WEBVTT - How Did Frances Perkins Create America's Social Safety Net? 0:00:01.840 --> 0:00:08.360 Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey Brainstuff, Lauren Volebaum. 0:00:08.440 --> 0:00:13.200 Here there is a single person in American history who 0:00:13.240 --> 0:00:17.840 is primarily responsible for creating the Social Security Program, along 0:00:17.840 --> 0:00:21.000 with government protection of workers' rights like a minimum wage 0:00:21.000 --> 0:00:24.799 and maximum work hours. But for a long time, most 0:00:24.840 --> 0:00:29.360 of the American public had never heard her name. Francis 0:00:29.400 --> 0:00:32.239 Perkins was the first woman to become a member of 0:00:32.280 --> 0:00:36.280 a president's cabinet, as Franklin D. Roosevelt's Secretary of Labor 0:00:36.600 --> 0:00:41.599 in nineteen thirty three. Her name and story have sometimes 0:00:41.680 --> 0:00:46.160 been downplayed for a number of possible reasons. She herself 0:00:46.280 --> 0:00:48.680 was not an in the spotlight sort of person and 0:00:48.840 --> 0:00:52.120 often deferred credit to FDR and some of the men 0:00:52.120 --> 0:00:54.680 who later wrote about the New Deal may have neglected 0:00:54.680 --> 0:00:59.200 to research her contributions. But the Department of Labor National 0:00:59.200 --> 0:01:02.720 Office bears her name. Two of her residences are now 0:01:02.800 --> 0:01:07.319 preserved as historic landmarks. A biography and separately, a novel 0:01:07.440 --> 0:01:11.319 tell the story of her life. Today, let's talk about 0:01:11.400 --> 0:01:15.360 how Perkins came to be a quiet force of advocacy 0:01:15.520 --> 0:01:22.120 who helped create our social safety net. Francis Perkins was 0:01:22.160 --> 0:01:25.679 born as Fanny Coraley Perkins in Boston in eighteen eighty, 0:01:25.840 --> 0:01:30.200 with family roots in Maine. After graduating from Mount Holyoke 0:01:30.240 --> 0:01:33.000 College in nineteen oh two, she pursued a career as 0:01:33.040 --> 0:01:35.920 a social worker, and later continued her education at the 0:01:35.920 --> 0:01:38.520 Wharton School of Finance and Commerce of the University of 0:01:38.520 --> 0:01:41.680 Pennsylvania and then at Columbia University, where she earned an 0:01:41.800 --> 0:01:45.480 MA in social economics in nineteen ten. For the next 0:01:45.520 --> 0:01:48.000 two years, she served as the executive secretary of the 0:01:48.000 --> 0:01:51.320 Consumers League of New York, where she successfully lobbied for 0:01:51.360 --> 0:01:56.640 improved wages and working conditions, particularly for women and children. 0:01:57.040 --> 0:01:59.440 It was during that time that Perkins witnessed a life 0:01:59.520 --> 0:02:01.960 changing event that would shift the course of her own 0:02:02.000 --> 0:02:05.960 professional life, as well as the future of American labor conditions. 0:02:07.160 --> 0:02:10.320 On March twenty fifth of nineteen eleven, Perkins was having 0:02:10.400 --> 0:02:13.000 tea with a friend in Manhattan when a commotion broke 0:02:13.040 --> 0:02:16.160 out nearby. It turned out to be what's now known 0:02:16.240 --> 0:02:19.919 as the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, one of the deadliest 0:02:20.040 --> 0:02:25.000 US workplace disasters in history. The fire broke out on 0:02:25.000 --> 0:02:27.440 the upper floors of the ten story building that housed 0:02:27.440 --> 0:02:30.079 the factory and claimed the lives of one hundred and 0:02:30.160 --> 0:02:33.760 forty six garment workers, most of whom were young women immigrants, 0:02:34.000 --> 0:02:37.960 some as young as fourteen years. They were blocked from 0:02:38.080 --> 0:02:41.760 escaping because stairways and exit doors had been locked intentionally 0:02:41.800 --> 0:02:45.400 by management in attempts to prevent unauthorized break time and 0:02:45.520 --> 0:02:51.520 potential theft. There were no sprinkler systems installed. The fire 0:02:51.600 --> 0:02:54.200 escape stairs that were available didn't lead to the ground, 0:02:54.639 --> 0:02:58.440 and when firefighters arrived, their ladders and hoses couldn't reach 0:02:58.480 --> 0:03:02.040 the top floors. Some women jumped to their debts rather 0:03:02.080 --> 0:03:08.799 than burn. This tragic and preventable incident spurred worker safety 0:03:08.880 --> 0:03:13.079 legislation and union involvement with the help of people like Perkins. 