On This Day: Frances Perkins, Architect of Social Security/New Deal takes office - Mar. 4, 1933
(edited from article)
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Frances Perkins: Architect of the New Deal
She designed Social Security and public works programs that helped bring millions out of poverty. Her work has been largely forgotten.
July 8, 2020
In the midst of the catastrophic crisis triggered by the coronavirus pandemic, more than 100 million Americans are accessing financial assistance and medical care. These vital services are available in part because of the efforts of a woman many have never heard of.
Frances Perkins was the first female presidential cabinet secretary and the central architect of the New Deal. She designed Social Security and public works programs that brought millions out of poverty. Her work resulted in the construction of hospitals, public schools, and related infrastructure. A social worker by training, Perkins also implemented workplace regulations that are standard to this day.
Despite these achievements, Perkins has been largely forgotten. The popular narrative of this tumultuous period has placed Franklin Delano Roosevelt at the center of the New Deal. Even now, in making a nostalgic appeal to the New Deal, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has been portrayed in the media as a potential FDR, a framing also used with President Barack Obama.
During the Great Depression, older people were the first to lose their jobs, and 30 to 50 percent sought financial support from their families. Perkins knew Roosevelt didn’t want to encourage the laziness that, rightly or wrongly, was associated with government handouts. With the Social Security Act, workers received money as an earned benefit in retirement. The legislation faced pushback from both sides of the political sphere. As Peskin said, “This was not accepted wisdom at that time. This was a novel, radical approach.”
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https://daily.jstor.org/woman-architect-of-the-new-deal/
(edited from Wikipedia)
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Frances Perkins
Frances Perkins (1880–1965) was an American workers-rights advocate who served as the fourth United States Secretary of Labor from [March 4,] 1933 to [June 30,] 1945, the longest serving in that position. A member of the Democratic Party, Perkins was the first woman ever to serve in a presidential cabinet. As a loyal supporter of her longtime friend, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, she helped make labor issues important in the emerging New Deal coalition. She was one of two Roosevelt cabinet members to remain in office for his entire presidency (the other being Interior Secretary Harold L. Ickes).
Perkins' most important role came in developing a policy for social security in 1935. She also helped form government policy for working with labor unions, although the union leaders distrusted her. Perkins' Labor Department helped to mediate strikes by way of the United States Conciliation Service. Perkins dealt with many labor questions during World War II, when skilled labor was vital to the economy and women were moving into jobs formerly held by men.
Cabinet career
In 1933, Roosevelt summoned Perkins to ask her to join his cabinet. Perkins presented Roosevelt with a long list of labor programs for which she would fight, from Social Security to minimum wage. "Nothing like this has ever been done in the United States before," she told Roosevelt. "You know that, don’t you?" Agreeing to back her, Roosevelt nominated Perkins as Secretary of Labor. The nomination was met with support from the National League of Women Voters and the Women's Party. The American Federation of Labor criticized the selection of Perkins because of a perceived lack of ties to labor.
As secretary, Perkins oversaw the Department of Labor. Perkins went on to hold the position for 12 years, longer than any other Secretary of Labor.
[First woman in presidential line of succession]
She also became the first woman to hold a cabinet position in the United States, thus she became the first woman to enter the presidential line of succession. The selection of a woman to the cabinet had been rumored in the four previous administrations, with Roosevelt being the first to follow through. Roosevelt had witnessed Perkins's work firsthand during their time in Albany. With few exceptions, President Roosevelt consistently supported the goals and programs of Secretary Perkins.
[New Deal]
As Secretary of Labor, Perkins played a role in the New Deal by helping to write legislation. As chair of the President's Committee on Economic Security, she was involved in all aspects of its advisory reports, including the Civilian Conservation Corps and the She-She-She Camps.[ Her most important contribution was to help design the Social Security Act of 1935.
As Secretary of Labor, Perkins created the Immigration and Naturalization Service. She sought to implement liberal immigration policies but some of her efforts experienced pushback, especially in Congress.
As Secretary of Labor in the Roosevelt Administration, Frances Perkins went to Geneva between June 11 and 18, 1938. On June 13, she gave a speech at the International Labour Organization in which she called on the organization to make its contribution to the world economic recovery, while avoiding being dragged into political problems. She also defended the participation of the United States in the ILO, which it had joined in 1934.
In 1939, she came under fire from some members of Congress for refusing to deport the communist head of the West Coast International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Harry Bridges. Ultimately, Bridges was vindicated by the Supreme Court.
With the death of President Roosevelt, Harry Truman replaced the Roosevelt cabinet, naming Lewis B. Schwellenbach as Secretary of Labor. Perkins's tenure as secretary ended on June 30, 1945, with the swearing in of Schwellenbach.
[Prior work in New York]
Prior to moving to Washington, D.C., Perkins held various positions in the New York state government. She had gained respect from the political leaders in the state. In 1919, she was added to the Industrial Commission of the State of New York by Governor Al Smith. Her nomination was met with protests from both manufacturers and labor, neither of whom felt Perkins represented their interests. Smith stood by Perkins as someone who could be a voice for women and girls in the workforce and for her work on the Wagner Factory Investigating Committee.
Although claiming the delay in Perkins's confirmation was not due to her gender, some state senators pointed to Perkins's not taking her husband's name as a sign that she was a radical. Perkins was confirmed on February 18, 1919, becoming one of the first female commissioners in New York, and began working out of New York City. The state senate-confirmed position made Perkins one of three commissioners overseeing the industrial code, and the supervisor of both the bureau of information and statistics and the bureau of mediation and arbitration.
The position also came with an $8,000 salary (equivalent to $135,000 in 2022), making Perkins the highest-paid woman in New York state government. Six months into her job, her fellow Commissioner James M. Lynch called Perkins's contributions "invaluable," and added "[f]rom the work which Miss Perkins has accomplished I am convinced that more women ought to be placed in high positions throughout the state departments."
In 1929, the newly elected New York governor, Franklin Roosevelt, appointed Perkins as the inaugural New York state industrial commissioner. As commissioner, Perkins supervised an agency with 1,800 employees.
Having earned the co-operation and the respect of various political factions, Perkins helped put New York in the forefront of progressive reform. She expanded factory investigations, reduced the workweek for women to 48 hours, and championed minimum wage and unemployment insurance laws. She worked vigorously to put an end to child labor and to provide safety for women workers.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Perkins
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