Christopher C. Gorham

“Anna pulled a file from a carton on the floor; inside were letters “written in shaky hands by frightened workers telling of abuses in factories.” “Last winter,” Anna explained, we were called upon to deal with a number of cases of underpayment under some of the codes. We managed to persuade many of the employers to settle claims just before Christmas. Some $50,000 was paid out. I for one was curious to discover what was done with the extra money. Some paid doctor bills, others bought clothes of which they were sorely in need, and one woman, who had never been able to give her children any presents, went out and bought gifts for all of them. “There is something more than money in the world,” Anna went on, getting to the heart of what the New Deal meant to her. “This Depression has brought in its wake an entire realignment. For years labor had had no chance, now a new scheme has been worked out under which . . . labor and capital have been put on an equal footing. [The] effect is evident upon the workers. Men and women who once regarded themselves as a little more than slaves have a new outlook upon life. They have lost that cowed attitude. They come into our offices with a new sense of freedom. Right through the ranks there is a new spirit.”11”
― Christopher C. Gorham, The Confidante: The Untold Story of the Woman Who Helped Win WWII and Shape Modern America