This is not an emergency call.
It was the night before May 1st 1930
All through the house preparation was made,
No Maypole dancing for this crowd.
A most serious parade would be underway.
“Papa “who are we going to march with?”
“We’ll see we’ll see. Now for the posters.”
Free Mooney Billings, and the Scottsboro Boys.
Papa “are we gonna sing Hold the Fort?”
I lived in house of rebels. There were,
Socialists, communists, freethinkers, anarchists,
Wobblies, atheists, modern dancers, single taxers
and lots more. All preparing to march.
This was our workers holiday.
Long ago it started the eight hour day fight.
This 1930 day I stayed out of school.
Note said, “My son Robert was marching
In the workers holiday.” Teacher, “what is that?”
“This day we celebrate workers who built this land.”
Papa are we gonna sing Hold The Fort?”
There I was with my Papa on Fifth Avenue at 50th Street
Amongst the bricklayer and mason unions.
Girls were with the modern dancers.
Maybe the Garment Workers brigade?
Up came the signs. “Jobs for all” “ Old age, Social security.”
Free Mooney Billings and Scottsboro Boys.”
We started our march down Fifth Avenue
All the way to Union Square. Singing
Hold The fort for we are coming
Union men be strong. Side by side
We battle onward victory be won.
With upraised fists flags flying
Marched before the reviewing stand
Papa said we were 250-300 thousand strong that day.
I knew we had to win all our demands.
“Hold the Fort” as we were there.
”
Holding my Papas big hand.
The proudest thirteen year old in the land.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Monday, April 26, 2010
Remembering Willard Wirtz
Obituary NY Times “Willard Wirtz, Labor Chief Dies at 98.”
Once again I need to put off my piece on Global Warming to deal with another memory jog. It was back in the “age of rage” days of the 1960es. I was Deputy Manpower Commissioner in the Lindsay Administration. My specific responsibility was “Youth Employment.” This was a time when the Black Panthers, a militant Black power group was playing a most critical role in the Public Demonstration script. Cities, Detroit, Newark were burning as street demonstrations would turn into very nasty confrontations between police and demonstrators. Upon hiring me the Mayor said,”your main job it to keep the city from burning.” Yupp, quiet an assignment.
The summer time was most critical as thousands of kids were out of school and out of work. That meant lots of time to think up “interesting diversions from the being hot and bored in the big city.” The kids were learning to imitate their elders.
On one hot summer weekend the Yuppies held a peace demonstration in grand Central Station. A confrontation between the police and peace demonstrators heated up when some of the demonstrators mounted the famous clock in the center of the waiting room. I urged the police to do nothing as the clock climbers would get bored and eventually come down. Sandy Garelick the Police Commissioner argued that the “clock was private property and they were threatening it.” Sandy and I were unable to agree so he sent in the cops. Arrests were made and the television cameras had a ball. That of course is what is critical to the success of the demonstration script. If it didn’t make it to the television screen it was a bust.
Some weeks later there was an announcement from the Labor Department that there would be cuts in the Neighborhood Youth Corps. This was a 14 hour a week part time job program for in school kids from poverty families. My office administered the program. With the demonstration fever in high pitch some kids from Bedford Stuyvesent section of Brooklyn decided to invade and have a sit in at the Labor Department office on 9th avenue and 29th street.
It was a telephone call in the middle of the night from City Hall advising me of the sit in and asking what I wanted to do about it? Admitted. I was very tired and half asleep when I said, “Oh let em sit. They’ll soon get tired and bored and will then go home.” By the time I made to my office alarm bells were ringing all over the place, “what the hell did you say about the sit ins.” The Mayor’s staff people were all worked up over my most “irresponsible statements.”
Finally there was a call from the Mayor. he wanted me over at City Hall as soon as possible. I liked John Lindsay. He had a great sense of humor and an impeccable liberal record as a Congressmen. As I came in his office he was laughing.”You’ll love this story I will tell you after you tell me what we should do about the sit in over at the Labor Department? I said,” Mr. Mayor, first of all this is a Federal problem not ours so if Wirtz wants to evict them he should send in the Marshals or the Marines. I would urge you not to send in the police. The result of that will be simply to exacerbate the situation that will certainly end up on every 6 o'clock evening news channel.” The Mayor thought about and wanted to know exactly what would I recommend. “Just let em sit there. They’ll soon get tired and bored and will go home. I will be happy to go over there and chat with them about the importance of not destroying any federal property.” The Mayor wanted to know what would you do if you were held hostage? I assured him I wasn’t worried about that as I spend many hours with these kids and I am confident we can have a civil conversation. Okay, he agreed to go along with my wait and do nothing strategy but in the meantime he had to tell me the story that had him giggling.
