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Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
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that were ordinarily used in the exchange of goods and services. That was just by way of casual conversation, as I saw him on social occasions. We saw each other a good deal. His wife is an old friend of mine, and he had been an old friend.

So I knew about it. I remember talking with Lubin about this notion of Lend Lease. I certainly didn't hear anything about Lend Lease specifically from Salter. I doubt that he knew anything about it, and if he had, we wouldn't have discussed it, as it would have been highly improper. I must have heard of it from Hopkins. It wasn't called. Lend Lease when the idea was first broached. It's my impression that the President really invented this method. I can't swear to that because he never sat down and talked with me about it and showed me his mind on the subject. But he approached it rather gradually, by throwing out a question here and a hint there. I got the feeling that he was thinking about something, about someway in which the people of the United States could assist the British.

He had already sent them the over-age destroyers. That was a brilliant idea really and was his own. I remember that the time that the feasibility of that was discussed at Cabinet meeting, somebody piped up and said, “Do they really want our second hand clothes? Will it do them any good?”





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