May 20, 2025 • 12 mins
FDR's Secretary of Labor, Frances Perkins, pushed to create Social Security and expand workers' rights -- and she was the first woman to serve in a U.S. president's cabinet. Learn about her life and work in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://history.howstuffworks.com/historical-figures/frances-perkins.htm
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey Brainstuff, Lauren Volebaum.
Here there is a single person in American history who
is primarily responsible for creating the Social Security Program, along
with government protection of workers' rights like a minimum wage
and maximum work hours. But for a long time, most
(00:24):
of the American public had never heard her name. Francis
Perkins was the first woman to become a member of
a president's cabinet, as Franklin D. Roosevelt's Secretary of Labor
in nineteen thirty three. Her name and story have sometimes
been downplayed for a number of possible reasons. She herself
(00:46):
was not an in the spotlight sort of person and
often deferred credit to FDR and some of the men
who later wrote about the New Deal may have neglected
to research her contributions. But the Department of Labor National
Office bears her name. Two of her residences are now
preserved as historic landmarks. A biography and separately, a novel
(01:07):
tell the story of her life. Today, let's talk about
how Perkins came to be a quiet force of advocacy
who helped create our social safety net. Francis Perkins was
born as Fanny Coraley Perkins in Boston in eighteen eighty,
with family roots in Maine. After graduating from Mount Holyoke
(01:30):
College in nineteen oh two, she pursued a career as
a social worker, and later continued her education at the
Wharton School of Finance and Commerce of the University of
Pennsylvania and then at Columbia University, where she earned an
MA in social economics in nineteen ten. For the next
two years, she served as the executive secretary of the
Consumers League of New York, where she successfully lobbied for
(01:51):
improved wages and working conditions, particularly for women and children.
It was during that time that Perkins witnessed a life
changing event that would shift the course of her own
professional life, as well as the future of American labor conditions.
On March twenty fifth of nineteen eleven, Perkins was having
tea with a friend in Manhattan when a commotion broke
(02:13):
out nearby. It turned out to be what's now known
as the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, one of the deadliest
US workplace disasters in history. The fire broke out on
the upper floors of the ten story building that housed
the factory and claimed the lives of one hundred and
forty six garment workers, most of whom were young women immigrants,
(02:34):
some as young as fourteen years. They were blocked from
escaping because stairways and exit doors had been locked intentionally
by management in attempts to prevent unauthorized break time and
potential theft. There were no sprinkler systems installed. The fire
escape stairs that were available didn't lead to the ground,
(02:54):
and when firefighters arrived, their ladders and hoses couldn't reach
the top floors. Some women jumped to their debts rather
than burn. This tragic and preventable incident spurred worker safety
legislation and union involvement with the help of people like Perkins.
(03:15):
Before the article. This episode is based on how Stuff Work.
Spoke with Kirsten Downey, an award winning journalist and author
of the biography of Perkins called The Woman Behind the
New Deal, The Life of Francis Perkins, FDR's Secretary of
Labor and His Moral Conscience. Downey said Perkins had already
been investigating workplace problems as a young social worker in Manhattan,
(03:36):
but was in the neighborhood when the fire broke out.
They ran across Washington Square Park and got there just
as the first people started jumping out of the windows
and hitting the ground. She was already thinking about workplace abuses,
and because she was the key person administering the New
York State Factory Investigating Commission that led to the creation
of all our fire codes. By the time she was
(03:59):
in her early thirties, she had crafted legislation in New
York that led to exit signs, occupancy limits on rooms, sprinklers,
buyer escapes, and how wide doors had to be to
escape safely. Following the horrific fire, Perkins grew even more
resolute about revolutionizing the country's dysfunctional labor system. She moved
(04:21):
up through several roles in New York civil services in
the nineteen teens and twenties, during which time she also
married an economist by the name of Paul Wilson, with
whom she had a daughter. Newspapers from the nineteen thirties
report that she kept her maiden name because at the time, A.