The Mayor had received a phone call from a very upset Willard Wirtz the Secretary of Labor. Wirtz had decided to call the Federal Office in New York and have a nice friendly talk with the sit-ins explaining they were illegally occupying a Federal office. Upon making the call and after several attempts at a connection one of the the Bedford Stuyvesent kids finally answered wanting to know who was calling? Wirtz said he was the Secretary of Labor. The response from the other end came quickly, “I don’t speak to no mother f---------ing secretaries and hung up. Wirtz was extremely upset as he explained to the mayor that “nobody had ever called him that” and he wanted an apology from the kid who said it. He also suggested that we initiate Civics Classes in the Neighborhood Youth Corps so that our children would understand how the Presidents Cabinet is made up of people whose titles include “secretaries.”
We both had a good laugh. But then the Mayor, with a twinkle in his eye asked me, how about the kid he wants an apology from? I suggested if that will help us to get continuing support for the program I could bring a busload of kids to Washington for a mass apology. Lindsay laughed and said now Schrank you just forget about that and added that he would handle the apology issue. And yes, after a few more days the kids got bored and went home. Other than some old Pizza boxes there had been no destruction at the Federal Office
I am sure that in all the memorial remembrances of Willard Wirtz this story might not have been told. Yet it was memorable at the time indicating the kind of gap that existed between the worlds of the Bedford Stuyvesent and Washington DC.
Once again I need to put off my piece on Global Warming to deal with another memory jog. It was back in the “age of rage” days of the 1960es. I was Deputy Manpower Commissioner in the Lindsay Administration. My specific responsibility was “Youth Employment.” This was a time when the Black Panthers, a militant Black power group was playing a most critical role in the Public Demonstration script. Cities, Detroit, Newark were burning as street demonstrations would turn into very nasty confrontations between police and demonstrators. Upon hiring me the Mayor said,”your main job it to keep the city from burning.” Yupp, quiet an assignment.
The summer time was most critical as thousands of kids were out of school and out of work. That meant lots of time to think up “interesting diversions from the being hot and bored in the big city.” The kids were learning to imitate their elders.
On one hot summer weekend the Yuppies held a peace demonstration in grand Central Station. A confrontation between the police and peace demonstrators heated up when some of the demonstrators mounted the famous clock in the center of the waiting room. I urged the police to do nothing as the clock climbers would get bored and eventually come down. Sandy Garelick the Police Commissioner argued that the “clock was private property and they were threatening it.” Sandy and I were unable to agree so he sent in the cops. Arrests were made and the television cameras had a ball. That of course is what is critical to the success of the demonstration script. If it didn’t make it to the television screen it was a bust.
Some weeks later there was an announcement from the Labor Department that there would be cuts in the Neighborhood Youth Corps. This was a 14 hour a week part time job program for in school kids from poverty families. My office administered the program. With the demonstration fever in high pitch some kids from Bedford Stuyvesent section of Brooklyn decided to invade and have a sit in at the Labor Department office on 9th avenue and 29th street.
It was a telephone call in the middle of the night from City Hall advising me of the sit in and asking what I wanted to do about it? Admitted. I was very tired and half asleep when I said, “Oh let em sit. They’ll soon get tired and bored and will then go home.” By the time I made to my office alarm bells were ringing all over the place, “what the hell did you say about the sit ins.” The Mayor’s staff people were all worked up over my most “irresponsible statements.”
