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.

5/3-5/7/49

5/3 [first entry in Book 5, a Tuesday (Dad changed from Roman numerals to Arabic numbers for the books at this point)] Lil called Dr. Holzman last night as Eugene's temp. rose to 101°. The doctor asked for a specimen of his urine. Lil brought it over this morning. Eugene's temp was normal at noon. Sylvia played about but her nose was stuffed and she still had an occasional loose cough. Rent director Tighe Woods announced landlords will be guaranteed profits of 25-30% on their gross operating income. The Chinese People's Army cut the last rail escape route from Shanghai. "Death of a Salesman" by Arthur Miller won the Pulitzer prize for the best play of 1949.

5/4 Dr. Holzman found Eugene's urine negative. He decided Eugene had had a sinus attack which had been relieved by argyrol packs (He hadn't seen him). Sylvia went back to school today. After school we all went to St. James where I played a little tennis. Eugene scoured the park for popsicle covers which have movie stars pictures on them. Hangchou fell to the Chinese Communists. Israel celebrated its first birthday. Chaim Weizmann here addressed several rallies including a giant Madison Square rally with Mayor O'Dwyer. A fourth F.B.I. agent who had joined the C.P. testified at the trial - T. A. Younglove.                               The House passed the Wood Bill which is supposed to repeal the Taft Hartley Bill but actually retains most of its important features 217-203. Southern Democrats joined with Republicans to scuttle Truman's repeal bill introduced by Rep Lesinski. A substitute bill restoring some of the TH features was beaten 211-183.

Dad left a large space there, possibly to add something later; don't know what. 

5/5 Both kids are in school. Eugene gave his report on the railroads first before information came from the N. Y. Central by way of the Book of Kn. Eugene had to refer to his paper only a couple of times and then on account of the statistics. UN delegates Malick of Russia and Jessup of the U.S. agreed that the Berlin blockade would be lifted after May 12. The counter blockade will be lifted and the Council of Foreign Ministers will meet May 23. The first quads born in the Bronx were born to Mrs. Ethel Collins. Greek Communists offered to hold peace talks with the gov't because the lifting of the Berlin blockade made peace possible everywhere. Last night Lillian saw "Yellow Sky" with Gregory Peck, Ann Baxter and Richard Widmark at the Valentine. Also "Unfaithfully Yours".

5/6 62,000 Ford workers struck against speed-up and over disagreement about rates of pay. Wallace testified against the Atlantic Pact before the Senate Foreign Relations Comm. He placed the onus of 'cold war' guilt on the shoulders of the U.S. 50,000 staged an anti-Hague demonstration in J.C. The unprecedented heat wave reached 92.3 for a May record.

5/7 Sylvia went on a 'tour' - to the Fordham Library where the children heard stories. Then Eugene went to LaGuardia Airport where he visited a hangar and saw airplanes take off and land. He and Jerome Elkind made some recordings which they played over and over again when they got here. Eugene took his 50¢ allowance plus a nickel and spent it all. Jerome's record was very good but the volume failed on Eugene's after the first few sentences. The US asked the UN to allow Franco's Spain to join certain specialized agencies of the UN.

I remember that LGA trip, and making the record, very well. I'd forgotten about the failure of my recording, but I still remember the booth where we did the recording.

Deaths (Book IV)

 
As with Book III, the page where Dad listed the important deaths during the year is pretty torn up and hard to read, and I'll let the scan be the record.

Index (Book IV)

