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Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
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Part:         Session:         Page of 912

They didn't catch on to it at all. Never saw through it.

The thing went off as planned. Lewis made his speech. Mr. So-and-so made his speech. They huddled up, and they talked together, and then they finally gave way, and the picture wound up with their shaking hands and then shaking hands with me. The Press rushed to the telephones, and made it a great story. Big story.

Interviewer:

He was giving you a piece of great publicity--

Perkins:

I don't know that it was so great.

Interviewer:

Making it see that you settled the strike?

Perkins:

Oh, no, no, no. I intervened.

Interviewer:

Your good offices accomplished what weeks of negotiating had failed to do?

Perkins:

He tried to make me believe that, later. There hadn't been weeks of negotiations, in this case. But he tried to make me believe that, that he had been responsible for giving me a great deal of credit, although I never saw the credit, and that was that. It was all so funny and vain, you know, and dramatic.

Mr. Lewis never would laugh about those things, himself, you see. He didn't come off his high horse and laugh about that particular episode, although I tried to get him to.





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