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Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
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To be sure I was on the wire and had called him about another matter. He asked me how things were going. I told him. Before we got through with the conversation, he said, “Well, I think we'd better settle on Wallace.”

I said, “Do you mean that, because I don't think people altogether know that?”

He said, “Yeah.”

I said, “Harry seems to be the one who's saying what the dope is.”

He said, “You better go over and tell Harry this, but don't telephone it from your room. Just go over and tell him.”

Harry said, “You don't mind if I call on my foolproof wire and verify it?”

I didn't mind. I sat right in the room while Harry called him up and said, “Frances tells me. . . .”

The President said, “Yeah, I think that's the best thing, Harry.”

“All right,” said Harry, “we'll do that. I just wanted the word.” Then he went to it.

That was one of the occasions when you got the feeling that he didn't remember who his chief operator was. He wanted him to be the chief operator, though. If Harry had been a sensitive fellow who got mad, he





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