Finally there was a call from the Mayor. he wanted me over at City Hall as soon as possible. I liked John Lindsay. He had a great sense of humor and an impeccable liberal record as a Congressmen. As I came in his office he was laughing.”You’ll love this story I will tell you after you tell me what we should do about the sit in over at the Labor Department? I said,” Mr. Mayor, first of all this is a Federal problem not ours so if Wirtz wants to evict them he should send in the Marshals or the Marines. I would urge you not to send in the police. The result of that will be simply to exacerbate the situation that will certainly end up on every 6 o'clock evening news channel.” The Mayor thought about and wanted to know exactly what would I recommend. “Just let em sit there. They’ll soon get tired and bored and will go home. I will be happy to go over there and chat with them about the importance of not destroying any federal property.” The Mayor wanted to know what would you do if you were held hostage? I assured him I wasn’t worried about that as I spend many hours with these kids and I am confident we can have a civil conversation. Okay, he agreed to go along with my wait and do nothing strategy but in the meantime he had to tell me the story that had him giggling.
The Mayor had received a phone call from a very upset Willard Wirtz the Secretary of Labor. Wirtz had decided to call the Federal Office in New York and have a nice friendly talk with the sit-ins explaining they were illegally occupying a Federal office. Upon making the call and after several attempts at a connection one of the the Bedford Stuyvesent kids finally answered wanting to know who was calling? Wirtz said he was the Secretary of Labor. The response from the other end came quickly, “I don’t speak to no mother f---------ing secretaries and hung up. Wirtz was extremely upset as he explained to the mayor that “nobody had ever called him that” and he wanted an apology from the kid who said it. He also suggested that we initiate Civics Classes in the Neighborhood Youth Corps so that our children would understand how the Presidents Cabinet is made up of people whose titles include “secretaries.”
We both had a good laugh. But then the Mayor, with a twinkle in his eye asked me, how about the kid he wants an apology from? I suggested if that will help us to get continuing support for the program I could bring a busload of kids to Washington for a mass apology. Lindsay laughed and said now Schrank you just forget about that and added that he would handle the apology issue. And yes, after a few more days the kids got bored and went home. Other than some old Pizza boxes there had been no destruction at the Federal Office
I am sure that in all the memorial remembrances of Willard Wirtz this story might not have been told. Yet it was memorable at the time indicating the kind of gap that existed between the worlds of the Bedford Stuyvesent and Washington DC.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Vulcanic Eruption, What it Tells US?
I have been planning a blog on our threats to the Planet when the Volcano in Iceland erupted as a dramatic preview of future possibilities. No, I don’t hold us humans responsible for the Volcano. Volcanoes have been blowing ash and silica into the atmosphere since the beginning of any recorded history. As an interim to my blog on what we humans are doing to the planet I just want to deal with some consequences of critical changes in for instance cloud cover.
The simple fact that air travel in the northern hemisphere has practically come to a halt has some very important lessons for us. Aircraft engines and especially Jets are extremely sensitive to metallic or silica dust in the air. Silica is what glass is made of. Particles of silica getting into any kind of machine will quickly grind it up or cause it to seize as when silica is hit by high temperatures it turns into glass. A perfect recipe for ruining any piece of running machinery. For airplane Jet engines it is a guarantee of disaster as these engines suck in an enormous amount of air. If that air has a small amount of silica that engine will seize up and stall. Hence the grounding of planes all over the world simply to avoid tragic consequences.
(Sometime in the 70ies Emanuel Velikovsky suggested that the 40 days of darkness as written in the Bible, the Ming Dynasties and the Mexican Codices really occurred as a result of a volcanic explosion. Scientists held him in contempt because it wasn’t good science.)
Okay, so what does this have to do with our relationship to the planet? I will try to show in my coming blog, that as a result of how we humans are using up and warming the planet we will be creating conditions that might well be the same or similar to what we are now experiencing. We don’t know how long the Iceland volcano will continue exploding. The global warming phenomena could easily and probably will create conditions that would not soon go away. Just look at the pictures of desperate people sleeping on the floors of airports around the world. Could this be an introduction to a future that awaits us? Yes it could be and it could get far worse as we use up limited resources given to us by nature.
As the current debate over global warming goes it is most unfortunate that the polls show a decrease in the number of people who believe that the planet is warming. This in spite of a universal agreement amongst concerned scientists that there has been a steady increase for the last four decades in the worlds temperature. We now have whackos like a “meteorologists,” who does the local weather forecasting, suggesting that we do this great experiment and see in 30 years who was right. Yes and if it proves that you were wrong, knuckle head what will yo do then? Honestly now.
