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Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
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Department. He knew about that. He knew a good many things. He'd either had them from Al, or he'd picked them up from other people.

It was revealing to me because of the fact that he seemed to have come to the conclusion that he wanted to appoint me for three reasons - first, to be smarter than Al; second, to please what he thought was a body of political influence that wasn't fully taken account of, namely the women voters; third, because it was easy. I was right there and I was trustworthy. I asked him if he had consulted any of the political leaders in the state.

He said, “No, no,” pulling his lips down. When he said no like that afterwards I always knew that he was either off on the wrong track, or he wasn't telling the exact truth, or he didn't know anything about it. I learned exactly what it meant.

When we parted, I said, “That's wonderful. I hadn't thought of doing this. It puts another problem before me, another attitude, another method of thinking about my own private affairs. I've got to take that into account, but I will do it. I want to say this, however. Don't regard it as sewed up today. Don't cross this off your calendar as finished. I won't say a word about it to anybody. In the course of the next few weeks you'll get plenty of advice





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