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Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
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really very badly handicapped. She's almost non compos mentis.”

I said, “I'm sorry to hear that. I didn't realize that.”

He said, “Well, it's been kept out of the papers because it was necessary to carry her. She's carried now to the point where she can make a claim for a pension. And she's got to retire, because she's--there's nobody doing her work. The President, I think, would like to appoint you to that.”

I said, “Well, that's an idea--I hadn't thought about that, because I hadn't set my heart, but I had thought in terms of what I could do in Social Security.”

“Well,” he said, “you wouldn't decline this other?”

I said, “Well, I don't think so. I don't know. I'd like to explore the Social Security situation a little bit.”

The next day, the President called me. He said, “I'd like to have you come back. I want to appoint you to something. I want to appoint you to Civil Service Commission.”

I said, “That's very good of you. Is it absolutely out of the question to consider me for Social Security?”

He said, “Well, I know you'd like that, and I see why. It's right up your line, and you were responsible for the Act entirely, and I can see why you'd like to administer it, since you wrote the Act. But,” he said, “we're in kind of a jam, you know. We have to take care of many people and many things, and Oscar Ewing wants it. He's been a great supporter of the Democratic Party, and a great contributor. He's been a





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