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Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
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Part:         Session:         Page of 444

I wouldn't have said whether I thought Roosevelt was right or wrong because I was looking out for my bill.

I remember being considerably disappointed because Roosevelt wouldn't do anything about the bill. He gave the bill lip service and was recorded in the Senate record as having voted for it. I always thought he hadn't. In my heart I believed that Roosevelt had not voted for the 54 Hour Bill and I knew he wasn't present the night it was taken. I asked him about it once and he said he did vote for it. What I think is that he probably was paired or something or other. Anyhow the record shows that he voted for it. I had it looked up once. I definitely got the record of the vote on it.

Anyway he didn't do anything for it. He didn't go and push for it. He didn't work. He didn't gather up votes. He didn't convince others that they ought to, and so forth and so on. That bill was a very tight squeeze. It had been going on for two or three years. You had to have every vote.

This Sheehan fight sort of upset my plans to get it through because it sort of swept everything else aside. That took the stage and that was the most important thing. There were a good many people who, of course, agreed with Roosevelt on it.





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