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Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
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August at any rate.

By that time these things were in the air all the time. Munich had taken place. Sumner Welles had been to Germany to see Hitler. Others had made private reports. We were well aware of the hazards there - psychological and every other kind - but they weren't being talked about, not at all. There was an election coming on in '40 and we weren't talking about any possibilities of war in '39 - about there being war at all, much less us in it. It was just not being talked about. It was talked about in private circles. It was talked about in the Cabinet. It was at that time that I made a note in my own private notes and I said, “Does he dream of war?” That was in early '39 or later '38. We didn't know. It was in the air. By the time the King and Queen were here it seemed pretty obvious that there was going to be war, but only in very closely held government circles was it obvious.

So Harry was more and more consulted on all this. I recall all this because the Queen was extremely gracious about little Diana who was living in the White House and who was crazy to see the Queen. She was about eight then. Mrs. Roosevelt told me that she had said to her majesty that little Diana was there, that she was a child and it





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