Happy Birthday, Madam Secretary

Let's Recognize Frances Perkins

Frances Perkins was born in Boston on this day in 1880. She was, among other things, (one of) the architect(s) of the New Deal, a series of programs, reforms, and laws that continue to directly impact all Americans. I have been thinking about her a lot lately, because Senate President Karen Spilka asked us to think about women with ties to Massachusetts who should be honored with a statue in our State House. There are many women in our Commonwealth’s history deserving of such an honor, but I would argue that none has been more responsible for bettering the lives of as many people in the Commonwealth and beyond than Perkins.

Raised in Worcester and educated at Mount Holyoke, Perkins trained to be a social worker, and was drawn to public service after being an eyewitness to the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York on March 25, 1911. In a 1964 speech at Cornell, she recounted watching in horror as people crowded around windows had to decide between jumping or being consumed by fire. She saw 47 people jump to their deaths. One hundred forty six people  -- mostly low-wage working women and immigrants -- died in 18 minutes because of dangerous conditions that everyone knew about and no one wanted to address. She described it as “a never-to-be-forgotten reminder of why I had to spend my life fighting conditions that could permit such a tragedy.” She became a formidable force fighting for worker safety. For years, she worked for the State of New York in various positions, for Governor Roosevelt and others on a wide range of worker issues, including safety and workforce development, and she began to focus on creating a system of unemployment insurance in New York.

In 1933, FDR called on her to serve as the first woman ever appointed to a presidential cabinet, as his Secretary of Labor. She remains the longest-serving person to hold the position, there for more than 12 years.

Before taking the job, she made her demands to FDR, outlining a menu of programs to which she wanted him to commit, including a 40-hour work week, minimum wage, worker’s compensation, an end to child labor, unemployment insurance, social security, universal health care, and more. (She fell short of getting that last one thanks to a nascent private insurance industry and the American Medical Association, but I would argue that she laid the groundwork that got us to the Affordable Care Act, which will hopefully get us to single-payer someday.) As George Martin lays out in painstaking detail in his great 1976 book Madam Secretary, Perkins set about figuring out how to do all of it, including the technical and political aspects. She operated inside of a man’s world, recruiting allies, vanquishing opponents, and making sure she had the ear of the president. In FDR’s early days as President, she guided the Federal Emergency Relief Administration. He asked her to create and administer the Civilian Conservation Corps, which employed over 3 million men during the Depression. In 1934, he asked her to chair the President’s Committee on Economic Security, and laid the groundwork for its passage. In 1938, she helped craft and build support for the Fair Labor Standards Act, which established minimum wage, overtime pay, and outlawed child labor. In the end, she played a central role in writing New Deal legislation that changed the trajectory of our democracy.

There is evidence that she fought for Black and other marginalized people as she did her work, and one could certainly argue that the concessions that were made in the New Deal that left out large swaths of people, were made despite her best efforts. FDR had his “Brain Trust,” a group of advisors who served as his right-hand men. She is sometimes included in that group, but it was a men’s club, and she wasn’t truly allowed in. If they were his right hand, she was his left.

As Secretary of Labor, her purview included oversight of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). During the 30’s, as she watched the horror that was unfolding in Germany, despite strong opposition from the State Department, she developed creative ways to allow more Jewish refugees, as well as others resisting the Nazis, to come to the United States, undoubtedly saving lives (including those of the von Trapps). In 1940, under pressure, FDR transferred control of the INS from Labor to the Justice Department, closing the door on Perkins’ efforts to welcome and save refugees.

Her work was remarkable for anyone, never mind for someone who wasn’t legally allowed to vote until she was 40 years old. Like many women in history, her accomplishments were (and still are) overshadowed by the men around her. And she is a daughter of Massachusetts, to be celebrated.

If you would like to nominate her to be honored at the State House, you can do that here. I did!

Fun fact: Perkins shares a birthday with another former secretary of labor, my former boss Marty Walsh. They both share their birthday with my sister, who is not any kind of secretary.

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