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I said to them as we're having Saturday breakfast, “I think I must resign. I've had this conversation with Pete Canevieri; he thinks it's harmful to the committee. The committee is more important than my being on it -- I'm not the chairman of it, in any event; Wally is. And I think I'll resign. I don't want to hurt what's taking place.” I really felt quite moved by it, you know. So Wally said, “Just a minute. Let's figure out what everybody else wants to do.” So he goes around the room. He says, “What do you think?” And everybody, everybody, the most pro-DeSapio people there, said, “Certainly not. You are a member of this committee. You are not going to resign.” And we got to Marie del Gordio, and she said, “You were elected for two years...”

SIDE 2

She said, “You're elected for two years, and you will serve your term.” As I said, there hadn't been any election. I had appointed them all. (laughs) But that's okay. It was a marvelous kind of response.

And a week later when we had our next meeting (we met every week; I've never had so many intensive meetings on one subject) we have coffee and then Wally takes out a box, and he says, “We have this for you.” It's a hat box. I open it up, and it is a tin helmet that you wear on construction jobs, and on the front of it are the initials MANA. I still have it on my bookshelves -- I'm very proud of it. And Wally says. “This