of aid in that direction rather than the West. The Senate voted a modified version of the Taft-Hartley Labor Actr 51-42, wrecking hope of repealing the latter law this year.

7/2 Left for bungalow. Played ball with the men. Judith Coplon got 40 months to 60 years. 5 physicists agreed to loyalty and non-Comm. pledges for A.E.C. fellowships, for which they were criticized by Atomic scientists Prof. Szilard and Dr. J.R. Oppenheimer. The Czech gov't. sponsored the annual Nat'l pilgramage to Saints' shrines. Seveal Comm. police were killed by devout Catholic Slovak villagers.

6/19-6/25/49

6/19 Sunday Father's Day I got a beautiful sport shirt and a card from Sylvia with a drawing of me selling ties. We gave Pop some liquor, cigarettes and a tie. At St. James I beat Olchin and lost to P. Grosz. The kids played in the playground. Dr. Bela [sic] Dodd was expelled form the C.P. for Anti-Working Class Activities. She had represented a landlord in a case against Puerto Ricans. Lil read "The Time Is Noon" by Hiram Haydn. We both read "Little Annie Oakley And Other Rugged People" by Stewart Holbrook. 

6/20 Eugene drew vacation books: "Freddy the Detective" by W.R. Brooks; "The Happy Prince & Other Fairy Tales by Oscar Wilde "The Story of Rolf" by Allen French, "American Folk & Fairy Tales" Rachel Field, "The Donkey Goes Visiting" by Pat. Lynch "Brown Fairy Book" - Lang. Sylvia drew "Nick & Dick" by Gates Baker & Peardon. "Good Times With our Friends" Baruch and Montgomery, "Lambert's Bargain" C.T. Newberry, "The Wily Woodchucks" by Georgia Travers, "Small Rain" J.O. Jones & "Fun With Dick & Jane" - Gray & Arbuthnot. Hecklers routed Czech Archbishop Beran in his Cathedral as he attacked the gov't's plan to set-up a Catholic movement without ties to Rome. At night Mildred W. sat while we attended the "Stadium's" opening concert. Fritz Reiner conducted the Rienzi Overture, Beethoven's 7th Symphony and William Kappell [sic] played Rachmaninoff's 2nd Piano Concerto. We took $1.40 "Field" seats. We met Judy & Beryl Dornoff and they took us home in their car.

6/21 The kids had the afternoon off. Germany is rebuilding cartels with our O.K. The "Big 4" ended their talk with agreement in principle but not much accomplished concretely. The Vatican excommunicated all Czech Catholics who joined the new gov't sponsored movement. Eight witnesses including prominent officials testified for Hiss at his trial. Gil Green was imprisoned by Medina for contempt. Judith Coplon testified her furtive movements when she was walking with Gubitchev followed by F.B.I. men were due to fear of the Soviet secret police. The U.S. Court of Appeals upheld the right of congressional committees to subpoena books and records of suspected organizations in ruling on George Marshall and the Nat'l Fed. for Constit. Liberties. Lil took the kids to Tom McCann [sic] where Eugene got a brown braided straw shoe size 9 1/2D 4.99. Sylvia got a red leather moccasin size 1D 5.79. 

6/22 Premier Zapotocky threatened legal action against Archbishop Beran for creating division in Czechoslovakia and disrupting the govt's efforts. The brewers strike ended after 82 days. The 37 1/2 hr. week was won, in addition to a pension plan, $2. weekly raise, etc.

6/23 There has been a resuge of terror by hooded hoodlums in the South bringing forth state and national investgations and moves to pass legislation against violence. Supreme Court Justices Frankfurter and Reed testified as to Hiss' good character and integrity. Hiss's former servant testified Hiss had given him the typewriter on which the spy documents were copied before the period it was supposed to have been used for the work. During a housing debate in the House, Reps Cox of Ga. and Sabbath [sic] of Ill. traded blows. Mrs Eisler was deported and will join her husband.
Ezzard Charles outpointed Joe Walcott in a 15 round fight in Comiskey Park, Chicago before 25000 fans to win the Heavyweight title surrendered by Joe Louis. The gate was $225,000. The fight was poor.

6/24 The Vatican charged Romanian Catholic bishops have been tortured in order to break their faith. Hiss took the stand and denied all. Judy Coplon admitted she had wanted to visit Russia but only to view it objectively. The Board of Ed. upheld the Board of Supes. ruling renewing the ban on "The Nation". Liberals attending the meeting denounced the "duplicity". Our household goods went up to Bloomingsburgh yesterday by Russeks truck for $14.

