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Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
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social asset. Everybody would burst into roars of laughter at a successful sally of that sort. Of course, it did get pretty near the hurting line sometimes.

However, I never thought that Roosevelt was deliberately trying to hurt anybody when he did that. I think perhaps he didn't care if it did hurt and he wouldn't have checked himself against something that popped into his head on the ground that it might hurt So-and-so's feelings. He would let me answer him, such as telling Claude not to answer that question. I'm sure I said that out loud so the President could hear it. I said that in a kind of old Aunt Mary tone of voice. The President laughed. I was teasing him when I did that. He would laugh and that would be the end of it.

Incidentally, I think he thought that Claude Wickard had a streak of weakness in him. He never said to me, “Wickard is a weak sister,” but I think he had a feeling of that. So it might lead the President to make fun of it. I remember that incident, anyway, very clearly. More than once I would have liked to have told other people the same thing - “Don't answer that question.” The President did bait them a little. Lots of people didn't feel





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