0:03:15.000 --> 0:03:17.600 Before the article. This episode is based on how Stuff Work. 0:03:17.680 --> 0:03:20.960 Spoke with Kirsten Downey, an award winning journalist and author 0:03:21.040 --> 0:03:24.240 of the biography of Perkins called The Woman Behind the 0:03:24.280 --> 0:03:27.639 New Deal, The Life of Francis Perkins, FDR's Secretary of 0:03:27.720 --> 0:03:32.880 Labor and His Moral Conscience. Downey said Perkins had already 0:03:32.880 --> 0:03:36.600 been investigating workplace problems as a young social worker in Manhattan, 0:03:36.800 --> 0:03:38.880 but was in the neighborhood when the fire broke out. 0:03:39.840 --> 0:03:42.800 They ran across Washington Square Park and got there just 0:03:42.840 --> 0:03:45.200 as the first people started jumping out of the windows 0:03:45.200 --> 0:03:49.200 and hitting the ground. She was already thinking about workplace abuses, 0:03:49.440 --> 0:03:52.400 and because she was the key person administering the New 0:03:52.480 --> 0:03:56.200 York State Factory Investigating Commission that led to the creation 0:03:56.520 --> 0:03:59.440 of all our fire codes. By the time she was 0:03:59.480 --> 0:04:02.200 in her early thirties, she had crafted legislation in New 0:04:02.280 --> 0:04:06.280 York that led to exit signs, occupancy limits on rooms, sprinklers, 0:04:06.400 --> 0:04:09.200 buyer escapes, and how wide doors had to be to 0:04:09.360 --> 0:04:15.880 escape safely. Following the horrific fire, Perkins grew even more 0:04:15.920 --> 0:04:21.040 resolute about revolutionizing the country's dysfunctional labor system. She moved 0:04:21.080 --> 0:04:23.560 up through several roles in New York civil services in 0:04:23.600 --> 0:04:27.000 the nineteen teens and twenties, during which time she also 0:04:27.160 --> 0:04:29.640 married an economist by the name of Paul Wilson, with 0:04:29.720 --> 0:04:34.360 whom she had a daughter. Newspapers from the nineteen thirties 0:04:34.440 --> 0:04:37.360 report that she kept her maiden name because at the time, A. 0:04:37.440 --> 0:04:40.480 Wilson was secretary to New York's mayor and she didn't 0:04:40.480 --> 0:04:46.560 want her career to interfere with his. Perkins was appointed 0:04:46.600 --> 0:04:49.479 by then New York Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt as the 0:04:49.560 --> 0:04:52.159 Industrial Commissioner of the State of New York in nineteen 0:04:52.200 --> 0:04:56.719 twenty nine. When the stock market crashed that year, Perkins 0:04:56.760 --> 0:04:59.440 was the one who encouraged FDR to take swift and 0:04:59.560 --> 0:05:03.719 serious action. When he created a committee on Employment, he 0:05:03.760 --> 0:05:07.080 appointed Perkins to head up the efforts, and when he 0:05:07.160 --> 0:05:10.320 was first elected president in nineteen thirty three, he tapped 0:05:10.360 --> 0:05:13.359 Perkins to be his Secretary of Labor, making her the 0:05:13.480 --> 0:05:17.360 first woman to become a cabinet member. After all, that 0:05:17.520 --> 0:05:20.240 worked with each other for about twenty years, and she 0:05:20.400 --> 0:05:26.640 was a trusted friend. However, despite Perkins's impressive achievements over 0:05:26.640 --> 0:05:29.239 the course of her career to that point, the American 0:05:29.320 --> 0:05:32.560 public was less than welcoming when she arrived in Washington. 0:05:34.080 --> 0:05:38.440 Downey said when FDR picked her, there was a huge backlash. 0:05:38.640 --> 0:05:40.640 A lot of people were appalled that he named a 0:05:40.640 --> 0:05:43.760 woman to his cabinet. Remember, women didn't get the right 0:05:43.800 --> 0:05:46.640 to vote until nineteen twenty, when Francis Perkins was forty 0:05:46.720 --> 0:05:49.360 years old, So she had a whole career to age 0:05:49.400 --> 0:05:52.200 forty doing all these important things and didn't even have 0:05:52.240 --> 0:05:55.400 the right to vote. When FDR was elected president. It 0:05:55.440 --> 0:05:57.719 was only twelve years after women got the right to vote, 0:05:57.760 --> 0:06:02.600 so you can see why people were shocked about it. Ironically, 0:06:02.720 --> 0:06:06.719 even unions opposed her appointment. Downey said a lot of 0:06:06.839 --> 0:06:10.800 unions didn't permit female members and were particularly insulted because 0:06:10.800 --> 0:06:13.920 they wanted a good union man to be Secretary of Labor. 