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Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
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about him. It began to develop as he appeared to be a proper compromise candidate. He was Southern born so that was something the Southerners could accept and swallow. He was a New York lawyer and was therefore well and favorably known to the respectable elements - that is, the people in the Democratic party who thought they were somebody and of a little superior type. He was acceptable to them. He had no record at that time of being a corporation lawyer who would be likely to take the lead in arguing against what became known as the New Deal's labor legislation. That would be the last thing that any of us would have thought of him at that time. He had served on committees with most of us - local, civic and charitable committees. We, in New York, knew him as broad-minded and generous and charitable and willing to appropriate moneys for hospitals, education and things of that sort. He seemed acceptable to us. I would have said that he probably was as much a Smith Democrat as William Church Osborn, who was a good one. I knew William Church Osborn and I knew how much he liked Governor Smith, how much he really respected and admired him, and how much he knew of the work that he had done and appreciated it. I would have supposed, if you'd asked me, that John W. Davis probably shared those views.





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