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Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
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Cabinet meeting, and the President was in Warm Springs. I said to myself, “What's it about?”

I remember becoming more or less detached from what Otis was saying to me as I began to think, you know, “This is strange.”

Then, “Of course, he could have come back. No reason why he shouldn't have flown back,” and I assumed that he had. Roosevelt had.

We drove the usual route, past the State Department, and I remember turning to Otis and saying, “You know, this is a very strange thing, to have a Cabinet meeting at this hour of the night. We practically never have had one at such a time. Might have one at 9:00 o'clock in the evening, you know, or early in the morning--but this is a queer hour.”

And I said, “You know what I think? I think that the War is over. I think that's what it is, and the Cabinet is being called in to be told that there's been an offer to surrender. That's what I guess it is. That's important enough to call the Cabinet in without any preliminary notice. And the President could get here. But anyhow, whether he is here or not, the Cabinet would have to be called, even if he hasn't come in.”

Otis said, “Well, that might be.”

And I remember saying to him--it came to me very





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