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Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
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he said, “Oh yes, yes, I'm here, and practically everybody in the office is here.” That had happened all over the country. Civil servants had gotten up out of their hammocks, where they had been spending a pleasant afternoon, and trotted down to their offices on the theory that they'd better be there. Something terrible was going on and the government would be at work before you knew it, so they had better be in their offices in case they were needed. That was true all over the country.

The first thing everybody in the Cabinet did was to get in touch with the White House. By noon everybody was over there. As we came into the Cabinet room, there was the strangest sensation. What interested me was that practically every man there, though I'm not sure everyone did as I'm not sure of Wallace, had a bit of blasphemy on his tongue. They were mad, angry. I made a note of that at the time. I made notes of human characteristics rather than historical matters. I've always been interested in how people behave under stress and strain. I noted there that that was a sign of profound anger. I had been in that Cabinet for seven years and I never heard an oath from one of them - never. They were not men who spoke in blasphemous offhands. They just didn't. Perhaps it was courtesy because





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