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Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
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Interviewer:

Why did they nominate Truman?

Perkins:

You remember he had done very well as the Chairman of this Investigating Committee that was watching war expenditures. He'd done very well. His attitude was orderly and friendly, and yet it was inquisitive. He showed a great deal of understanding and perception of what the problems were, and he had had lots of favorable publicity. It was the favorable publicity. You see, a politician's mind is very quickly influenced by publicity. If anybody's had a good Press, it puts the man right up in their estimation. Maybe they hadn't thought of him before, but “He's a fine fellow, a fine fellow.” They speak as though they know all about him, but they don't. They know very little about him except that he had a good Press. And Truman had a good Press on that Committee, and it was very recent. That kind of boosted him up in everybody's eyes. That was all. I don't think the Prendergast machine's influence was very great at that time.

I was more concerned at that Convention about the Equal Rights Amendment that was being presented.

Interviewer:

What was the Equal Rights Amendment?

Perkins:

Well, it was a proposal to amend the Constitution of the United States put forward by the Woman's Party--an amendment which would add “sex”, really, to the “there should be





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