Opinions

Frances Perkins was a driving force in FDR's New Deal

Ken Burns' documentary "The Roosevelts," showing now on PBS television, conveys a powerful lesson on the critical role of leadership in formulating and achieving policy, particularly policy that works for the majority of Americans rather than a minority. Born patrician, Theodore, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt each dedicated their lives to public service that would empower and protect the mass of ordinary people -- in Burns' telling, not for glory, but for good, because it is right. The list of contributions to the quality, and equality, of American life made by the three is not just impressive; it's a catalog of public morality.

Under Theodore, pure food and drug legislation, using the power of the presidency to force corporate owners to negotiate with labor, using courts to break up corporate monopoly; child labor legislation, authorizing limits on railroad freight rates, and environmental protection of vast acreages of natural resources.

Under Franklin, Social Security, workmen's compensation, unemployment insurance, federal aid for the indigent, federal guarantee of the right of labor to bargain collectively for wages and working conditions, federal insurance for bank deposits, and more.

From Eleanor, persistent advocacy of equal civil rights for blacks, Native Americans and others, including support for federal anti-lynching legislation, and support of Japanese-Americans during World War II, advocacy for equal opportunities for women and recognition of their leadership capabilities, as well as leadership in establishing the United Nations, especially the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

One of the women Eleanor encouraged and supported was Frances Perkins, Franklin Roosevelt's Secretary of Labor, the first woman Cabinet officer in U.S. history. Perkins was given little role in Burns' documentary, but a recent biographer called Perkins "the woman behind the New Deal." With an abiding interest in, and later a graduate degree in sociology, Perkins earlier worked at Jane Addams' famous Hull House in Chicago, helping immigrant women adjust to American society, and championing workers' rights.

Recognized for her organizational effectiveness, she moved to New York City to head a Consumer Protection League in which she was a successful advocate for factory safety. In 1911, she witnessed the tragic Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in which 146 immigrants, mostly young women, died, many by jumping from the top of the building whose fire-escape doors had been locked to prevent unscheduled work breaks. Former President Theodore Roosevelt recommended her for the subsequent city factory investigating commission, where she crafted mitigating legislation.

Later, New York Gov. Al Smith named her to the state industrial safety commission, and in 1929, newly elected Gov. Franklin Roosevelt made her New York State Commissioner of Labor. When he was elected president four years later, he took her with him to Washington, D.C.

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While Labor Secretary, Perkins also headed FDR's Committee on Economic Security, which gave her a guiding hand in writing much legislation central to the New Deal. Historians credit her with generating the Civilian Conservation Corps, minimum wage legislation, the 40-hour work week for federal employees, portions of the Wagner Act guaranteeing labor's right to organize, and most important, the Social Security Act, which included old age insurance, unemployment compensation, workmen's compensation, and welfare for people in serious need. One of her great strengths was persistence in finding and nurturing common ground among policy combatants.

It was not easy, and perhaps the most difficult challenge, and one which she overcame with grace and shrewdnesss, was the sexism she encountered. But she went to extraordinary lengths to combat it, changing her name from the diminutive "Fannie" to the stronger "Frances," deliberately dressing dowdily to remind men of their mothers, who, she said, most men respect, and sitting with the wives at state dinners, rather than with the other Cabinet secretaries where she had the right to be.

It was Perkins' conviction that people can find themselves in dire straits through no fault of their own, and that they should not be penalized for it by having their misfortune attributed to laziness, incompetence or willfulness. Clear to Perkins from the beginning, this became apparent to the American people, and their legislators, during the depth of the Great Depression. It's becoming clear again now to many in the shrinking middle class. "The Roosevelts" shows that with enlightened leadership, something positive can be done about it.

Steve Haycox is professor emeritus of history at the University of Alaska Anchorage.

The views expressed here are the writer's own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, e-mail commentary(at)alaskadispatch.com

Steve Haycox

Steve Haycox is professor emeritus of history at the University of Alaska Anchorage.

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