Perkins, Frances, 1880-1965
Name Entries
person
Perkins, Frances, 1880-1965
Computed Name Heading
Name Components
Surname :
Perkins
Forename :
Frances
Date :
1880-1965
eng
Latn
authorizedForm
rda
Wilson, Frances Perkins, 1880-1965
Computed Name Heading
Name Components
Surname :
Wilson
Forename :
Frances Perkins
Date :
1880-1965
eng
Latn
alternativeForm
rda
Perkins, Fannie Coralie, 1880-1965
Computed Name Heading
Name Components
Surname :
Perkins
Forename :
Fannie Coralie
Date :
1880-1965
eng
Latn
alternativeForm
rda
Genders
Female
Exist Dates
Biographical History
Frances Perkins (born Fannie Coralie Perkins; April 10, 1880 – May 14, 1965) was an American sociologist and workers-rights advocate who served as the U.S. Secretary of Labor from 1933 to 1945, the longest serving in that position, and the first woman appointed to the U.S. Cabinet. As a loyal supporter of her friend, Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR), she helped pull the labor movement into the New Deal coalition. She and Interior Secretary Harold L. Ickes were the only original members of the Roosevelt cabinet to remain in office for his entire presidency.
Perkins graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1902 and for some years taught school and served as a social worker. She worked briefly with Jane Addams at Hull House in Chicago and then resumed her studies, first at the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce of the University of Pennsylvania and then at Columbia University, where she took an M.A. in social economics in 1910. From that year until 1912 she was executive secretary of the Consumers’ League of New York. In that position she lobbied successfully for improved wages and working conditions, especially for women and children. From 1912 to 1917 she was executive secretary of the New York Committee on Safety and from 1917 to 1919 executive director of the New York Council of Organization for War Service. She was appointed in 1919 to New York’s State Industrial Commission by Governor Alfred E. Smith, and in 1923 she was named to the State Industrial Board, of which she became chairman in 1926. Smith’s successor, Franklin D. Roosevelt, appointed Perkins state industrial commissioner in 1929. She was, both before and after the onset of the Great Depression of the 1930s, a strong advocate of unemployment insurance and close government supervision of fiscal policy.
When Roosevelt entered the presidency in 1933 he named Perkins secretary of labor, making her the first woman to serve in a cabinet position. After the initial controversy of her appointment died away she settled into a 12-year term of effective administration of her department. She pushed for a minimum wage and maximum workweek, a limit on employment of children under 16, creation of the Civilian Conservation Corps, and unemployment compensation—all of which were enacted. She helped draft the Social Security Act and supervised the Fair Labor Standards Act (1938). When the focus of labour activity shifted in the late 1930s from government to unions, Perkins played a less visible role. Her most important work was then the building up of the Department of Labor, particularly the strengthening of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Two months after Roosevelt’s death, Perkins resigned from the Cabinet, but she remained in government as a U.S. civil service commissioner until 1953. From then until her death, she lectured on the problems of labour and industry. In 1934 she published People at Work, and The Roosevelt I Knew, a record of her association with the late president, appeared in 1946.
eng
Latn
External Related CPF
https://id.loc.gov/authorities/n50012858
https://catalog.archives.gov/id/10679506
https://viaf.org/viaf/8311454
https://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n50012858
https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q254478
Other Entity IDs (Same As)
Sources
Loading ...
Resource Relations
Loading ...
Internal CPF Relations
Loading ...
Languages Used
eng
Latn
Subjects
Aged
Education
Education
Art
Arts
Astronomy
Astronomy
Teachers
Bible study and teaching(Higher) - Massachusetts
Botany
Botany
Cabinet officers
Chemistry
Chemistry
Civil defense
College students
Emigration and immigration
Emigration and immigration law
English language
English language
English literature
English literature
Equal rights amendments
Ethics
Ethics
Friendship
Friendship
Geography
Geography
German language
German language
Government executives
History
History
Industrial relations
Industrial relations
Labor and laboring classes
Labor movement
Labor movement
Labor unions
Latin language
Latin language
Logic
Logic
Mathematics
Mathematics
Mount Holyoke College
Mount Holyoke College
Mount Holyoke College
Mount Holyoke College
Mount Holyoke College
New Deal, 1933-1939
Physics
Physics
Psychology
Psychology
Social reformers
Social reformers
Sociology
Sociology
State government
Strikes and lockouts
Unemployment
Women
Women
Women
Women cabinet officers
Women college students
Women college students
Women government executives
Women in civil service
Women in politics
Women's colleges
Women social reformers
Women social reformers
Women social reformers
Women social reformers
Women teachers
Women teachers
Working class
World War, 1939-1945
World War, 1939-1945
Zoology
Zoology
Nationalities
Americans
Activities
Occupations
Authors
Cabinet officers
Government executives
Professors (teacher)
Public officers
Women government executives
Women in civil service
Women public officers
Women social reformers
Legal Statuses
Places
Garden City (N.Y.)
NY, US
AssociatedPlace
Residence
Ithaca
NY, US
AssociatedPlace
Residence
New York City
NY, US
AssociatedPlace
Death
District of Columbia
DC, US
AssociatedPlace
Residence
Lake Forest
IL, US
AssociatedPlace
Residence
Boston
MA, US
AssociatedPlace
Birth
Newcastle
ME, US
AssociatedPlace
Residence
Albany
NY, US
AssociatedPlace
Residence
Philadelphia
PA, US
AssociatedPlace
Residence
Worcester
MA, US
AssociatedPlace
Residence
Convention Declarations
<conventionDeclaration><citation>VIAF</citation></conventionDeclaration>