My concerns about the planets future has been sharpened as a result of all the fuss being made over the Government Debt. Politicians of all stripe and now particularly the Republicans, are constantly singing the same tune about the horrors we are leaving to future generations in the form of our governments debt. I believe that dealing with the debt would be a piece of cake compared to dealing with a warmed up overheated planet as a result of our burning fossil fuel. It could very well be far to late to make correction as oceans rise, land is inundated, cities are flooded, water is made unusable as it becomes brackish, etc etc. Believe me if that’s is what we are going to leave for our grandchildren the National Debt as suggested would be a far better trade off.
PS. Try taking a nice ship to Europe or the other way around.
The simple fact that air travel in the northern hemisphere has practically come to a halt has some very important lessons for us. Aircraft engines and especially Jets are extremely sensitive to metallic or silica dust in the air. Silica is what glass is made of. Particles of silica getting into any kind of machine will quickly grind it up or cause it to seize as when silica is hit by high temperatures it turns into glass. A perfect recipe for ruining any piece of running machinery. For airplane Jet engines it is a guarantee of disaster as these engines suck in an enormous amount of air. If that air has a small amount of silica that engine will seize up and stall. Hence the grounding of planes all over the world simply to avoid tragic consequences.
(Sometime in the 70ies Emanuel Velikovsky suggested that the 40 days of darkness as written in the Bible, the Ming Dynasties and the Mexican Codices really occurred as a result of a volcanic explosion. Scientists held him in contempt because it wasn’t good science.)
Okay, so what does this have to do with our relationship to the planet? I will try to show in my coming blog, that as a result of how we humans are using up and warming the planet we will be creating conditions that might well be the same or similar to what we are now experiencing. We don’t know how long the Iceland volcano will continue exploding. The global warming phenomena could easily and probably will create conditions that would not soon go away. Just look at the pictures of desperate people sleeping on the floors of airports around the world. Could this be an introduction to a future that awaits us? Yes it could be and it could get far worse as we use up limited resources given to us by nature.
As the current debate over global warming goes it is most unfortunate that the polls show a decrease in the number of people who believe that the planet is warming. This in spite of a universal agreement amongst concerned scientists that there has been a steady increase for the last four decades in the worlds temperature. We now have whackos like a “meteorologists,” who does the local weather forecasting, suggesting that we do this great experiment and see in 30 years who was right. Yes and if it proves that you were wrong, knuckle head what will yo do then? Honestly now.
My concerns about the planets future has been sharpened as a result of all the fuss being made over the Government Debt. Politicians of all stripe and now particularly the Republicans, are constantly singing the same tune about the horrors we are leaving to future generations in the form of our governments debt. I believe that dealing with the debt would be a piece of cake compared to dealing with a warmed up overheated planet as a result of our burning fossil fuel. It could very well be far to late to make correction as oceans rise, land is inundated, cities are flooded, water is made unusable as it becomes brackish, etc etc. Believe me if that’s is what we are going to leave for our grandchildren the National Debt as suggested would be a far better trade off.
PS. Try taking a nice ship to Europe or the other way around.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
The Coming Political Storm
I have had to slow down a bit as a result of some droopy eyelids that are beginning to interfere with my sight. Oh well just another one of these body parts running down from, “wear and tear.” That meant a number of wood-shop projects have been on hold. Yet a few days ago I went to my favorite giant lumberyard and guess what? They were roaring. My question was answered, “Yupp we are back where we were 5 years ago,” Now that was a surprise until I began to look at the data. Consumer spending,the dynamo of our economy is up. People are buying stuff again. I remember a time when manufacturing was the barometer of how the economy is doing. We can check our manufacture by checking how China is doing. You know the answer to that one. Doing just fine, thank you.
All of this is little or no help for the unemployed whose major concern is whether or not Congress will extend Unemployment insurance. The job market will be slow on the uptake. Traditionally, during economic downturns companies figure out how to operate with less people. That’s why rehiring is a very slow process if at all. I do remember how jobs were consolidated or eliminated and increase productivity from a smaller work force was the way employers dealt with the slowdowns. Yes, it was scene as an opportunity to cut costs and increase profitability.