0:06:14.279 --> 0:06:17.279 Francis Perkins had a background as a government administrator and 0:06:17.360 --> 0:06:20.839 a social worker, and they were suspicious. But in fact, 0:06:20.920 --> 0:06:22.880 because of the things she did, she was able to 0:06:22.960 --> 0:06:26.240 essentially reshape the labor movement, which was dying when she 0:06:26.279 --> 0:06:29.760 became Secretary of Labor. By the time she died, unionized 0:06:29.800 --> 0:06:35.520 employees made up one third of the American workforce. Perkins 0:06:35.600 --> 0:06:37.520 had a lot on her agenda when she made the 0:06:37.560 --> 0:06:40.479 move to DC, and some of her biggest ideas have 0:06:40.600 --> 0:06:43.480 proven to have a lasting impact on Americans to this day. 0:06:44.600 --> 0:06:47.440 The Social Security Act was enacted in nineteen thirty five, 0:06:47.680 --> 0:06:51.039 after just two years of Perkins being in office. It 0:06:51.160 --> 0:06:54.520 created a system of transfer payments that relies on working 0:06:54.560 --> 0:06:57.680 people supporting people who have retired or who are out 0:06:57.720 --> 0:07:02.640 of work for other reasons. Provides unemployment insurance plus aid 0:07:02.720 --> 0:07:06.520 for dependent mothers and children, victims of work related accidents, 0:07:06.720 --> 0:07:10.840 and people with blindness and other physical issues. The law 0:07:10.920 --> 0:07:14.120 was part of FDR's Second New Deal initiatives to help 0:07:14.160 --> 0:07:17.320 Americans cope with social and economic changes in the wake 0:07:17.360 --> 0:07:23.280 of the Great Depression. Downey said FDR didn't run saying 0:07:23.360 --> 0:07:25.920 he'd do that, and it wasn't anything he really cared 0:07:25.920 --> 0:07:28.240 about hugely, as he had a bunch of things on 0:07:28.240 --> 0:07:33.160 his plate. Basically, Francis Perkins created the lifeline we're using today, 0:07:34.760 --> 0:07:38.760 she continued. Unemployment Insurance is a national network of state 0:07:38.840 --> 0:07:42.040 unemployment systems and is the mechanism we're using to get 0:07:42.040 --> 0:07:44.880 money to people across America who've lost their jobs through 0:07:44.880 --> 0:07:47.960 no fault of their own. We've got fifty states and 0:07:48.080 --> 0:07:52.240 some territories using the same basic mechanism, so almost all 0:07:52.320 --> 0:07:56.000 of the existing social safety network has her imprint. She 0:07:56.080 --> 0:07:59.280 set up all these programs that spun off into other departments, 0:07:59.520 --> 0:08:05.640 but were there because of her handiwork. Perkins also helped 0:08:05.720 --> 0:08:08.640 craft the Fair Labor Standards Act of nineteen thirty eight, 0:08:09.080 --> 0:08:11.800 the law that established a minimum wage and maximum work 0:08:11.840 --> 0:08:15.880 hours and banned child labor. The Department of Labor was 0:08:15.920 --> 0:08:19.800 also tasked with overseeing the Immigration and Naturalization Service i 0:08:19.920 --> 0:08:25.040 INS until nineteen forty during the growing persecution of Nazi Germany, 0:08:25.400 --> 0:08:28.800 Perkins worked for expanded immigration rights and increased aid to 0:08:28.840 --> 0:08:33.480 European refugees, especially Jewish children, despite pushback from other sectors 0:08:33.520 --> 0:08:39.280 of the American government. When FDR died in nineteen forty five, 0:08:39.679 --> 0:08:43.200 Perkins was the longest serving Labor Secretary and one of 0:08:43.280 --> 0:08:46.680 only two Cabinet secretaries to serve the entire twelve years 0:08:46.679 --> 0:08:50.520 of its presidency. Of all the things on the agenda 0:08:50.640 --> 0:08:53.000 she brought with her to Washington in nineteen thirty three, 0:08:53.600 --> 0:09:00.600 only one remained unaccomplished, universal access to healthcare. Biins wrote 0:09:00.640 --> 0:09:04.680 in nineteen forty five, these social and economic reforms of 0:09:04.720 --> 0:09:07.160 the past twelve years will be regarded in the future 0:09:07.280 --> 0:09:10.600 as a turning point in our national life, a turning 0:09:10.720 --> 0:09:14.320 from careless neglect of human values and toward an order 0:09:14.760 --> 0:09:22.400 of mutual and practical benevolence within a free, competitive industrial economy. 