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Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
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absolutely unwilling to make any change now. It will be an additional burden and handicap to him if he has to get accustomed to a new person. There are lots of things that have gone on that you understand each other on. He just can't get into that field. He's got to think about the war, the appropriate diplomacy, the foreign problems and all that. He just can't put his mind on a new person operating in this field. You do understand each other. That's that. It can't be done.”

I said, “That doesn't mean forever, does it?”

She said, “Oh, I suppose not, but that's what he feels for the present at any rate.”

So that was that. There was a Cabinet meeting a few days later. I had something to take up with him afterwards, and he said, “Did you hear from my Mrs?”

I said, “Yes, it's bright of you to communicate with me like that.”

“Well,” he said, “I meant to tell you myself, but the more I thought of it, the more I didn't see how I was going to do it. Really, it's personal, I suppose. I know who you are, what you are, what you'll do, what you won't do. You know me. You see lots of things that most people don't see. You keep me guarded against a lot of things that no new man walking in here would protect me from.” He was very simple about it.





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