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Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
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“Yes,” he said, “but she's no Communist. She can't be.”

I said, “Is this her picture?”

“Yes, it is,” he said.

“Well,” I said, “what are we up against? What does she do in your office?”

Remember that at this time there was no row about Communists. Nobody had ever heard about Communists in government. There were no inquiries being made. I said, “het's find out something about her and what she does.”

He came back that same afternoon, actually pale. Hinrichs is a very emotional kind of a man, but awfully under control usually. He's deeply emotional, however, and was deeply stirred by what he had discovered. He said he was sure she couldn't be a Communist. She was far too intelligent. She was one of the very best workers that they had. He told me that she was not only a well educated girl, but a rich girl. Her parents were dead and she had been adopted many years ago by a very rich aunt, who not only gave her everything that she wanted, an allowance beside her salary, but who expected to make her her heir. She had a great deal more money than most people did. There was no





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