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Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
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When I heard that Henry Wallace was going, I said, “Oh, Henry, why are you going out there? Everybody else is going, why do you join the procession of citizens going to have a look-see on the Government?”

He said, “Well, I think it's important that I go.”

I thought about it a bit, and then I forget whether I went to his office or whether I saw him somewhere else, but I made a direct approach to him and said, “I want to speak to you seriously. I don't think you ought to go away at this time. I don't think you ought to go out of the country. I don't think you ought to go over there. You ought to stay right here.”

He said, “Oh, why? What's the idea? Why shouldn't I go? I think it would be good to be out of the country in the midst of this turmoil.”

I said, “Henry, I think somebody will sell you down the river while your back's turned. That's what I think. I wouldn't go one step from this place, if I were you. I'd stay right here with my eye on everybody and everything, and in plain sight, so that nobody would forget you--so that nobody would forget you.”

He said, “Oh, that's all right. That's all right. I've talked to the President about it, and the President's assured me it's all right.”





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