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Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
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I said, “I'm interested in that, Mr. Allen. What makes you think so?”

He cited what So-and-So had said, what somebody else had said. “Something's got to be done. Can't you do something?”

I said, “What can I do? I'm not even a delegate here.”

He said, “Why doesn't the President come out here? The President has got to come. You're the only person who ever seems to have any nerve about this. Can't you get the President on the telephone and tell him that he must come? It's my considered opinion that this thing is going to blow up and the Democratic Party is going to split in two. There's going to be a free-for-all. No matter who's nominated he won't have the party back of him. There may even be a rival candidate in the field. It'll be just no good. The whole thing is going so sour. It's so terrible. Haven't you noticed it?”

“Well,” I said, “I know there's lots of bad talk around.”

“You've just got to do something.”

I never had anybody lay the burden of life on me so strong as Allen did over the telephone. I said to myself, “He probably has a bet on this. He probably has a bet that the President will go to the convention





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