I was going to put a "sic" after "Bloomingsburgh", and I probably should because of the "s", but I see that the city is "Bloomingburg, previously Bloomingburgh".

6/25 We went over to Mosholu Parkway to say good-bye to Molly, Mom & Pop, Lil Harry & the kids. Mom gave Lil a pretty blouse as an early birthday present. At home we all sat on the fire escape to escape the furious heat & humidity. It has not rained for a month. 21 Senators including two liberal Democrats - Magnuson & Downey opposed recognition of Red China. Hiss again testified charging he befriended and helped Chambers who welshed on his debts. Judy Coplon in a ten minute outburst denounced the trial as a smelly frame-up and decried the bringing of her love life into the trial as extraneous. Greek Premier Sophoulis died at 88.

6/12-6/18/49

6/12 Sunday To Woodlawn with lunch and supper. I lost to Paul Grosz. Mom, Pop Harry Lil and the kids came over also Jay. We had a big ball game with a paddle and tennis ball. The kids showered together when we came home. They wash each other in the shower.

6/13 The U. of Calif. will demand Anti-"red" oaths due to the "Cold War Hysteria". MacArthur charged that Russia is inciting disorder in Japan. Dr. Condon demanded an F.B.I. probe following charges that his wife was a go between Soviet agents and an industrialist who has committed suicide. A French Catholic labor group has left the right wing Force Ouvrier due to its opposition to the Atlantic Pact.

6/14 Trieste elections saw Pro Italian voters win 40 of 60 seats. Communists and Allies got 30% of the votes. Pro Tito voters got 2%. The Federal Court of Appeals upheld the contempt conviction of Dalton Trumbo & J.H. Lawson. This is a test case binding on the other eight defendants. The question of whether the film men were Communists was ruled pertinent.

6/15 Eugene got a 96% average in his final exams. Sylvia got 100% in her first test. Originals of secret documents which Chambers claimed Hiss passed to him were shown to jurors. Dr. Frank Oppenheimer, atom-bomb expert testified he was a C.P. member for 3 1/2 years but left the party when he became disillusioned, before the "UnAmerican" Comm. Gil Green testified he was converted to Marxism at 18, following 14 days of testimony by Gates. Traicho Kostov was expelled from the Bulgarian C.P. following the loss of his Vice-Premiership, due to Anti-party activities. Ed Waitkus, star "Philly" first baseman was seriously wounded by an infatuated girl who lured him to her hotel room to experience the thrill of killing him. 

6/16 Lil bought Sylvia a flag for Flag Day, but she began to cry and wouldn't take it when other kids came by without flags. Lil took her to school however where they saw other kids with flags and all was well. Dr. Counts, Roger Baldwin and several professors have been termed "unemployable" by the Army although they have not applied for any posts. Laszlo Rajk has been expelled from the Hungarian Workers Party following the loss of his post as Foreign Minister. Ickes and Dr. Condon testified at the Judith Coplon trial but were not allowed to answer any important questions.

6/17 Sylvia always asks for more meat no matter how large her portion is. Eugene came up almost tearful. Four street gamins had flushed him and Bobby R. with water pistols. Henry Julian Wadleigh admitted at the Hiss trial, that he had handed over confidential papers to Chambers and a "David Carpenter". Robeson returned here after visiting Moscow where he proclaimed his great love for Soviet Russia. Jake La Motta won the Middleweight title from Marcel Cerdan by a K.O. in the tenth when Cerdan did not answer the bell. Both men injured their arms in the early rounds. Cerdan took a terrific beating.

6/18 Beat Dumbrava. Sylvia wants to know if you get another [year?] old on anniversaries too, or only birthdays. The kids saw a marionette show, "Happy The Humbug" in the park. The Czech Catholic Archbishop Josef Beran who has defied the government was placed under house guard.

6/5-6/11/49

6/5 Sunday Split with Bert Hellman at St. James. Then, we taxied up to Woodlawn to spend the afternoon with Pop. We had a delicatessen supper and Sylvia ate some corned beef and salami baked beans. She didn't like the cole slaw.

6/6 Members of the Polish ship Batory's crew were questioned in an effort to discover how Eisler escaped. Max Perlow Furniture Union leader left the C.P. in order to sign a non-Communist affadavit and retain his union post. He asserted his Marxist faithfulness. An Englishman in Warsaw, G. C. Bidwell renounced his citizenship and became a Pole, to fight for peace. Phyllis Bentley, the "Spy Queen" named more Soviet couriers. These included Prof. Kazakevich and Cedric Belfrage.

