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Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
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read the book, and I hadn't at the time, or he'd seen the galley proof. He talked a bit about it, saying what an interesting picture it was. We talked a while and that brought Louis Howe clearly to my memory and mind. I began to think about him after he'd hung up, not thinking what I'd write in the review, but thinking to myself, “What was Louis really?”

We all really just walked by and didn't pay attention to Louis. He was there. He was a fixture. You had to cope with him. You had to deal with him. He was difficult at times. He was pigheaded and stubborn, and he guarded his man Roosevelt Just like iron. He was willing to be Roosevelt's “no-man,” but he wouldn't permit anybody else to be Roosevelt's “no-man,” or to say no time him. Everybody else must say, “Roosevelt is perfect.” Louis would say no to him, but he wouldn't tolerate anybody's saying, “I think the President's way off on this. I think that's the craziest idea I ever heard of.” If you said that to Louis, you'd get turned out of his office, or you'd get an earful, or you might even be put down as no friend. You might find him forever against you if you tried to say to him, “We've got to try to stop the President from doing this.” No matter what he might do, so far as you or anybody else was concerned the President was perfect, and any idea he had





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