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husband. She did and they agreed that it could be done if she would be discreet and careful. So she gave occasional interviews. That was the signal for every newspaper women in Christendom to get here if she could, because the President's wife was going to give interviews. They were very unimportant at first, having to do largely with domestic matters and so forth, and not about political matters at all. I remember being frightened when I heard she was going to do it, feeling that she couldn't help but put her foot into it sooner or later, and say the wrong thing. But she never did. She managed to slide over delicate situations and answer that honesty was the best policy, or something of that sort. She gave them the story they wanted and yet didn't commit anybody to anything, which was a very great talent. Of course, she's developed it since to an enormous degree.

Anyway, that brought a lot of those people in, and there were all these other newspaper men hanging around looking for stories. That's my impression as to how all this extreme attention by the press got started. It was startling to see how much there was almost immediately.

Roosevelt began having press conferences. That had never been done by any President before. I think myself it was a great mistake. Of course, he was awfully pleased with the way in which he had handled the press during the