Wilson was secretary to New York's mayor and she didn't
want her career to interfere with his. Perkins was appointed
(04:46):
by then New York Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt as the
Industrial Commissioner of the State of New York in nineteen
twenty nine. When the stock market crashed that year, Perkins
was the one who encouraged FDR to take swift and
serious action. When he created a committee on Employment, he
appointed Perkins to head up the efforts, and when he
(05:07):
was first elected president in nineteen thirty three, he tapped
Perkins to be his Secretary of Labor, making her the
first woman to become a cabinet member. After all, that
worked with each other for about twenty years, and she
was a trusted friend. However, despite Perkins's impressive achievements over
the course of her career to that point, the American
(05:29):
public was less than welcoming when she arrived in Washington.
Downey said when FDR picked her, there was a huge backlash.
A lot of people were appalled that he named a
woman to his cabinet. Remember, women didn't get the right
to vote until nineteen twenty, when Francis Perkins was forty
years old, So she had a whole career to age
(05:49):
forty doing all these important things and didn't even have
the right to vote. When FDR was elected president. It
was only twelve years after women got the right to vote,
so you can see why people were shocked about it. Ironically,
even unions opposed her appointment. Downey said a lot of
unions didn't permit female members and were particularly insulted because
(06:10):
they wanted a good union man to be Secretary of Labor.
Francis Perkins had a background as a government administrator and
a social worker, and they were suspicious. But in fact,
because of the things she did, she was able to
essentially reshape the labor movement, which was dying when she
became Secretary of Labor. By the time she died, unionized
employees made up one third of the American workforce. Perkins
(06:35):
had a lot on her agenda when she made the
move to DC, and some of her biggest ideas have
proven to have a lasting impact on Americans to this day.
The Social Security Act was enacted in nineteen thirty five,
after just two years of Perkins being in office. It
created a system of transfer payments that relies on working
people supporting people who have retired or who are out
(06:57):
of work for other reasons. Provides unemployment insurance plus aid
for dependent mothers and children, victims of work related accidents,
and people with blindness and other physical issues. The law
was part of FDR's Second New Deal initiatives to help
Americans cope with social and economic changes in the wake
of the Great Depression. Downey said FDR didn't run saying
(07:23):
he'd do that, and it wasn't anything he really cared
about hugely, as he had a bunch of things on
his plate. Basically, Francis Perkins created the lifeline we're using today,
she continued. Unemployment Insurance is a national network of state
unemployment systems and is the mechanism we're using to get
money to people across America who've lost their jobs through
(07:44):
no fault of their own. We've got fifty states and
some territories using the same basic mechanism, so almost all
of the existing social safety network has her imprint. She
set up all these programs that spun off into other departments,
but were there because of her handiwork. Perkins also helped
(08:05):
craft the Fair Labor Standards Act of nineteen thirty eight,
the law that established a minimum wage and maximum work
hours and banned child labor. The Department of Labor was
also tasked with overseeing the Immigration and Naturalization Service i
INS until nineteen forty during the growing persecution of Nazi Germany,
Perkins worked for expanded immigration rights and increased aid to
(08:28):
European refugees, especially Jewish children, despite pushback from other sectors
of the American government. When FDR died in nineteen forty five,
Perkins was the longest serving Labor Secretary and one of
only two Cabinet secretaries to serve the entire twelve years
of its presidency. Of all the things on the agenda
(08:50):
she brought with her to Washington in nineteen thirty three,
only one remained unaccomplished, universal access to healthcare. Biins wrote
in nineteen forty five, these social and economic reforms of
the past twelve years will be regarded in the future
as a turning point in our national life, a turning
(09:10):
from careless neglect of human values and toward an order
of mutual and practical benevolence within a free, competitive industrial economy.
