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

Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
Photo Gallery
Transcript

Part:         Session:         Page of 912

But I had explained to her that that was because she hadn't been seeing him all the time, of late; that he was thinner, and so forth and so on, but it didn't necessarily mean anything; that the doctor had given him a good bill of health, said he was in pretty fair shape. His general condition was pretty good.

Mrs. Woodrow Wilson, who was in the house, and I guess - yes, she was on the porch - grabbed hold of me in the corridor of the White House and said, “Oh, Miss Perkins, did you get a good look at the President?”

And I said, “Yes.”

She said, “I feel terribly. I feel dreadfully.”

I never saw her sober before. I mean, I never saw her - you know - worried. She was always a very pleasant, cheerful woman. She has a good mask, whether she feels cheerful or not. But she looked very serious and very sober. She looked really stricken, and she said, “Oh, it frightened me. He looks exactly as my husband looked when he went into his decline.”

That sort of frightened me, and I said to her, “Don't say that to another human soul.” And I put my finger on my lips.

She said, “I guess you're right. I guess you're right.”

I said, “He has a great and terrible job to do. Don't say a word. He's got to do it, even if it kills him.





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