March 21 and 22, 1948 Traces of Snow, Rather Plain Pumps, Pretty Ears and Sewing By Hand

Dear Mother & Daddy,

"B's vacation is almost over and we sure are going to miss him next week.  We have been out almost every day.  The weather is getting better all the time and it has been real warm the past few days.  It's supposed to be 68 today.  There are still traces of snow but these warm days will soon get rid of it.  Today is the first day of spring and it looks like it too.  The school yard is beginning to get green.

We had company all afternoon last Sunday.  The Waggoners came and had just left when Swanns came.  We have been shopping several times and went riding several times this week.  Yesterday we drove to Middletown and I got some black shoes.  They are rather plain pumps with a button on top--very practical shoes.  I wanted something I could wear any time of the year so they have closed heels and toes.

B has gone grocery shopping and we may go to see the Rollins this afternoon.  We were at Richards for a few minutes yesterday afternoon.  I almost forgot to tell you that I got my hair cut real short and a permanent Thursday.

I'll try to finish this letter now.  B came in with groceries and we had to have lunch.  He brought your letter too.  The dining room set is very pretty and I know you're anxious to get it.

Bobby weighs 12 lbs. today.  We have finished another roll of pictures so when B gets around to printing them we'll send you some.  Bobby sure loves company.  He likes to go to the kitchen when we have breakfast and then he's awake all afternoon.  He kicks and talks in his basket.  He's too long to sleep in the basket now so we're going to try to use the buggy for awhile.  It's nice and big.  Bobby is still a good baby.  He was real good when Alice kept him.  She thinks he has such pretty ears--they are so close to his head.

I'm so glad Beulah is better.  It's about time she was feeling like herself once more.  I was thinking the other day that it has been a year now since I was home.  We certainly have lots to be thankful for.

Grandma wrote that Billy had a job in a bookstore.   She sure wrote me all the news.

I'm still working on my red jersey.  Aggie got her machine while I was in the hospital.  She was doing something on it and I don't want to ask for it because I've already used it so much.  It is easy to sew on the jersey but just takes so long by hand and I haven't had much time either.

We're still waiting to hear about the job."

             Lots of love,

                     B, Bonnie & Baby

NOTE from Ann:  Truman and the State Department are at odds over the Palestine situation:

"Then Truman did something that greatly complicated his position. Breaking his own rule about not meeting with any more Zionist lobbyists, he received the Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann at the White House on the evening of 18 March 1948. Truman did this at the behest of his longtime Jewish friend Edward Jacobson, who in turn had been recruited to intervene with the president by Zionist members of B’nai B’rith. [27] Apparently forgetting his agreement with the State Department to revive the trusteeship option in the event of chaos in Palestine, Truman personally assured Weizmann that the U.S. government would support partition without qualification. Unfortunately (but typically), Truman did not inform the State Department of this personal pledge, or even that he had seen Weizmann. When, on 19 March 1948, with violence and mayhem besetting Palestine, the U.S. ambassador to the UN, Warren Austin, moved to suspend partition and announced his country’s shift of support to temporary trusteeship, Truman exploded in anger. “This morning [March 20 1948] I find that the State Department has reversed my Palestine policy. The first I know about it is what I see in the papers! Isn’t that hell? I’m now in the position of a liar and a double crosser. I’ve never felt so in my life.” [28]  Truman seems never to have considered how his own failure to inform the State Department of his dealings with Weizmann contributed to his predicament. The State Department was acting according to a preapproved script and had no way of knowing that Truman, in his conversation with the Zionist leader, had changed that script."  http://www.palestine-studies.org/journals.aspx?id=10710&jid=1&href=fulltext

March 22

Dear Mother & Daddy,

"B got these made last night so we thought we'd send them on.  Isn't Bobby getting cute?  B says I brag a lot about him.  He probably does too when I'm not around.  Ha!  We're plenty proud of him anyway and sure wish you could see him.  I thought you might want to order one of these purses.  They look pretty nice."  Love, Bonnie