The next year, Perkins published a best selling biography of
FDR titled The Roosevelt I Knew, and served as the
head of the American delegation to the International Labor Organization
(09:33):
in Paris. President Harry Truman that appointed her to the
United States Civil Service Commission, a position she held until
nineteen fifty three. After leaving government service, Perkins was active
as a teacher and lecturer at the New York State
School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University until
her death in nineteen sixty five at age eighty five.
(09:58):
In her personal life, Perkins had often spent time at
her family's homestead in Newcastle, Maine, a sweeping riverfront property
where the family farm fished and killed bricks of local clay.
She was buried nearby and next to her husband, who
had passed in nineteen fifty two, that often lived apart
during the last twenty years of his life, as had
(10:19):
struggled with mental health issues and been in and out
of various facilities. Today it's thot. Perkins also had a
long term romantic relationship with fellow social activist Mary Harriman Romsey.
The two women lived together in Washington, albeit briefly. The
National Park Service included their story in its twenty sixteen
(10:40):
study of the Recognition and Preservation of Sites with Queer Heritage,
though the current administration has removed that study from the
NPS website. It's really interesting if you're into landmarks in
queer history, and you can still find it by googling
LGBTQ America NPS. The National Park Service was writing about
(11:03):
Perkins because the Perkins family Homestead had been listed on
the National Register of Historic Places in two thousand and
nine and became the Francis Perkins National Monument in twenty
twenty four. Its grounds and trails are open to the
public year round from dawn till dusk, and the buildings
are open in the summer. They're run by the Francis
Perkins Center, which works to preserve her legacy by inspiring
(11:26):
women to go into public service and by educating about
the lasting effects of the New Deal and how our
government can provide economic security and social justice to its
citizens through policies like it. Downey said, the bottom line
is that Francis perkins life's work was recognizing that in
the course of human events, bad stuff happens, and it's
(11:49):
predictable that it happens, and what you want to do
is create a system of elasticity that helps you have
a solution to fix it. Today's episode is based on
the article Francis Perkins, the Unsung Creator of US Social
Security on HowStuffWorks dot Com. Written by Michelle Constantinofsky. Brain
(12:11):
Stuff is production of iHeartRadio in partnership of how stuffworks
dot com. It is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more
podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey Brainstuff, Lauren Volebaum.
Here there is a single person in American history who
is primarily responsible for creating the Social Security Program, along
with government protection of workers' rights like a minimum wage
and maximum work hours. But for a long time, most
(00:24):
of the American public had never heard her name. Francis
Perkins was the first woman to become a member of
a president's cabinet, as Franklin D. Roosevelt's Secretary of Labor
in nineteen thirty three. Her name and story have sometimes
been downplayed for a number of possible reasons. She herself
(00:46):
was not an in the spotlight sort of person and
often deferred credit to FDR and some of the men
who later wrote about the New Deal may have neglected
to research her contributions. But the Department of Labor National
Office bears her name. Two of her residences are now
preserved as historic landmarks. A biography and separately, a novel
(01:07):
tell the story of her life. Today, let's talk about
how Perkins came to be a quiet force of advocacy
who helped create our social safety net. Francis Perkins was
born as Fanny Coraley Perkins in Boston in eighteen eighty,
with family roots in Maine. After graduating from Mount Holyoke
(01:30):
College in nineteen oh two, she pursued a career as
a social worker, and later continued her education at the
Wharton School of Finance and Commerce of the University of
Pennsylvania and then at Columbia University, where she earned an
MA in social economics in nineteen ten. For the next
two years, she served as the executive secretary of the
Consumers League of New York, where she successfully lobbied for
(01:51):
improved wages and working conditions, particularly for women and children.
It was during that time that Perkins witnessed a life
changing event that would shift the course of her own
professional life, as well as the future of American labor conditions.
