Home
Search transcripts:    Advanced Search
Notable New     Yorkers
Select     Notable New Yorker

Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
Photo Gallery
Transcript

Part:         Session:         Page of 915

I had had a number of run-ins with Millard Tydings, but I wouldn't even so have said he was a bad Senator. I think I've already gone into the fight we had over his practically appointing the District Commissioner of Immigration for the port of Baltimore. Even so, I would never have thought of Tydings as a man who was an enemy of the people. He just differed with you on something or other. He was a little arrogant about it, but that was all.

So I was genuinely shocked when Roosevelt made that speech in Georgia about Senator George, the speech that sparked it all. I was shocked for two reasons. First, I thought George was one of the better-brained men of the South, and a man of very respectable character and standing, a man of good reasoning powers, with a good mind, and experienced. It seemed to me an odd thing to try and get rid of a man of that general nature. Second, it seemed to me, as I thought of it, that it was utterly impossible to get rid of him. The South is very touchy about its privileges. He had a strong following. There was no division against him of any size. The poor white trash don't vote, aren't in the habit of voting. You couldn't make the country all over and change its social habits





© 2006 Columbia University Libraries | Oral History Research Office | Rights and Permissions | Help