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Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
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Part:         Session:         Page of 912

Interviewer:

Did you ever meet Mrs. Gromyko?

Perkins:

Well, you know, I can't remember whether I ever did or not. I don't recall. I recall Madame Troyanofsky. I recall Madame Oumansky, and Madame Litvinof. I know he had children, because the question of their being sent to the Friends' School came up, and was decided against them. They should go to a Russian school and a Russian school was set up. Somebody I knew in Washington taught in that Russian school--taught mathematics. Some woman that I knew. I can't think who it was.

I cite these items to indicate that Gromyko was not a cross-patch. You see, after he went to the United Nations several years later, he was regarded as a personal bear. I mean, he was personally bearish. It was Gromyko they were afraid of. Well, Gromyko was an amiable man at heart, I really think. I think he was personally amiable. I think he was thoroughly sold to the Russian scheme of things and perfectly willing to do the bidding of his superiors, but the business of getting up and roaring at the delegates in the United Nations was not his idea. I'm sure that was the idea that was conveyed to him as to how he should behave, because I saw the changes in his behavior here. I saw the entire possibility of his being very amiable, and his even laughing at how stiff he had been, you see.





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