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of an amendment that was offered to the Constitution in 1890. It was exact. He looked it up and it was correct. He had done his homework. He had read it all before he decided how to vote or what he ought to urge or oppose. He went back over every amendment that had ever been offered, the debate upon it, the reasons why they'd voted against it and so forth and all the arguments in favor of it. He had mastered the subject the way a scholar masters a small piece of human knowledge he's interested in.
Smith never read anything else. He had almost no literary, philosophical or historical reading. He read the materials which he, in his public official life, was responsible for. Roosevelt, of course, was much more broadly read. He had dipped into anything and everything and had read a good deal. He did, of course, as anybody who is in public office as President of the United States has to, learn from people and learn quickly learning by digest. He can't, when he's President of the United States, take the time to read. It just isn't in the picture. Most people don't realize that not only of the President, but of other high officers of the government. In an emergency situation, such as we were in in '33, he couldn't possibly road. What they know, they had to use. They couldn't go out and find out something else.
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