0:09:23.240 --> 0:09:26.160 The next year, Perkins published a best selling biography of 0:09:26.240 --> 0:09:29.840 FDR titled The Roosevelt I Knew, and served as the 0:09:29.840 --> 0:09:33.000 head of the American delegation to the International Labor Organization 0:09:33.120 --> 0:09:37.320 in Paris. President Harry Truman that appointed her to the 0:09:37.480 --> 0:09:40.920 United States Civil Service Commission, a position she held until 0:09:41.000 --> 0:09:45.959 nineteen fifty three. After leaving government service, Perkins was active 0:09:46.000 --> 0:09:48.560 as a teacher and lecturer at the New York State 0:09:48.600 --> 0:09:52.400 School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University until 0:09:52.440 --> 0:09:55.720 her death in nineteen sixty five at age eighty five. 0:09:58.520 --> 0:10:01.600 In her personal life, Perkins had often spent time at 0:10:01.600 --> 0:10:06.080 her family's homestead in Newcastle, Maine, a sweeping riverfront property 0:10:06.120 --> 0:10:09.440 where the family farm fished and killed bricks of local clay. 0:10:10.600 --> 0:10:13.520 She was buried nearby and next to her husband, who 0:10:13.520 --> 0:10:17.440 had passed in nineteen fifty two, that often lived apart 0:10:17.520 --> 0:10:19.880 during the last twenty years of his life, as had 0:10:19.920 --> 0:10:22.440 struggled with mental health issues and been in and out 0:10:22.440 --> 0:10:27.719 of various facilities. Today it's thot. Perkins also had a 0:10:27.760 --> 0:10:32.600 long term romantic relationship with fellow social activist Mary Harriman Romsey. 0:10:33.320 --> 0:10:37.800 The two women lived together in Washington, albeit briefly. The 0:10:37.880 --> 0:10:40.880 National Park Service included their story in its twenty sixteen 0:10:40.960 --> 0:10:45.000 study of the Recognition and Preservation of Sites with Queer Heritage, 0:10:45.480 --> 0:10:48.240 though the current administration has removed that study from the 0:10:48.360 --> 0:10:53.120 NPS website. It's really interesting if you're into landmarks in 0:10:53.200 --> 0:10:55.880 queer history, and you can still find it by googling 0:10:56.240 --> 0:11:03.440 LGBTQ America NPS. The National Park Service was writing about 0:11:03.480 --> 0:11:06.520 Perkins because the Perkins family Homestead had been listed on 0:11:06.559 --> 0:11:09.120 the National Register of Historic Places in two thousand and 0:11:09.200 --> 0:11:12.520 nine and became the Francis Perkins National Monument in twenty 0:11:12.520 --> 0:11:16.000 twenty four. Its grounds and trails are open to the 0:11:16.040 --> 0:11:19.200 public year round from dawn till dusk, and the buildings 0:11:19.200 --> 0:11:22.040 are open in the summer. They're run by the Francis 0:11:22.080 --> 0:11:26.199 Perkins Center, which works to preserve her legacy by inspiring 0:11:26.240 --> 0:11:29.840 women to go into public service and by educating about 0:11:29.840 --> 0:11:32.800 the lasting effects of the New Deal and how our 0:11:32.840 --> 0:11:36.600 government can provide economic security and social justice to its 0:11:36.640 --> 0:11:42.600 citizens through policies like it. Downey said, the bottom line 0:11:42.640 --> 0:11:46.080 is that Francis perkins life's work was recognizing that in 0:11:46.120 --> 0:11:49.440 the course of human events, bad stuff happens, and it's 0:11:49.520 --> 0:11:52.320 predictable that it happens, and what you want to do 0:11:52.480 --> 0:11:55.760 is create a system of elasticity that helps you have 0:11:55.800 --> 0:12:03.520 a solution to fix it. Today's episode is based on 0:12:03.559 --> 0:12:07.040 the article Francis Perkins, the Unsung Creator of US Social 0:12:07.080 --> 0:12:11.360 Security on HowStuffWorks dot Com. Written by Michelle Constantinofsky. Brain 0:12:11.360 --> 0:12:14.160 Stuff is production of iHeartRadio in partnership of how stuffworks 0:12:14.160 --> 0:12:17.079 dot com. It is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more 0:12:17.080 --> 0:12:21.000 podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 0:12:21.080 --> 0:12:23.000 or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.