When Roosevelt was elected to the White House during the Great Depression, speculation focused heavily on his cabinet choices, specifically Secretary of Labor, as joblessness ran rampant across the country. Though Perkins had served with FDR in New York, her name circulated as a slim possibility. No woman had ever been named to the cabinet, and Perkins told people she considered the offer unlikely. However, behind the scenes Perkins campaigned for the job, speaking at gatherings and conferences about labor issues. Her name began to appear more in newspapers and hundreds of endorsement letters flooded FDR’s office. On February 22, 1933, FDR offered Perkins the role of Secretary of Labor, which Perkins accepted only after the President agreed to support her list of “practical possibilities” to improve the lives of the American people. She became the first female cabinet secretary in U.S. History.
Although Perkins was deeply involved in creating and implementing the Administration’s massive relief and employment programs, she simultaneously worked to reorganize the Department of Labor to make it an effective and efficient government agency. On her first day in the office, she literally and figuratively cleaned up the office of the Secretary of Labor – stopping the destruction of files from past corrupt officials and cleaning up the notorious Bureau of Immigration. She also cleaned up the literal mess that accumulated in the offices, the result of racist policies that required Black workers to eat in their offices, separate from the dining areas of white officials. She noted the size of the roaches in the office to President Kennedy at an event honoring the 50th anniversary of the Department of Labor years later. The team of experts Perkins assembled to run the department was considered by many to be one of the best in Washington.
The progressive legislation and initiatives she helped spearhead ran the gamut from social security, unemployment insurance, public works projects, the U.S. Employment Service, Fair Labor Standards act, child labor laws, minimum wage, a 40 hour work week, and much more.
Perkins noted in 1945 that “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 from careless neglect of human values and toward an order—of mutual and practical benevolence within a free competitive industrial economy.”
When Perkins was nominated as FDR’s Security of Labor, there was resistance against this choice amongst labor leaders around the country. Many unions wanted someone from the labor movement to represent the interests of labor in the country, but FDR felt infighting among union presidents could alienate the union that was not chosen for the position. Others criticized a woman’s role in this position as a woman had never held a cabinet office role before. Despite opposition, FDR chose Perkins for her keen ability to work with opposing groups that made her a neutral unbiased voice in settling disputes. Perkins also could provide Roosevelt with votes from women, a relatively new demographic of voters with the passage of the 19th amendment a decade earlier.
The National Recovery Administration (NRA) was one of the first New Deal initiatives started in 1933 with the passing of the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA). The NRA was tasked with bringing industry, labor, and government together to create codes of fair practices, setting prices across industries, establishing a minimum wage for workers, and sought to eliminate child labor. This is something that Perkins had long advocated for. The collapse of labor standards during the Great Depression made some type of government action imperative. Perkins instructed the Labor Department to work with state government to create a body of consistent laws and standards. She set up a Division of Labor Standards and was the first Labor Secretary to show real interest and concern for state labor agencies. She always tried to attend meetings with state representatives and considered these sessions very useful in developing workers’ compensation and safety and health standards. Although, the NRA was popular early on, it was declared unconstitutional by 1935.
Many of the progressive points in the NRA, were later re-established in other New Deal initiatives. The NLRA or Wagner Act was contentious among some unions, but provided workers with the legal right to organize with a union and engage in collective bargaining with their employers. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) in 1938 went on to establish maximum hours, minimum wages, and child labor restrictions.
There were many labor initiatives that were successful under Perkins including the Works Progress Administration (WPA) which provided jobs for 8 million people through massive national public works projects and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) recruited about 2 million young men to help with the beautification of public and national parks around the country. The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) that Perkins helped establish spent $4 billion for people in need.
A key advisor to FDR for his twelve years in office, she was instrumental in establishing the groundbreaking Social Security Act. Social Security was conceived of as a social insurance program by Perkins, FDR, and members of the Committee on Economic Security. There was recalcitrance from management and trade associations, like the National Association for Manufacturers that opposed the Social Security Act and many of the New Deal reforms.
Enacted into law on August 14, 1935, the program resulted from Perkins’s skillful work in assembling experts, reconciling interest groups, drafting and redrafting legislation, and shepherding through congress what she called “one of the most forward-looking pieces of legislation in the interest of wage earners” in history. Social Security provides benefits that are financed primarily through workers’ payroll deductions, which are matched by employers’ contributions for the surviving spouse and children of a deceased worker. It also provides long-term disability benefits and a lifetime retirement benefit. It is still considered the foundation of the American social safety net.
In 1962, Perkins reflected on the longevity of this important social service: “One thing I know–Social Security is so firmly embedded in the American psychology today that no politician, no political party, no political group could possibly destroy this Act and still maintain our democratic system. It is safe. It is safe forever, and for the everlasting benefit of the people of the United States.”
As of 2022, 70.6 million people received benefits from programs administered by the Social Security Administration (SSA), 55% of adult Social Security beneficiaries were women, and 55.6% was the average age of disabled-worker beneficiaries. (SSA)
Box 12, Folder 23 includes Mildred Price's M. A. thesis, benefit performance of "Parsifal" for summer schools, and note from Frances Perkins.
