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Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
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were not so well known to them. You heard of other great leaders of the War Between the States like Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, General Pierre G. T. Beauregard, who I heard of for the first time. You heard of people like that which were more nearly local heroes.

That was the first time that I became convinced of the fact that the traditions, concept, ideology which were associated with the Civil War were still potent political thinking in that part of the country. I had known people like Mrs. Beverley Tucker, as very fine old Southern families and the best kin of people, but who were modern in their outlooks on life and who had been associated with many of these national organizations of social work, political reform and so forth. Really up until that time I had not been aware that there was such a large number of people who still thought in the patterns and the reactions of people who were still thinking about the Civil War. I was personally very much surprised at that. Of course, Irene Gibson was not. She had been South to visit a great deal more than I had. I had never been South, as a matter of fact, except that I went to see somebody in Virginia once and to see a few horse races. I hadn't traveled very much.

This was my political education. Every bit of it was new and fascinating to me. I got a lot of ideas. I





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