On March twenty fifth of nineteen eleven, Perkins was having
tea with a friend in Manhattan when a commotion broke
(02:13):
out nearby. It turned out to be what's now known
as the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, one of the deadliest
US workplace disasters in history. The fire broke out on
the upper floors of the ten story building that housed
the factory and claimed the lives of one hundred and
forty six garment workers, most of whom were young women immigrants,
(02:34):
some as young as fourteen years. They were blocked from
escaping because stairways and exit doors had been locked intentionally
by management in attempts to prevent unauthorized break time and
potential theft. There were no sprinkler systems installed. The fire
escape stairs that were available didn't lead to the ground,
(02:54):
and when firefighters arrived, their ladders and hoses couldn't reach
the top floors. Some women jumped to their debts rather
than burn. This tragic and preventable incident spurred worker safety
legislation and union involvement with the help of people like Perkins.
(03:15):
Before the article. This episode is based on how Stuff Work.
Spoke with Kirsten Downey, an award winning journalist and author
of the biography of Perkins called The Woman Behind the
New Deal, The Life of Francis Perkins, FDR's Secretary of
Labor and His Moral Conscience. Downey said Perkins had already
been investigating workplace problems as a young social worker in Manhattan,
(03:36):
but was in the neighborhood when the fire broke out.
They ran across Washington Square Park and got there just
as the first people started jumping out of the windows
and hitting the ground. She was already thinking about workplace abuses,
and because she was the key person administering the New
York State Factory Investigating Commission that led to the creation
of all our fire codes. By the time she was
(03:59):
in her early thirties, she had crafted legislation in New
York that led to exit signs, occupancy limits on rooms, sprinklers,
buyer escapes, and how wide doors had to be to
escape safely. Following the horrific fire, Perkins grew even more
resolute about revolutionizing the country's dysfunctional labor system. She moved
(04:21):
up through several roles in New York civil services in
the nineteen teens and twenties, during which time she also
married an economist by the name of Paul Wilson, with
whom she had a daughter. Newspapers from the nineteen thirties
report that she kept her maiden name because at the time, A.
Wilson was secretary to New York's mayor and she didn't
want her career to interfere with his. Perkins was appointed
(04:46):
by then New York Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt as the
Industrial Commissioner of the State of New York in nineteen
twenty nine. When the stock market crashed that year, Perkins
was the one who encouraged FDR to take swift and
serious action. When he created a committee on Employment, he
appointed Perkins to head up the efforts, and when he
(05:07):
was first elected president in nineteen thirty three, he tapped
Perkins to be his Secretary of Labor, making her the
first woman to become a cabinet member. After all, that
worked with each other for about twenty years, and she
was a trusted friend. However, despite Perkins's impressive achievements over
the course of her career to that point, the American
(05:29):
public was less than welcoming when she arrived in Washington.
Downey said when FDR picked her, there was a huge backlash.
A lot of people were appalled that he named a
woman to his cabinet. Remember, women didn't get the right
to vote until nineteen twenty, when Francis Perkins was forty
years old, So she had a whole career to age
(05:49):
forty doing all these important things and didn't even have
the right to vote. When FDR was elected president. It
was only twelve years after women got the right to vote,
so you can see why people were shocked about it. Ironically,
even unions opposed her appointment. Downey said a lot of
unions didn't permit female members and were particularly insulted because
(06:10):
they wanted a good union man to be Secretary of Labor.
Francis Perkins had a background as a government administrator and
a social worker, and they were suspicious. But in fact,
because of the things she did, she was able to
essentially reshape the labor movement, which was dying when she
became Secretary of Labor. By the time she died, unionized
employees made up one third of the American workforce. Perkins
(06:35):
had a lot on her agenda when she made the
move to DC, and some of her biggest ideas have
proven to have a lasting impact on Americans to this day.