There is another weird factor at work here. My recollections about past depressions and recessions was that once there were signs of a turnaround everyone, no matter the majority or minority party would join the cheering squad. After all this was “one for all and all for capitalism.” Back then it was the left that held out saying, “it’s the same old capitalism that is solving its problems on the backs of the working class.” Presently an old media impact has been reinvented with a brand new vengeance. The old one was the Hearst Press. William Randolph Hearst hated FDR and everything connected to the New Deal. All Hearst had was chain of newspapers. There was no TV back then. As a propaganda tool television is far more effective media than any newspaper network. Though our present day Hearst, Mr.Ruppert Murdoch owns both newspapers and a television network called Fox.
The Fox News Network carries on a relentless drumbeat against anything that in anyway might reflect something positive for the Obama administration. I have experienced some really tough propaganda machines in my long lifetime but I must admit I have never seen one as effective as the Fox Network. For 24 hours a day it just keeps repeating lie after lie after lie about that awful man in the White House and his compatriots in the Congress especially Nancy Pelosi the Speaker of the House. The first women to hold that position. Black man in the White House, a women in the House Speakers Chair. For the crazies on the Fox network this is the Armageddon.
Fox News is the juice behind the Tea Party folks whose major slogan “Give Us Our Country Back.” I have always understood the real meaning behind that slogan. It is a clear expression that the man overwhelmingly elected by the people does not represent their country. So, lets get rid of him elect some good GOP white man win control of the House. Get rid of that women and we will have our country back.
All of this is to say that no matter what the present administration does, good, bad, indifferent they will get no credit from the folks on Fox as they operate solely on hate. That hate is what is infecting the country. Yes we can make fun of Pailin and Beck but I will never underestimate what that drumbeat of hate can do to the country. It robs us of any civility in trying to deal with serious social and economic problems facing us. It has created the gridlock in Congress that prevents what is suppose to be the greatest deliberative body in the world from conducting its business. Even in the days of the most heated political disagreements there was always room for honest argument.
I am reminded when back in the 40ies Senator Taft invited me to have lunch with him in the Senate dining room as he wanted to “correct things I had written in a pamphlet.” It was called, “This Is Aimed at You” An analysis of the Taft Hartley Law and how it plans to destroy the unions. I came away from that lunch having not changed my mind about the Taft Hartley Law but with a new respect for Senator.
look what theTea Partyfolksare doing with the recently passed Health Care legislation. Still repeating the same old crap about a committee of the “big bad government in Washington” deciding who lives and who dies. The Democrats deserve some real criticisms for not simplifying what is in this legislation. I recently asked some medical friends to “please reduce the key issues in the health care bill to Bumper Stickers then we will have begun to fight back.”
As we go into the crazy time of the midterm election get ready for the hate propaganda to reach new heights of absurdity. Do not underestimate, for a minute their ability to influence people confused by what is going on. Lets get ready to act and fasten your seat belts for what’s coming.
All of this is little or no help for the unemployed whose major concern is whether or not Congress will extend Unemployment insurance. The job market will be slow on the uptake. Traditionally, during economic downturns companies figure out how to operate with less people. That’s why rehiring is a very slow process if at all. I do remember how jobs were consolidated or eliminated and increase productivity from a smaller work force was the way employers dealt with the slowdowns. Yes, it was scene as an opportunity to cut costs and increase profitability.
There is another weird factor at work here. My recollections about past depressions and recessions was that once there were signs of a turnaround everyone, no matter the majority or minority party would join the cheering squad. After all this was “one for all and all for capitalism.” Back then it was the left that held out saying, “it’s the same old capitalism that is solving its problems on the backs of the working class.” Presently an old media impact has been reinvented with a brand new vengeance. The old one was the Hearst Press. William Randolph Hearst hated FDR and everything connected to the New Deal. All Hearst had was chain of newspapers. There was no TV back then. As a propaganda tool television is far more effective media than any newspaper network. Though our present day Hearst, Mr.Ruppert Murdoch owns both newspapers and a television network called Fox.
The Fox News Network carries on a relentless drumbeat against anything that in anyway might reflect something positive for the Obama administration. I have experienced some really tough propaganda machines in my long lifetime but I must admit I have never seen one as effective as the Fox Network. For 24 hours a day it just keeps repeating lie after lie after lie about that awful man in the White House and his compatriots in the Congress especially Nancy Pelosi the Speaker of the House. The first women to hold that position. Black man in the White House, a women in the House Speakers Chair. For the crazies on the Fox network this is the Armageddon.
