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Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
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were set up during the War that could have been better done by the old-line instruments of Government.

Interviewer:

This is what happened all during the war--that Roosevelt wanted to run this whole War himself.

Perkins:

No, I don't think it was that. I think that he was anxious to distribute the load and distribute the blame for mistakes as widely as possible--involve as many people as possible in the operation. It tended to make the War acceptable, you know, to people who would sit up in the night and grab their throats and say, “I wonder if it isn't a dreadful thing for us to be in this War?”

There was more than one person that had this sudden feeling--but after all, they were on this certain committee and their duty was to do so-and-so, and they'd go out and see it through. It tended to give a participation in the planning and operation to many people. I think that that was one of the reasons that he chose it. Also, it distributed the blame for mistakes to a wide variety of people, some of them Republicans.

Interviewer:

The Cabinet was close to him--if he could get away from it and spread it out--?

Perkins:

Yes. The Cabinet was supposed to be him. It was politically attached. He would spread it out. He was always awfully careful to get a good Republican in on these





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