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than the wife of the Secretary of State, which, I'll have people understand, the Protocol Department of the state Department ruled. I, in my own right, was a Cabinet officer. Therefore, I proceeded a lady who only had her rank because She was the wife of any Cabinet officer. That would have been ridiculous and would have been troublesome. If a man had been the Secretary of Labor and if there had been a conflict, he would have taken precedence over a women who happened to be at any official function.

It didn't matter at all in the official and administrative life. The only time anybody would get his or her feelings hurt would be at state dinners and formal affairs like that, such as the rows that Alice Longworth had with Mrs. Gann, who was the sister of the Vice President, while she was the wife of the Speaker., who has a very special rank. Mrs. Longworth claimed that Mrs. Gann had no rank. The sister of the Vice President had no rank at all, according to her, and of course the Speaker's wife preceded her.

I knew intuitively, and having heard and read what was said about that row, that any effort on my part, or any insistence by anybody, that I should precede anyone would stir up agonies in people's breasts. I had made up my mind that my rank and precedence would be that which the wife of a Secretary of Labor would assume. It's really the best way. That meant that at ladies' luncheons you didn't