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Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
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At any rate, he was very much in evidence in that committee, although never agressively so. I don't mean to say he took the lead, but Hull relied on him for certain specific information. That was all I ever saw of Harry Dexter White, in that committee.

Interviewer:

Was there anything you saw about White that gave you an indication of “fanciness”?

Perkins:

Nothing. No, nothing that I saw in him ever gave me the slightest suspicion or doubt about him, and there seemed to be not hing at all fancy in his way of thinking. It seemed to be straight economic information. He seemed to have digested a good deal of economic information from reports and records, in the usual way. He had studied the economy of various countries. I don't remember his speaking of Russia in particular, although that may have been one of the items under discussion, but I don't recall that. He was a very well-informed person on economic matters. He knew exactly how many tons of steel such-and-such a country could produce with the given equipment, and where they had to expand or could retract--you know, it was that sort of thing.

At any rate, this had been going on for some time. Hull had started this committee very early in the War, right away. It interested me because it was obvious that Hull was looking toward the Peace Conference. As soon as the War began, Hull





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