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Wickard also would take part occasionally with the little repartee with the President. He never started it, and I'm sorry to say I did. I remember Wickard said to me once after Cabinet meeting, “You're very queer in the things you say to the President. I never supposed that people said anything like that to the President.”
I remember saying, “What do you mean?” “Well,” he said, “you take him right up on something and throw it right back at him. You take him up when what he says isn't correct, but you also take him up in a joking way. When you take him up on something he says that wasn't so or sort of exaggerated, you always do it like a joke.”
I said, “well, yes, it seems funny to me when he says things that are exaggerated. I just think it's funny and I toss it back.”
He said, “yes, and he tosses it back at you too.” I said, “That's all right. We take the wind out of his exaggeration.”
The President was inclined to exaggerate certain things, making a good story. I sometimes did that, but he never got mad at me apparently because it was always done in good humor. Wickard got to the point where he would participate in this little bit of repartee between
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