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“The Governor wants to know.” She was very discreet and very careful about that, which showed great political wisdom. Although she was really hatching the ideas herself, she knew enough to give the Governor credit. Also she knew the prestige that the Governor's interest would have and that she could get from people information and service that wouldn't come just because she asked for it.
More and more he realized that she was thinking of his interest a great deal of the time. I think this is probably the way he made friends always - on the basis of working with people. He obviously became more and more sure that she was his friend and that she was working in his interest. More and more he gave her his confidence. More and more he listened to her recommendations. I'm not sure about this, but I don't think that by the end of his first term the situation had developed in New York where people said, “You'd better see Mrs. Moskowitz first before you broach anything to Smith.” I think that during the first term she was mostly concerned with the reconstruction project and that she stuck to her knitting in that.
Most of the reconstruction project was put into operation. The reorganization of the state hospitals, the reorganization and development of the state parks, the
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