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the subject to anybody - to the President, to Ickes, or anybody else - unless you will play with it.”

Just to show the kind of mind Lewis has got, and it's as quick as scat, within the course of that telephone conversation he had seen all the hazards, all the problems, all the kudos he could get, all the favorable publicity that he could get. He could see how he could jump right onto the bandwagon and say the Department of the Interior was wonderful and that the loyal mine workers wished to cooperate with Uncle Sam, but not with its soldiery. He saw everything, all the advantage that he could get out of it.

He said, “Well, we'd want to have a real understanding with Ickes.”

I said, “Of course, I wouldn't consider it any other way. Now, where can I get you for the next two or three hours? I'll have to do some quick footwork here. I'll have to persuade the President. I'll have to persuade Ickes. I'm very much afraid that both of them will say No, but where can I get you?”

I proceeded. I let the President know that Lewis was favorable. The President, I remember, said, “No, you don't mean it!” He couldn't believe it.

I realized right away that I was dealing with a bear too in Ickes. I therefore put it to him that I believed Lewis wanted him to do it, that Lewis had confidence in him. I laid that on thick. I didn't tell him that I had talked