Looks like Dad confused his Bentley's; Elizabeth Bentley was the famous spy, Phyllis Bentley was a novelist.

6/7 Chambers named Henry Julian Wadleigh as a second source of State Dep't. documents for transmission to Russia. Chambers himself was grilled as to many irregular facts about his life and family, such as an insane grandmother, a suicide brother, his own erotic poetry and nervous breakdown etc. Several war time defence workers testified before the "UnAmerican Comm." that a Russian agent Schevchenko paid them to give him secret data. They claimed Byrnes prevented the agent's arrest when they informed on him. Byrnes issued a denial. Zilliacus and Solley were formally expelled from the Labor Party. An American Negro in Prague, James M Robinson has decided to become a Czech. citizen. Hundreds of dock workers picketed and occupied Ryan's office in protest against "Jim Crow" in the Union. Ryan supporters counter picketed then attacked the other pickets, the police breaking up the melee.

6/8 Sylvia can hardly wait until she can go to school by herself in the morning in addition to the afternoon. Eugene went to bed very woebegone when he was refused permission to stay up for the "Mystery Theatre". 54 persons including many children perished when a plane from Puerto Rico plunged into coastal waters. Judith Coplon's trial revealed Russia got atomic devices in 1947 but future shipments were barred. A $19000 Columbia U. payroll was stolen by two thugs from two Wells Fargo guards. The left wing Amer. Jewish Labor Council and J.P.F.O. were expelled from the A.J.C. for not supporting parent policy.

6/9 Eugene got 90% in an Arithmetic test. Sylvia wants to know what a test is. Four Russian officers routed several hundred German railroad strikers who had invaded railroad headquarters. A group of prominent educators led by Eisenhower and James Conant declared that Communists should not be allowed to teach. F.B.I. reports supposed to have been found in Judith Coplon's purse named many Hollywood figures as "Reds". The list included the Fredric Marches E.G. Robinson Dot Parker, Donald O. Stewart R McKenny, Albert Maltz, Alvah Bessie, Dalton Trumbo Millen Brand, Michael Blankfort. Also Canada Lee, Daniel Marsh, Clyde Miller, Norman Cousins etc. Chambers admitted he had perjured himself many times in the trial where Alger Hiss is charged with perjury.

6/10 Gates at the trial admitted several lies under oath but claimed they were justified as when he had to get a passport to fight in Spain. Chambers named five sources for gov't documents which were supposed to be relayed to Russia. The five were the late H.D. White, V. Reno, W. Pigman, H.J. Wadleigh and A. Hiss. The Army barred Gordon Clapp former T.V.A. head for a special assignment in Germany.

6/11 Mrs. Chambers testified she was hostess to the Hisses a year after Hiss had claimed he had last seen Chambers. At the Coplon trial two War Dep't aides were named as suspected spies who had been checked by the F.B.I. We went to the Paradise to see "Take Me Out to the Ball game" with Frankie Sinatra Esther Williams & Gene Kelly. Also "I Shot Jesse James" with Preston Foster and John Ireland. Sylvia paid little attention to the pictures. Afterwards we had supper at Bickford's.

5/29-6/4/49

5/29 Sunday Sylvia still in bed. She amused herself by looking at the album of greeting cards. Lil and Eugene went to the Lido to see the old "Gone With The Wind". Eugene liked only the war episode.

5/30 Memorial Day Beat Dumbrava. Sylvia was in and out of bed. At night I went to the "Jerome" to see Dean Stockwell and Pat O'Brien in "The Boy With the Green Hair" and Robert Ryan and Audrey Totter in "The Set-Up" - the sordid side of the boxing game. We both read "Victor Herbert - The Music Master" by Claire Lee Purdy. Ripley is dead at 55.

5/31 Lil took Sylvia out today. Bolivian miners struck with over 100 killed including union officials and Americans.The Ford strike was settled with discharged workers re-instated. The speed-up, pension and welfare disputes will be mediated. Russia rejected the Western proposals for German unity under the new Bonn Constitution and for majority rule in the four power commission. The first lynching of 1949 occurred when Caleb Hill, Georgia negro was shot by a mob after being taken from jail. Eisler was elected a member of the People's Council of the Soviet Zone of Germany.

