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Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
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He said, “I did get the idea after I saw Ethel that that was why I was asked. But that was all right, so we went to the airport and got the military plane, and we went to Rome. We cooled our heels for a day, at least, or two days-- a day and a half--and then the announcement came that we would be received at 11:00 on a certain morning. The Senator had kept telling me that he was to be received in private audience. Now, that's something. But we arrived at the Vatican, and the ante- room was more than half full. There were a lot of people there. There must have been a couple of hundred people there, sitting around waiting for their opportunity to go in and be received formally.

“So I said to the Senator, ‘Are you sure this is a private audience you're going to have? Because I think you'd better speak to somebody. You may have gotten into the wrong ante-room.’

“The Senator went and showed his invitation, you see, to the guard, who said, ‘Yes, this is the place. This is where you are expected.’

“The door opened, and somebody came to the door and read out the names of about thirty people, who all filed into the Pope's quarters. They were gone about ten minutes, and then they all came out again. Then the court official came to the door again--he was a Swiss guard and he was all in uniform, you know--and he read out the name, ‘Senator Elmer





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