5812 Guide to the Interviews about Frances Perkins
Interviews about Perkins by James R. Anderson, with Department of Labor staff Isador Lubin, James E. Dodson, Gerard Reilly and Clara Beyer. The collection includes the transcripts of each interview.
5616 Issac Max Rubinow Papers, 1892-1945
The Issac Max Rubinow papers contain correspondence with Frances Perkins and other individuals about unemployment insurance, committee meetings, public hearings, studies, Miss Perkins' conference re labor legislation, Ohio Plan vs. Wagner Bill within boxes 3, 7, and 10.
National Archives and records of Federal Documentation for African American workers in the the United States.
Boxes 2, 3, and 11 relate to correspondence, reports, and pamphlets on discrimination against African Americans in the workforce.
5583/5 Guide to the Archives Organization File (AOF) Part 5, Section 2: Boxes 23-44
The Archives Organization File (AOF) is a collection of publications relating to variety of organizations and include materials such as company histories, employee newsletters, benefit plans, etc. Box 35 includes publications about wages.
5956 Archives Organization File. Additional Resources
This collection consists of various pamphlets relating to labor and work.
Box 12, Folder 5 has a publication written by Frances Perkins and J. Paul St. Sure titled Two Views of American Labor (August 9, 1965).
Box 16, Folder 18 is a survey of the extent of "Week-end shut-downs in selected defense industries (March, 1941).
Box 17, Folder 17 is a publication titled Age and the Job.
Box 22, Folder 4 has two publications written by Perkins: Injury Experience in the Iron and Steel Industry (1939 & 1940) and Earnings and Hours in Blooming Rail, Structural, Plate, and Billet Mills, Iron and Steel Industry (1933 & 1935).
5226 National Council On Household Employment Records, 1895-1951
Box 1, Folder 25 contains correspondence to Perkins from Mrs. F.M. Chase (a domestic servant) about the need for a code for domestic workers.
Box 1, Folder 32 correspondence about a research project, and a letter from Perkins in support of the project.
Box 2, Folder 15 correspondence from Perkins sending her regrets at not being able to attend a luncheon.
5001pam American Association for Labor Legislation Pamphlet File
Box 2, Folder 7, Item 2: R.E. Sheehan Company and Aetna Life Insurance Company -vs- George K. Shuler, as State Treasure of the State of NY; John D. Higgins, Richard H. Curran, and Frances Perkins, as and constituting the State Industrial Board of NYS.
Box 2, Folder 16, Item 12:Fee-Charging Job Agencies in New York State Need State Supervision, 1930 by Frances Perkins.
Box 2, Folder 17, Item 3: Progress Report, 1931 by Frances Perkins.
Box 3, Folder 17, Item 9: December Survey Graphic Magazine of Social Interpretation, 1934.
6046 Archives Union File (AUF)
The Archives Union File (AUF) is a collection of publications of United States labor unions. Included is information on the American Institute for Free Labor Development.
Box 295, Folder 3, Item 5: A Review of the Report of the Research Committee Labor Unrest and Dissatisfaction, 1944.
6047 Archives Information File
The Archives Information File contains publications such as boxes 52 and 101 written by Frances Perkins.
5002 American Association for Social Security Records, 1909-1953
The American Association for Social Security Records materials concern the movement to promote government provision of retirement, health, unemployment and other forms of social insurance and progressive social legislation.
Box 3, Folder 1 contains correspondence about AASS's proposed health insurance program for social security; enclosure: "The Case for Health Insurance" by Mr. Epstein.
Box 4, Folders 48 and 49 contains much correspondence to Sec. Perkins protesting the exclusion of the AASS from the upcoming February general conference on Labor Legislation, agendas to several labor conferences; telegrams come from many of the AASS's supporters and members; an explanation from the Dept. of Labor is included; correspondence about a conference on social insurance to be sponsored by the Dept. of Labor and the AASS.
Box 5, Folder 29 contains correspondence from the AASS to various colleges, the United Mine Workers, Francis Perkins, and others about a tentative set of standards for unemployment insurance established by the AASS's Brookwood conference and embodied in a model bill for unemployment insurance.
Box 6, Folder 20 contains correspondence between Epstein and M. Schnopper of the Committee; correspondence with Barbara Armstrong, Frances Perkins, Douglas Brown re Epstein's views and role in the work of the Committee; also the Committee's staff report on unemployment insurance.
Box 30, Folder 31 and 32 contains a report made at the Conference on Labor Legislation called by Perkins, news paper clippings, and address by Perkins, "The Beveridge Plan."
6152 New York State Department of Labor Files, 1950-1982
Box 6, Folder 2 contains materials relating to unemployment.
Box 24, Folders 44 and 47 have reports on earnings and working conditions of women employed in power laundries and problems in the canning industry.
Box 27, Folder 28 contains correspondence from Perkins to the Governor of New Jersey (April 3, 1942) after he signed a bill suspending at least a 30 minute lunch break after a 6 hour shift.