Fox News is the juice behind the Tea Party folks whose major slogan “Give Us Our Country Back.” I have always understood the real meaning behind that slogan. It is a clear expression that the man overwhelmingly elected by the people does not represent their country. So, lets get rid of him elect some good GOP white man win control of the House. Get rid of that women and we will have our country back.
All of this is to say that no matter what the present administration does, good, bad, indifferent they will get no credit from the folks on Fox as they operate solely on hate. That hate is what is infecting the country. Yes we can make fun of Pailin and Beck but I will never underestimate what that drumbeat of hate can do to the country. It robs us of any civility in trying to deal with serious social and economic problems facing us. It has created the gridlock in Congress that prevents what is suppose to be the greatest deliberative body in the world from conducting its business. Even in the days of the most heated political disagreements there was always room for honest argument.
I am reminded when back in the 40ies Senator Taft invited me to have lunch with him in the Senate dining room as he wanted to “correct things I had written in a pamphlet.” It was called, “This Is Aimed at You” An analysis of the Taft Hartley Law and how it plans to destroy the unions. I came away from that lunch having not changed my mind about the Taft Hartley Law but with a new respect for Senator.
look what theTea Partyfolksare doing with the recently passed Health Care legislation. Still repeating the same old crap about a committee of the “big bad government in Washington” deciding who lives and who dies. The Democrats deserve some real criticisms for not simplifying what is in this legislation. I recently asked some medical friends to “please reduce the key issues in the health care bill to Bumper Stickers then we will have begun to fight back.”
As we go into the crazy time of the midterm election get ready for the hate propaganda to reach new heights of absurdity. Do not underestimate, for a minute their ability to influence people confused by what is going on. Lets get ready to act and fasten your seat belts for what’s coming.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Soren The 1940's
I promised my granddaughter and her husband Robert to leave my great grandson Soren a story of my times. Here’s Chapter 3.
Soren, how’s this for an opener?
“The German Army Marches Into Paris."
World War two is in full swing.
The US is the arsenal of Democracy.
Driving a 1930 Ford Rumble seat Roadster.
Working in machine shop turning out propeller shafts for,
Liberty ships to run the German U boat blockade.
Great Grandpa GG, elected NY State President Machinists Union.
Keep union members turning out tanks,
Ships, planes, guns,engines, tanks, ships guns.
Country wide collection, tin foil, old cans junk,
For guns, tanks planes to win the war.!
The average pay $!,299 dollars a year.
Lots of soldier going away parties.
Still Soapboxing on Tremont & Prospect.
How we gotta defeat Hitler, Mussolini,
Or our own future will be lost.
Concentration camps for all lefties.
Grandma Edith and I marry at City Hall
Listened to Benny Goodman “Take the A Train”
Duke Ellington "Clarinet Concerto." Mozart.
Grandma Elizabeth is born.
Everybody called her cute as they did you.
We were a family Betsy the dog and all.
Read Hemingway, “For Whom The Bells Toll”
Ben Gold, “Jews Without Money,”
Watched Bogart, Bergman in Casablanca
Listened to Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
And Penicillin was invented.
And we lived in the North Bronx near the Zoo.
Like Napoleon the Nazis march into Russia.
The freezing cold---- Russians patriots soldiers,
The beginning of the end. Russia US allies.
Stalin the dictator cover of Life Magazine.
A little time we were palsy walsy with Russia
Our bombers work, well done.
And most of Europe lay in ruins. Millions of dead.
Dancing to the new Big Band Swing
Wild freestyle, surely no minuet.
President FDR major cheerleader for
Winning the war dies in Georgia 1945.
The hearse train makes its way slowly
Millions old, young, Blacks in tears.
With our Allies, Britain, France Poland
Victory bells ring for celebrations.
Kissing strangers in Times Square
A heartfelt joy engulfs the world.
G.I. Bill soldiers off to college, government pays.
Seems like a new day dawning.
Here in the North Bronx near the Zoo.
Not so fast, Yesterdays ally Russia now a threat.
Truman unleashed the fear with a loyalty oath.
Got elected by the way of fear.
Fear, the Genie in the bottle.