6/1 Eugene has been too busy to go to the bathroom lately quite often. Sylvia looks like another child. Her hair was cut by Lillian and her voice has changed due to the tonsil operation. A new hormone, Compound E or Cortisone has been discovered which works miracle cures on arthritis sufferers. Judith Coplon's trial started with papers found in her pocketbook containing notes implicating a number of individuals as Communists or radicals, introduced as evidence. Dr. de Los Rios is dead at 70.

6/2 Beat Trocalli. The perjury trial of Alger Hiss growing out of W. Chambers charges that he was a Soviet spy started in Washington. It was charged that Hiss had accepted 65 important papers from Chambers for transmission to Soviet agent Bykov. The congressional grilling of David Lilienthal for alleged "incredible mismanagement" in his job of Atomic Energy Commissioner started with Sen Hickenlooper the chief critic. Mrs Eisler has won the right to join her husband in Poland.

6/3 Gates was held in contempt at the trial for refusing to answer questions about "party" officials. Chambers took a terrific grilling from defense Atty Stryker and was glad to admit he lied, perjured had no conscience, etc. while a Communist.

6/4 Sylvia drew "The Doll Who Came Alive" by Enys Tregarthen "In Voytus Little House" by J. Porazinska, "See and Sew" - a sewing manual by M Carasz [?] and "Here Comes The Postman" by D. Park. Eugene drew "The Island of the Mighty" by P. Colum, "Fairy Tales From Brazil" by E.S. Eells, "The Sword of the Vikings" by J. Davis Adams and "The Master Monkey" by D. G. Mukerji. Then we went to the "Grand" seeing "Little Women" with June Allyson as Jo, Janet Leigh, Elizabeth Taylor and Margaret O'Brien, Peter Lawford and Mary Astor. Also State Dep't - File #649. A Negro pastor in Birmingham who has moved into a "restricted" neighborhood has had his home threatened by bombing. Winston & Hall have joined Gates in jail for contempt.  

5/22-5/28/49

5/22 Sunday We spent a rainy Sunday doing puzzles. In the evening Molly & Sam came over from seeing Seth Ian. He is very cute and good. He is on goat's milk as he cannot digest regular milk.

5/23 Sylvia drew "Fire, The Mascot" by Paul Brown "Come Meet the Clowns" by Neumann & Furbush, "Susan Who Lives in Australia" by E. MacIntyre & "Up Above & Down Below" by Irma E. Webber. Eugene drew "24 Unusual Stories" by A.C. Tyler "The Three Sneezes" - Swiss Tales by R. Duvoisin "Wild Animals I Have Known" E. T. Seton. Former Defense Secretary James V. Forrestal, under treatment for a mental ailment committed suicide by plunging from the 16th floor of the Naval Hospital. Soviet police sent to the Western Sector of Germany to grill railroad strikers were stoned and mobbed by crowds of strikers and sympathizers.

5/24 Eugene stayed home from school this afternoon with a sore throat - no temp. The "Big Four" had their first session today and accepted the Western agenda. Two were killed in the Berlin railroad strike riots. The new German Western State was officially set up at Bonn. It is known as the Federal Republic of Germany. Congress will investigate the loss of a small amount of uranium. Anti-Communist groups have left the left-wing Italian labor federation.

5/25 Eugene's throat is better but he is home today. Sylvia made a wry face when Madeline G. offered her watermelon. Chinese Communists captured Shanghai. At the "4 power" conference, Russia asked for an end to the newly-formed Western German Republic. Cathol. Prelate Beran warned of excommunications for Czech Catholics who aid the gov't. Dr. Clarence Hiskey, wartime atomic scientist and B.P.I. instructor was called a "red" at an "UnAmerican Comm." meeting. Victor Reuther was shot in the same way as his brother Walter.

5/26 Eugene returned to school. O'Dwyer announced he will not run for re-election. The Soviet management offered the railroad strikers payment in Western Marks but the strikers insisted on their other two demands: re-instatement of "political dischargees" and recognition of their union.

5/27 Sylvia had her tonsils and adenoids removed by Dr. Witchell this morning in his office at the Royal Hospital. He charged us $65. Sylvia took it splendidly and is doing very nicely. Vishinsky urged a veto rule in four power control of Germany. Truman publicly supported Lilienthal, under fire by Congress reactionaries for his work in the Atomic Energy Comm. Medina threatened to put Ben Davis in jail as the defense continued its aggressive testimony in the trial of the '12'. Eisler was freed by a British court which refused to extradite him on the grounds that he had not been accused of perjury, the only extraditable offence in question. Bridges is again under attack. He is charged with perjury in denying C.P. membership.

