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Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
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that Miss Jay and I always got the idea of what the great strong man did with strikes, you know. It was a wonderful idea. As a matter of fact, the whole people of the United States all felt very comfortable about that-- a great strong man would know how to handle strikes. If you read the editorials on that occasion, you'll see that even those that spoke well of me and thought I had done a very considerable job indicated that a great strong man perhaps could handle a strike better.

I remember it gave me great cause for laughter, but at any rate, he had said he wanted to keep me in his Administration, and that there were several things that he'd like to consider me for, and did I have anything in mind that I would like? What area of activity would I most like and feel I was best qualified for?

And It was then that I told him that I would like Social Security. After all, I had fathered the bill, I had developed it, I had worked over every detail of it, and I cared very much for it, and I thought it was a great opportunity for administration and administrative rulings that would be sensible and practical and liberal. He had said, Well, he'd like to think about that. He didn't have anything else in mind, but he would like to think about that. If that was what I wanted, he'd remember that.





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