Part: 12         Session: 123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536         Page 269270271271272273274275276277278279280281282283284285286287288289290291292293294295296297298299300301 of 1143

made friends with Mrs. Truman at the end of Truman's term, nfortunately. We should have made friends with her sooner, but she became a great friend of Mrs. Truman's, and I'll talk about it later.

You said a little bit about that developing friendship, I believe last time; it was through Margaret Truman, wasn't it?

Yes, Albert and I knew Margaret Truman, but Margaret was not at allinterested in legislation, nor was Mrs. Truman. Mrs. Truman was only interested because she liked Florence and Florence told her things that seemed to make sense.

Florence also made friends with the Clerk of the Senate, who had always made troulbe, because when Chavez was the Chairman of the Appropriations subcommittee for HEW, he was never very attentive to the details, and we could easily lose a million dollars because the Clerk was inattentive, disinterested in the problem. Florence made friends with Herman Downey and Herman Downey became interested in medical research and still is, although he is not exactly what one could call a great intellectual ball-of-fire.

Is he related to Senator Downey of California?

No, he was appointed by McKellar. He comes from Tennessee.