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“I think so,” he said. “You want....” and then he started to tell me exactly what I had wanted and what I had said I had wanted in very brief, condensed form, using a minimum of words and a maximum of content. He showed no excitement at all, kept a perfectly flat face.
I said, “Well, do you think you'd like such a job?”
He said, “Yes, I think I'd like it,” but without any excitement, without any of this, “It's a wonderful job. It's very alluring.” There was none of that stuff, which I may say I liked about him.
Then I said, “Do you think you could do it, because, after all, you're a better judge of your own capacities than anybody else is? There are certain things which we haven't talked about. Those are the political implications. I know that you're an enrolled Democrat, and that's all right. I know that you've got a voting residence in Queens. That's all right. I found that out before I ever asked you to come. You won't have to go and find any political backing, because I can get it for you. If you and I decide that I want you to come and you want to come, I can get the political backing. But do you think you can do it? Do you think you will do it well?”
He said, “I think I will. I think I know how it can
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