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balloons put out, but experienced politicians always expected a trial balloon to be put up by somebody. Although Mary Dewson was far too loyal a Roosevelt friend, worker, colleague, and so forth, to put up a trial balloon without his consent, she wouldn't have held him to it if the trial balloon didn't work out well, or if it did work out well and something else occurred that he thought he'd rather do. It was strictly a trial balloon.

At least twice I heard him say to people later on, who thought something ought to be done and wanted to give out some publicity on it, “All right, say it. Quote yourself, don't quote me. If it doesn't work, the blood be on your own head.” That was exactly typical of him. He probably didn't use those same words, but I'm sure that whatever his statement to Mary was, it was in the spirit of a trial balloon. However, she's often told me that he said from the beginning that he thought it was first-class, that he thought it would be good. He wanted to wait and see what happened and he wanted to wait and see what the strength of other candidates for the post might be. This, after all, was the first time that a woman would be named to the Cabinet and he was responding to the pressure of the Woman's Division of the National Democratic party.

Every trial balloon that she put up - and she put up