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Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
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of course, he understood that I had no authority to offer him the post, didn't he? It was a Presidential appointment. I was only canvassing for the President to see if he would be available. I said that I thought he'd better go on with his mission, because this matter would have to wait. I would let him know, anyway, it gave me great satisfaction to know that I could say to the President that he probably would be available, “although I extract no promise from you, Mr. Arnold.”

That settled that. I had never seen the man face to face, but I got such an impression of an over-stimulated individual! As I got to know him better over later years, my impression of him over the telephone proved to be exactly correct. I haven't a doubt that he's an awfully good lawyer. He keeps his eye on the ball, but it's the ball he selects and he drives it in the direction he's decided it's to go. He becomes, therefore, just too vigorous and too smart to work in any kind of a delicate situation in an administration where more than one situation or more than one thing has to be taken into consideration.

I like him very much as I've come to know him later. I do see his virtues and his advantages. I'm sure he has served his clients well, but he's quite drastic in his approaches to problems.





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