1952
March
13 A resolution was drawn up in the Soviet Union to begin an investigation into all the individuals whose names had been mentioned during the interrogations in the JAC case. This list included 213 people, who were suspected of being American spies. Those involved were faced with loss of liberty, suffering, torment, and torture. Among them were many well known figures, including Ilya Ehrenburg, Vasily Grossman, Samuil Marshak, and Matvei Blanter.
April
1 Bob’s sixth birthday
27 Suzanna’s third birthday
28 In Zorach v. Clauson, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of a New York statute allowing children to be released from school for religious instruction.
We are a religious people whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being. We guarantee the freedom to worship as one chooses. We make room for as wide a variety of beliefs and creeds as the spiritual needs of man deem necessary. We sponsor an attitude on the part of government that shows no partiality to any one group and that lets each flourish according to the zeal of its adherents and the appeal of its dogma. When the state [343 U.S. 306, 314] encourages religious instruction or cooperates with religious authorities by adjusting the schedule of public events to sectarian needs, it follows the best of our traditions. For it then respects the religious nature of our people and accommodates the public service to their spiritual needs. To hold that it may not would be to find in the Constitution a requirement that the government show a callous indifference to religious groups. That would be preferring those who believe in no religion over those who do believe. Government may not finance religious groups nor undertake religious instruction nor blend secular and sectarian education nor use secular institutions to force one or some religion on any person. But we find no constitutional requirement which makes it necessary for government to be hostile to religion and to throw its weight against efforts to widen the effective scope of religious influence. The government must be neutral when it comes to competition between sects. It may not thrust any sect on any person. It may not make a religious observance compulsory. It may not coerce anyone to attend church, to observe a religious holiday, or to take religious instruction. But it can close its doors or suspend its operations as to those who want to repair to their religious sanctuary for worship or instruction. No more than that is undertaken here. Justice Douglas for the majority.
June
David ends second grade.
Bob graduates kindergarden.
12 David’s eighth birthday
30 McCarran-Walter Act - immigration quota laws revised to allow more Asians, but not "subversives" - Attorney-General to deport immigrants if they were communists even after they acquired U.S. citizenship.
August
In August 1952, the Soka Gakkai was officially recognized as a religious corporation and thereafter President Toda went on to build a foundation for the spread of Nichiren Daishonin's teachings in Japan, fulfilling his lifetime vow to achieve a membership of 750,000 households. No one had ever accomplished the propagation of Nichiren Daishonin's teachings on this scale in the 700-year history of Nichiren Buddhism.
Through the efforts of the Soka Gakkai, Nichijun, the 65th high priest of Taiseki-ji, defined 1952 as a significant point in the history of the widespread propagation of the Daishonin’s Buddhism. He stated that the time leading up to 1952 should be known as the era of protecting and upholding the Daishonin's teachings by the priesthood, and that the era from 1952 on would be known as the era of ransmitting and spreading the teachings through the efforts of the Soka Gakkai.
September
David starts third grade
Bob starts first grade
9 Jennie Marshak’s 65th birthday
November
1 Island of Bikini disappears when we detonate first hydrogen bomb there.
29 Miriam and Howard’s eleventh wedding anniversary.
