Frances Perkins- The Woman Who Negotiated the New Deal.

“The door might not be opened to a woman again for a long, long time, and I had a kind of duty to other women to walk in and sit down on the chair that was offered, and so establish the right of others long hence and far distant in geography to sit in the high seats.”

- Frances Perkins

“Being a woman has only bothered me in climbing trees.”
- Frances Perkins 

Frances Perkins- The Woman Who Negotiated the New Deal.

When we learned about the New Deal in school, we surely learned about Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and maybe even First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt.  They certainly both played instrumental roles in pushing and implementing the New Deal, however, there was someone else who had been advocating for these basic social advancements since the start of her career, and without whom it is unlikely that the New Deal would have come to fruition.   She was a pioneer, a master negotiator, and a woman ahead of her time.

Here is her story.     

Frances Perkins was born in 1880 in Boston Massachusetts.  After graduating from Mount Holyoke College with degrees in chemistry and physics, she went on to study economics at Wharton and received her master’s degree in political science from Columbia University.  

While teaching and studying, Perkins became involved in progressive politics and the suffragette movement.  In 1910 she achieved prominence as the Executive Secretary of the New York Consumers League and lobbied for sanitary regulations, fire protection, and limited working hours for women and children.

On March 25, 1911, a tragic event occurred that would change her life forever.  That day, she watched helplessly as New York City’s Triangle Shirtwaist Factory went up in flames.  Many of the young women trapped inside were those she had worked with to help secure a 54-hour work week.  As the fire escapes collapsed, and ladders failed to reach the top, 47 women leapt out of the windows and plunged to their death. In total, 146 workers died on that day, the day she would later recall as “the day the New Deal was born.”

Inspired to change working conditions and make sure incidents like the Triangle Shirtwaist fire never happened again, Perkins joined the Industrial Commission of the State of New York.  Ten years later, in 1929, the newly elected Governor, Franklin Roosevelt, appointed Perkins as the inaugural New York State Industrial Commissioner.  In this role, she worked to reduce the work week for women to 48 hours, to end child labor, to expand factory investigations, and to institute a minimum wage.  The new health and safety laws, Perkins worked to bring about, were so comprehensive they became the benchmark for laws protecting workers.   

After a decade in New York, Perkins was asked to serve as the U.S. Secretary of Labor by her good friend, President Franklin D. Roosevelt.  In the negotiation of the century, Perkins told Roosevelt she would only serve if he supported her goals. These goals included: a 40-hour work week; the abolition of child labor; federal aid to the states for unemployment benefits; minimum wage; unemployment insurance; worker’s compensation; Social Security; and universal health insurance.  Perkins had earned Roosevelt’s respect through her service in New York. She knew she had grounds to have her demands taken seriously.  Rather than focusing on the opportunity to become the first woman to serve in the U.S. Cabinet, she stayed true to her allegiance to the workers and placed her cause above her ego.  Fortunately, her negotiation tactic was successful. Roosevelt agreed to her terms and Frances Perkins earned her place in history.

Perkins was the longest serving U.S. Secretary of Labor from 1933-1945.  During that time, she executed many aspects of the New Deal and saw most of her goals come to fruition-with the exception of universal health care.  In 1945 President Truman asked her to serve on the United States Civil Service Commission. She agreed, and in what could be argued as the predecessor to the MeToo Movement, Perkins used this position to speak out for women.  She cautioned government officials to hire women based on competency rather than because they were “easy on the eyes.” After her career in government, Perkins continued to shape the future of the nation by teaching and lecturing at Cornell University until her death at the age of 85.