1948
8/1 Big spy probe hits headlines.
8/5 State A.F.L. bars "reds" but not "klan".
8/14 Mrs. Kosenkina jumps.
8/17 We won Olympics; Babe Ruth dead.
8/30 Heat wave hist 100.8; Russia severs Consular relationships.
8/31 Wallace egged on Southern tour, Peters replaces Eisler as #1 Red.
9/2 Schacht freed; Teamsters strike; NLRB rules scabs, not strikers, can vote.
9/4 Benes died; Steiner won U.S. chess title.
9/6 Parker & Schroeder beat Australia for Davis Cup.
9/13 Sylvia started school.
9/18 Ilse Koch sentence commuted; Count Bernadotte assassinated.
9/20 Pancho Gonzales wins Nat'l Singles.
9/21 Sylvia catches 'cold'.
9/23 Bob Thompson stabbed; Cerdan wins Middleweight title.
9/27 Eugene gets 'cold'.
9/29 Left wing Dep't Store Unions seceded from the C.I.O.
10/12 The Indians' won the World Series over the Braves 4-2.
10/15 Lillian became Sylvia's class mother.
10/16 Both kids' teeth were found good.
10/19 Lillian got some treatment for her leg pain.
10/31 Sandy Saddler Ko'd Willy Pep to win featherweight title.
11/2 Truman was re-elected President over Tom Dewey in a great upset, exposing all the poll takers and opinion makers.
11/6 Lillian got a lovely mouton coat.
11/7 Eugene gets 50¢ weekly allowance.
11/12 Tojo is to be hanged for war crimes.
11/19 Israel refused UN's demand to give up the Negev.
11/22 Chinese Communists have won their greatest victories of the war. The N.Y.C. C.I.O. Council lost its charter.
11/25 A military coup ousted Gallego in Venezuela.
12/1 Communists set up own Berlin regime as England concedes Negev to Israel.
12/3 O.P.A. order brings painter to our house after three years.
12/4 Chambers' microfilm documents found in pumpkin.
12/7 Left-wing ousted in T.W.U.
12/19 Eugene breaks two of Bobby R's teeth.
12/23 Tojo was hung.
1/4/49 Sylvia gets tonsilitis.
1/13 Lillian has tumor.
1/17 The trial of the '12' started today.
1/8 [sic] The President's pay was raised to $100,000 annually.
1/27 The first election in Israel was won by the Socialist (Mapai Party.
2/2 Eugene got all A's and S's on his report card.
2/5 Eugene made a trip to a television studio through school.
2/9 Mindszenty was sentenced to life imprisonment after his confession.
2/10 MacArthur named Agnes Smedley and Guenther Stern former members of Soviet spy ring in Japan.
2/12 Eugene has an acute sinusitis.
2/15 A. L. Strong expelled as a spy from Moscow!
2/20 I start a 2-day stay in bed.
2/21 Seth Ian Modelson born.
2/26 C.P. leaders all over the world start making statements pledging support to Russia in a possible war.
3/1 Dr. Holzman diagnosed a red throat for Sylvia; Joe Louis retired as undefeated heavyweight champ.
3/2 Stalin ordered 10-30% price reductions.
3/5 Vishinsky replaces Molotov as Foreign Minister.
3/6 Lillian in bed with a cold and back ache; Security Council accepts Israel's application; Russian UN Aide and Bkly'n girl arrested for spying.
3/8 The trial of the '12' started.
3/12 A fight to weaken the filibuster failed in Congress.
3/13 I have a "strep" throat.
3/15 Fascist traitor Ezra Pound received our highest poetry award.
3/16 A 15 month rent control extension was passed.
3/18 Comic books are banned definitely at home.
3/26 The Intern'l Cultural and Scientific Peace Parley started with vehement picketing by praying matrons and a counter meeting by the Americans for Intellectual Freedom with Sidney Hook the ringleader. Dr. Harlow Shapley chaired the "Peace Parley".
3/30 Eugene has a virus infection and conjunctivitis  Banker Crowe absconded with $690,000.
4/5 12 nations signed the Atlantic Pact aimed at Russia and her allies.
4/8 The taxi strike was lost; undercover agents who had been members of the C.P. started testimony at the trial of the '12'.
4/11 Kathy Fiscus who fell into an abandoned well held the nation's interest for three days until she was brought up dead.
4/12 City College students started their strike against two biased instructors.
4/14 An earthquake in the Pacific Northwest killed eight.
4/15 Lil has a "strep" throat.
4/18 A possible cancer virus has been isolated.
4/20 Rabbi Wise is dead.
4/21 World Peace Congress sessions opened in Paris & Prague; British ships were shelled on the Yangtze.
4/29 Sylvia has a sinusitis attack.
4/30 Eugene went to bed with a headache.

5/1-5/2/49

5/1 Sunday My birthday and both kids in bed but lively and full of mischief. Eugene complained of a stomach ache after lunch. They both got argyrol packs. Mom and Pop came over. Sylvia cajoled Mom into playing casino and they split two games. I got an orchid shirt and a polo shirt from the family and a sweatshirt and pyjamas from Mom. Sylvia got a beautiful mid-riff and Eugene an airplane shirt and binoculars for as belated Easter presents.

5/2 Sylvia was out of bed today but Eugene was still in. 30,000 Catholics here heard Spellman Sheen and Barkley attack Communism. Russia put on a tremendous air display as part of its May Day fete. In New York Anti-Communists held parades to counter the traditional May Day parade.