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very faithful people who steadied things and kept them moving. Dexter Keezer had come on by then and was acting as an economist. He was extremely helpful. Of course, there was a big horde of people in the NRA and most of them were very, very helpful and full of good will. I didn't know any rotters at all in the NRA. Most of them were very honorably loyal to Hugh Johnson. They really were. They appreciated what he was doing. They were sorry for his weakness, but they were not nasty about it. They didn't try to knife him, which I always thought was quite a tribute to the human race. Many of them knew pretty unpleasant things about what he did and what he was like when he was in these drinking bouts, but they were loyal to him.

Of course, a great many other things were concerning me at this time. We were developing Social Security, the Wage and Hour Act, the Walsh-Healey Act, and so on, getting them into operation, and doing many other things. So I wasn't giving my full attention by any means to the NRA.

However, by the spring of 1934 the rumblings about Johnson's condition were getting to be pretty strong. People like McIntyre were asking me straight out, “Don't you think something's got to be done about Johnson? You know what condition he's in. It's all over town.”