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Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
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Wickard did have responsibility for War Food at the beginning because I remember his telling a very amusing story in Cabinet meeting as to the efforts they had made to persuade the Russians to take some oleomargarine instead of butter, how much oleomargarine they had and how all Americans were eating oleomargarine, and so forth.

Anyhow, that's getting ahead of the story. Through that campaign period Cabinet meetings were irregular, because the President was out, and the members of the Cabinet were out. There was lots going on politically. We just met occasionally. So certainly we didn't settle down to the routine affairs of business during that period. I don't think we settled down much before the 1st of January 1941. The campaign was a very disrupting period. After the campaign was over we certainly had a meeting. The President then had to prepare the budget and the State of the Union message. He then had to have a little rest. So that period from the 1st of November to the 1st of January when the Congress is coming back in always was in the Roosevelt day occupied with the President's trip to Warm Springs, his resting up, the preparation for a new Congress, the preparation of the State of the Union message, and so forth.





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