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from newspaper women, of whom there were a few who had good status, like Bess Furman of the Times, and Winifred Mallon of the Times, who's now (1953) retired, and Ruth Finney. Ruth Finney and Bess Furman were both general reporters and not society reporters. I think Ruth Finney worked on a wire service at that time. They were aware of the fact that there were a number of newspaper women out of work and that many of them were coming to Washington hoping to pick up a story during the inauguration period which they could sell to some paper and keep body and soul together.

Miss Finney and Miss Furman asked for an interview with Mrs. Roosevelt. Mrs. Roosevelt, being a pleasant, kind-hearted person who wanted to help, gave them an interview. It wasn't very important, just something they could put in the paper. In the course of the interview they told her what a terrible plight the women newspaper reporters were in, how they were out of work, that many of them were in Washington trying to pick up a story, and so forth. They said to her, “Couldn't you give an interview occasionally?”

Presidents' wives don't do that. In the past they never gave interview. Mrs. Herbert Hoover would give an interview about the Girl Scouts, of which she was a director, but never about anything else. Mrs. Roosevelt didn't come down to Washington with any intention of taking part in the