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So he and Hillman came to meet me in the Pennsylvania Station. We met at the information stand about an hour before train time. We sat down on a bench in the waiting room and we talked. Hillman was, of course, very excited, as he often was. He was trembling with excitement, his nostrils dilating. Wolman was a calmer, more practical man, a man who didn't demonstrate as much but had a plan instead. Hillman was wanting a demonstration of the administration's interest and concern in labor. I said, “Well, what would you suggest, Mr. Hillman? I can't bear to just do a show-off thing that has no substance to it. You know what the program is. I've told you and I've told Wolman what the suggestions I made to the President were. This is the program I have in mind.”

“That's fine,” he said. “It's a fine program, but it'll take you most of a year to put that through.”

I said, “It'll take more than a year to put it through. After all, we're elected for four years.”

“But the labor people can't wait - just can't wait! They've got to have a something now. They've got to have a signal. They've got to have a symbol. They've got to have a demonstration that the administration is interested and cares about labor. Why don't you call conference of labor leaders?”