5/28 Sylvia in bed and starting her whiney stage. Molly came over then Mom, Pop, Lil and the kids. Harry went fishing. Sylvia got many gifts including a Bob Smith - Howdy Doody mechanical toy. Rita Hayworth and Aly Khan were married by the Communist Mayor of Vallauris France. The left-wing C.I.O. Furniture union voted to comply with the non-communist affadavits [sic] of the T-H law to protect its membership. Wholesale executions are again hitting Greece. The hoax of anti-semitism in Russia initiated and pursued by anti-Soviet journalists is being shattered by Progressives.

5/15-5/21/49

5/15 Sunday We met Mac Anne & Barbara and uncle Abe and Tante Blume at the Zoo. Mac & I took the kids to the Children's Zoo after Sylvia had a pony ride. Later we went to Anne's house where we saw a television show and had a delicatessen supper.

5/16 On the wishing rock in the Children's zoo yesterday Barbara wished for a sled on christmas. Sylvia wished for a wishing ring so she could have any wish she wanted and Eugene wished for a lot of money! Lillian went to Dr. Goodfriend for a checkup on her tumor. He found the condition satisfactory and told her to come again in six months. Gerhard Eisler was taken off the Polish ship, the Batory and placed in a British prison evoking a strong protest from the Polish gov't. The Daily Compass, successor to the "Star" made its first appearance today, edited by Ted Thackery and backed by Mrs. Anita Blaine McCormick.

5/17 When Eugene asked for a penny I gave him a nickel. He left then came back to Lillian and pleaded "But I don't want a nickel, I want a penny". The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that free speech must be maintained where the speaker's words may cause unrest. The specific case was the conviction of fascist Rev. Terminiello for a violent speech. A resolution to return Ambassadors to Franco Spain was defeated at the UN when it failed by four votes to get the necessary two-thirds majority. France, England and the U.S. abstained. The Int'l Socialist conference expelled the pro-Communist Italian Socialist Party.

5/18 Sylvia asked Lil how much money we had in the City Bank. When Lil questioned her about it she burst into tears. Her friend Sandy had brought the subject up. Eisler's bail was ordered forfeited by the Federal Judge. The C.I.O. Exec Board voted to censure the left wing Mine, Mill & Smelter Workers Union 38-11. Sec'y Treas. of the Union Maurice Travis was recently badly beaten in a battle between Steel & Smelter union men. The "Legion" issued a blacklist of "fellow travelers" from Larry Adler to Martin Wolfson. F.D.R. Jr. was elected to Congress in the 20 th district to fill a vacancy caused by Sol Bloom's death. Roosevelt ran on the Liberal and Four Freedom Party lines against Democrat Shallick, Rep McIntrye and A.L.P. A. Rubinstein. His sweeping win caused a sensation. Germans voting in the Eastern zone cast a heavy vote against a list of official candidates and against the Socialist Unity program of the united Germany and evacuation by occupation forces. The program was approved 66% to 34%.

5/19 Sylvia told Lillian she'd never walk home with Sandy again. The British Labor Party expelled two left-wingers Konny Zilliacus and Leslie Solley. The C.I.O. Exec Board voted along party lines to suspend the F.E.W.U. for refusing to merge with the U.A.W. and gave left wing unions five months to sever all ties with the W.F.T.U.

5/20 Rain and cold and tears from Sylvia about wearing her slacks. There is much ado about scholarships for "Reds" for the Atomic Energy Commission. One Communist who received one has been dug up - Hans Freistadt, a naturalized Austrian. At the C.I.O. Exec. Murray asked for a purge of left wing union presidents by the membership.

5/21 Lillian took Sylvia to Dr. Witchell [?] at the Royal Hospital Building. He examined her tonsils and adenoids and said they had to come out at once. They made an appointment for Friday, the job to be done in his office. The kids went to a "movie" show in the school auditorium in the afternoon. However they both agreed the money was wasted when they came home. They liked the "Three Stooges" in "Dizzy Doctors" but didn't care for "Blondie". And there were no cartoons as had been promised. Lilienthal of the Atomic Energy Comm. under Congressional pressure agreed to a future loyalty oath to scholarship applicants to avoid "infiltration of reds". A Russian peace negotiations bid for Greece was rejected until "Russia and its satellites stop sending aid to the Greek guerrillas". Decartellization advocates in our German occupation force continue to be dismissed. The latest is Charles H Collison. Berlin railroad workers went on strike against Soviet employers who control the railroad in all zones. The workers demand payment in West marks rather than Soviet currency. Communists are battling the strikers and many casualties are occurring.