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people who had to do with the NRA. It didn't go to the code committees. Hugh Johnson, whatever his defects were, had a lovable quality that made you hate to hurt him. You didn't want to hurt him. It would be like slapping a child in the face to hurt him. There was a curious childlike quality about him that stayed the hand of many a person who wanted to ruin him. They'd think better of it and then wouldn't. It just didn't seem fair. He had such good qualities. He had such brilliance. He had such strong imaginative faculties. He had such drive and such capacity for publicity that put over this big idea. If you accepted the idea that the NRA was a good thing, was a good thing for this country, needed to be done, you couldn't hurt him. One must remember that about eighty-five per cent of the population did so accept the NRA, and certainly the population of Washington did. If you accepted that, you stayed your hand. I never had any temptation to ruin him, but I know that other people stayed their hand when they were about to.
Early in the game, however, Hugh was still holding his hearings. The picture that people remember of the NRA is of Hugh sitting on the platform on a hot, broily day, red in the face, with perspiration streaming down his cheeks, with everybody else hot - this was before
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