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Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
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that way also. At this time Harry was very close to Roosevelt. I was going to the convention, not as a delegate of course, but just to be there, circulate, use influence, and be pleasant to everybody, the way you do at conventions.

A couple of months before I began to be uneasy us I heard these conflicting rumors that Roosevelt would not be a candidate, then that he would, that he was going to shock the people who were for him by coming right out flat and saying that he would not under any circumstances. Of course, he gave hints of that all the time.

I don't think that Roosevelt ever supported Hopkins for the Presidency, or that Hopkins ever wanted it. First of all, Hopkins was ill so much, and also he was politically without national standing. He was absolutely unheard of in 1933 when he was appointed. He was well heard of by '39, but the reception to him was mixed. During the period that he was administering relief he had made both warm friends and solid enemies. There's no question about that. So although he was well known by this time, he was not universally favorably known among Democrats. I'm not talking about the public generally, but about Democrats. After all, it's the Democratic machine, the Democratic organization, that does the nominating.





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