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the worship of God was headed for a certain kind of rationalistic disaster. So he raised the question with Litvinov. Whether it was his own idea, or whether somebody else had suggested it to him, I don't know.

He raised the question with Litvinov about freedom of religion in Russia. Litvinov gave him the usual stock answers that it wasn't totally prohibited, that anybody who wanted to pray to God could pray to God in secret, and so forth. But Roosevelt pressed him further and said, “You know what I mean.”

Then he went on to tell me the story afterwards about how amusing it was, how funny it was, and yet how pathetic and tragic it was. The President had said, “Now you know, Max, what I mean when I talk about religion and the practise of religion. You know important it is. Every man in his deepest heart knows the existence of God and has at least a thin line of recognition of the power of God and his relation. You know that as well as I do.”

He said to me, “By this time Max was blushing and he was all red. I said to him, ‘Now you know, Max. . .’” Of course, Litvinov was not accustomed to being called Max by high powers. He went on, “You know, Max, your good old father and mother, pious Jewish people, said their prayers. I know they must have taught you to say prayers. You must know all the good old Jewish psalms prayers.” He said,