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Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
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aren't familiar with it there's no place to begin.

At any rate, I found what Wickard said interesting. I found him a very likable man, very pleasant, very agreeable, very smiling, with a sense of humor, able to laugh a little. At the very beginning I remember thinking that he probably felt slightly overpowered by the seriousness of being the Cabinet, as indeed everybody would when they first came into it. I think I've discussed the first Cabinet meeting when we were as solemn as owls. Nobody smiled. We were very solemn, very stiff, very rigid. I think it was some time before that broke down. Every new member as they came in, because there were a number of replacements, would always go through a period of extreme seriousness and solemnity, sort of expecting something serious to happen, which never did. There was always that expectation. Wickard had that full share of that. He seemed always a little overawed and didn't want to butt in.

He practically never did make any comments on other aspects of the total program - at least, I don't recall any. If the business of a new battleship, or the business of a State Department problem, was being discussed, I don't recall his ever making any comments on the subject. I do remember his making some comment about the





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