Frances Perkins has been called one of the most influential women of the 20th Century, and yet few of us today recognize her name.  She was, however, a nationally recognized expert on employment regulations and working conditions when President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) asked her to be his Secretary of Labor. As FDR’s first term began in 1933, thousands of banks had closed in the aftermath of the stock market crash, unemployment stood at 25%; hungry people stood in bread lines or picked over garbage dumps.  He knew no appointment would be more important than Labor Secretary.  As the Governor of New York he had appointed Perkins to the post of Industrial Commissioner where she was in charge of the nation’s largest state labor department.  He appreciated her competence and integrity and knew no one was better qualified. Still, appointing a woman to his cabinet would be an unprecedented act and politically risky.

Frances Perkins did not make it easy for him.  For her interview with FDR, she arrived clutching a list of the policies she would work to put in place: aid to state and local governments for unemployment relief, a public works program, a federal minimum wage coupled with maximum hour laws, a ban on child labor, and unemployment and old age insurance.  She wanted FDR’s assurance that he would support her agenda. He was firmly against what he called “the dole,” but Perkins argued that the programs should be viewed as insurance to which citizens contribute, as well as benefit from.  He gave her the assurance she sought.

Perkins was sworn in as the Secretary of Labor on March 4, 1933.  She literally needed to clean up the Department of Labor, including sweeping out the offices.  She quickly refocused the Department on workers’ needs and brought to bear on the problems of the Great Depression her decades of experience in working for legal protections for workers’ rights.  She played a unique and pivotal role in FDR’s cabinet, one of only two to remain with him throughout his presidency.

Her biographer, Kirsten Downey wrote, “It is a great historic irony that Frances is now virtually unknown.  Factory and office occupancy codes, fire escapes and other fire-prevention mechanisms are her legacy. About 44 million people collect Social Security checks each month; millions receive unemployment and worker’s compensation or the minimum wage; others go home after an eight hour day because of the Fair Labor Standards Act.  Very few know the name of the woman responsible for their benefits.” 

Frances Perkins faced the argument that the Depression was no time to push for worker benefits and protections, but she answered that it was an economic necessity. Today we hear the same argument raised against the Paycheck Fairness Act pending in the Senate.  The current Secretary of Labor, Hilda Solis, also champions workers’ rights, and as the first Hispanic woman in this office, she knows well the importance to families of fair pay practices.  Frances must be smiling!