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Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
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He was most polite. He didn't say, “Just as long as you have a witness,” but said, “You take one of your own people as an advisor.”

So I picked out John Gambs who was working for us then, and who was our contact with the I.L.O. He knew more about the I.L.O. than most people in the Department did, because he was our contact. He'd been over to the meetings of their governing body two or three times during the War--flown over during the War. It was a very dangerous and hazardous job, but he did it.

So Hull called the Russian Embassy, or the State Department called it, and inquired when it would be comfortable and suitable for the Ambassador to receive me, because I had a matter I wished to discuss with him and the matter had the full endorsement and full support of the State Department. That was the way it was put--and that I was discussing it on behalf of the State Department and of the President.

I don't know what went back and forth. Anyway, some time seemed to me in to have elapsed--perhaps a week or so-- when I was told that the appointment had been arranged for 10:00 o'clock on a particular morning. So Gambs and I made ourselves ready, and went over to the Embassy.

I remember it was a very peculiar experience, because we rang the bell of the Embassy on 16th Street, and it was some time before the door was opened. There was a lot of





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