The Social Security Act was enacted in nineteen thirty five,
after just two years of Perkins being in office. It
created a system of transfer payments that relies on working
people supporting people who have retired or who are out
(06:57):
of work for other reasons. Provides unemployment insurance plus aid
for dependent mothers and children, victims of work related accidents,
and people with blindness and other physical issues. The law
was part of FDR's Second New Deal initiatives to help
Americans cope with social and economic changes in the wake
of the Great Depression. Downey said FDR didn't run saying
(07:23):
he'd do that, and it wasn't anything he really cared
about hugely, as he had a bunch of things on
his plate. Basically, Francis Perkins created the lifeline we're using today,
she continued. Unemployment Insurance is a national network of state
unemployment systems and is the mechanism we're using to get
money to people across America who've lost their jobs through
(07:44):
no fault of their own. We've got fifty states and
some territories using the same basic mechanism, so almost all
of the existing social safety network has her imprint. She
set up all these programs that spun off into other departments,
but were there because of her handiwork. Perkins also helped
(08:05):
craft the Fair Labor Standards Act of nineteen thirty eight,
the law that established a minimum wage and maximum work
hours and banned child labor. The Department of Labor was
also tasked with overseeing the Immigration and Naturalization Service i
INS until nineteen forty during the growing persecution of Nazi Germany,
Perkins worked for expanded immigration rights and increased aid to
(08:28):
European refugees, especially Jewish children, despite pushback from other sectors
of the American government. When FDR died in nineteen forty five,
Perkins was the longest serving Labor Secretary and one of
only two Cabinet secretaries to serve the entire twelve years
of its presidency. Of all the things on the agenda
(08:50):
she brought with her to Washington in nineteen thirty three,
only one remained unaccomplished, universal access to healthcare. Biins wrote
in nineteen forty five, these social and economic reforms of
the past twelve years will be regarded in the future
as a turning point in our national life, a turning
(09:10):
from careless neglect of human values and toward an order
of mutual and practical benevolence within a free, competitive industrial economy.
The next year, Perkins published a best selling biography of
FDR titled The Roosevelt I Knew, and served as the
head of the American delegation to the International Labor Organization
(09:33):
in Paris. President Harry Truman that appointed her to the
United States Civil Service Commission, a position she held until
nineteen fifty three. After leaving government service, Perkins was active
as a teacher and lecturer at the New York State
School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University until
her death in nineteen sixty five at age eighty five.
(09:58):
In her personal life, Perkins had often spent time at
her family's homestead in Newcastle, Maine, a sweeping riverfront property
where the family farm fished and killed bricks of local clay.
She was buried nearby and next to her husband, who
had passed in nineteen fifty two, that often lived apart
during the last twenty years of his life, as had
(10:19):
struggled with mental health issues and been in and out
of various facilities. Today it's thot. Perkins also had a
long term romantic relationship with fellow social activist Mary Harriman Romsey.
The two women lived together in Washington, albeit briefly. The
National Park Service included their story in its twenty sixteen
(10:40):
study of the Recognition and Preservation of Sites with Queer Heritage,
though the current administration has removed that study from the
NPS website. It's really interesting if you're into landmarks in
queer history, and you can still find it by googling
LGBTQ America NPS. The National Park Service was writing about
(11:03):
Perkins because the Perkins family Homestead had been listed on
the National Register of Historic Places in two thousand and
nine and became the Francis Perkins National Monument in twenty
twenty four. Its grounds and trails are open to the
public year round from dawn till dusk, and the buildings
are open in the summer. They're run by the Francis
Perkins Center, which works to preserve her legacy by inspiring
(11:26):
women to go into public service and by educating about
the lasting effects of the New Deal and how our
government can provide economic security and social justice to its
citizens through policies like it. Downey said, the bottom line
is that Francis perkins life's work was recognizing that in
the course of human events, bad stuff happens, and it's
(11:49):
predictable that it happens, and what you want to do
is create a system of elasticity that helps you have
a solution to fix it. Today's episode is based on
the article Francis Perkins, the Unsung Creator of US Social
Security on HowStuffWorks dot Com. Written by Michelle Constantinofsky. Brain
(12:11):
Stuff is production of iHeartRadio in partnership of how stuffworks
dot com. It is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more
podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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