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“Well,” he said, “what hotel are you in?” I told him, “Harry's over in another one. You better go over and tell Harry Hopkins this, but don't telephone it from your room, because somebody'll overhear it. His wires are probably tapped. Just go over and tell Harry that that's what I want done. Then we'll see what happens. Then telephone Eleanor and see if she'll come out.”
That was the way that ended. I've always thought that it was the most extraordinary thing that the Wallace decision was made like that. I know that was the time he made up his mind about it, right on the telephone talking to me. I know he hadn't made up his mind about it before. Of course, he knew he ought to have made up his mind. That was the way he often talked to me about things, when he knew it was wrong not to have decided before. To most of the men he would have talked to he wouldn't have said, “I ought to have decided long ago,” but he could say that to me without humiliation. He could say it to me as he couldn't have said it to any of the men he dealt with. I don't know why, but that's the way life is. He was able to kind of think out loud and say, “yes, I think Henry Wallace is the person. You better go over and tell Harry Hopkins this.”
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