Home
Search transcripts:    Advanced Search
Notable New     Yorkers
Select     Notable New Yorker

Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
Photo Gallery
Transcript

Part:         Session:         Page of 915

“Well, stay for lunch.” Then the President would come for lunch. Why don't you stay and tell the President?” In other words, she made the opportunity for Hopkins to talk to the President.

I think in a way she knew that they were using her to get to the President, and in a way I think she didn't. She knew too that it was important for the President to know about this. She knew too that he was diverted by everything else under heaven. She had always conceived it to be her function in life to look, see and tell, helping him to see and understand things that he didn't get in any other way. So I don't think she thought it was a plot. She knew they wanted to have the President know about things and she thought the President ought to know about it. So she was glad to have it done.

I finally got to the point myself where I wondered if she didn't resent their coming to her so much, but she didn't. To tell the truth I think she was slightly flattered by it. I think that both Aubrey and Hopkins developed a technique of flattery to Mrs. Roosevelt which she'd never been accustomed to before. She had never been flattered in her life and she didn't know what it meant. I think it gave her a sense of importance





© 2006 Columbia University Libraries | Oral History Research Office | Rights and Permissions | Help