Let out, never to get it back in again.
Atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima Nagasaki
Now the whole world trembled at the horror.
Ends the old war. Superpowers US, Russia in a new cold war.
So, the 40s ended with the Big Bands swingin
Frank Sinatra singin cars with fish like fins.
Not for long did we wonder in the flush of victory.
The biggest strike wave ever swept the country.
Workers determined for their share of the war profits.
GG lead a General Strike in Stanford Connecticut.
Bosses, Union bureaucrats never forgave that.
Over the land came dark clouds of little fascists.
Launched a full-blown red scare.
Two Super Powers in a Cold War.
Both sides with bombs from atoms.
Talk about scared, the whole world trembled.
Yes, GG would become a major target.
Years in the unions would come to an abrupt end.
Blacklisted, with a family to support ,
GG had to change his life and become a manager.
Soren it wasn’t the end.
Just a place to keep doing the right thing.
Through it all we sang and danced
To keep the spirit of living life alive and well.
And we lived in the North Bronx near the Zoo.
Soren, how’s this for an opener?
“The German Army Marches Into Paris."
World War two is in full swing.
The US is the arsenal of Democracy.
Driving a 1930 Ford Rumble seat Roadster.
Working in machine shop turning out propeller shafts for,
Liberty ships to run the German U boat blockade.
Great Grandpa GG, elected NY State President Machinists Union.
Keep union members turning out tanks,
Ships, planes, guns,engines, tanks, ships guns.
Country wide collection, tin foil, old cans junk,
For guns, tanks planes to win the war.!
The average pay $!,299 dollars a year.
Lots of soldier going away parties.
Still Soapboxing on Tremont & Prospect.
How we gotta defeat Hitler, Mussolini,
Or our own future will be lost.
Concentration camps for all lefties.
Grandma Edith and I marry at City Hall
Listened to Benny Goodman “Take the A Train”
Duke Ellington "Clarinet Concerto." Mozart.
Grandma Elizabeth is born.
Everybody called her cute as they did you.
We were a family Betsy the dog and all.
Read Hemingway, “For Whom The Bells Toll”
Ben Gold, “Jews Without Money,”
Watched Bogart, Bergman in Casablanca
Listened to Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
And Penicillin was invented.
And we lived in the North Bronx near the Zoo.
Like Napoleon the Nazis march into Russia.
The freezing cold---- Russians patriots soldiers,
The beginning of the end. Russia US allies.
Stalin the dictator cover of Life Magazine.
A little time we were palsy walsy with Russia
Our bombers work, well done.
And most of Europe lay in ruins. Millions of dead.
Dancing to the new Big Band Swing
Wild freestyle, surely no minuet.
President FDR major cheerleader for
Winning the war dies in Georgia 1945.
The hearse train makes its way slowly
Millions old, young, Blacks in tears.
With our Allies, Britain, France Poland
Victory bells ring for celebrations.
Kissing strangers in Times Square
A heartfelt joy engulfs the world.
G.I. Bill soldiers off to college, government pays.
Seems like a new day dawning.
Here in the North Bronx near the Zoo.
Not so fast, Yesterdays ally Russia now a threat.
Truman unleashed the fear with a loyalty oath.
Got elected by the way of fear.
Fear, the Genie in the bottle.
Let out, never to get it back in again.
Atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima Nagasaki
Now the whole world trembled at the horror.
Ends the old war. Superpowers US, Russia in a new cold war.
So, the 40s ended with the Big Bands swingin
Frank Sinatra singin cars with fish like fins.
Not for long did we wonder in the flush of victory.
The biggest strike wave ever swept the country.
Workers determined for their share of the war profits.
GG lead a General Strike in Stanford Connecticut.
Bosses, Union bureaucrats never forgave that.
Over the land came dark clouds of little fascists.
Launched a full-blown red scare.
Two Super Powers in a Cold War.
Both sides with bombs from atoms.
Talk about scared, the whole world trembled.
Yes, GG would become a major target.
Years in the unions would come to an abrupt end.
Blacklisted, with a family to support ,
GG had to change his life and become a manager.
Soren it wasn’t the end.
Just a place to keep doing the right thing.
Through it all we sang and danced
To keep the spirit of living life alive and well.
And we lived in the North Bronx near the Zoo.
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