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from the very beginning, I let Negroes eat in the Cafeteria, because I had been brought up in New York State and I'd never known any different. We moved over into the new building, you see, where we had a cafeteria. We didn't have any cafeteria before, so there wasn't any problem. But we moved into the new building and one of the first questions that was raised to me was, “Can the Negroes eat here or must they go outside?”

I said, “Why, how nonsensical! Where else would they go? This is the place for them to eat, so let them eat.”

There wasn't any protest in the Department. Nobody said, “Oh, no, don't.”

I think one man came in and said, “Don't you think that's pretty radical?”

I said, “Why, no, I don't think it's radical. I think that's very simple. They're the ones that work here. If they work here, why can't they eat here? There's no other place for them to eat, and I don't want them bringing their lunches and leaving them in the desk drawers to gather cockroaches.”

That was a very simple thing to do. I don't know why F.E.P.C. was in. I always assumed it was the Negro politicians' outfit. Why don't I know more about it? Well, I heard about it vaguely. No, it wasn't up my alley! I didn't have anything to do with Negroes. I mean, we had them in the Department, but--