Streets around the building, and ill explain to you how that happened and how the research was done at the library of congress, which is sponsoring todays event, its a wonderful institution, the beautiful buildings, they are such Important Research materials they are, and its all available free. Use Public Access library, its one of the things that make our nation great. And im very grateful to the library of congress, for bringing here, and for continuing to give us such a wonderful material. Now, this is a self selecting crowd, i know some of you already know who Francis Perkins is, but a lot of people dont so lets start by asking this question, how many of you know who francis breakins is . Oh yes, this is great. How about this . How many of you know someone on Social Security, please raise your hand . How many of you know someone who is receiving unemployment insurance, or who has ever received Unemployment Compensation . Okay, friends perkins work. How many of you know someone who is working a 40 hour week generally more less . France inspirations worked. How many of you know a 12yearold whose quite going to school, so she could work fulltime in a factory . Frances perkins work. Her ban on child labor, enacted in a fair label standards act, made it possible to keep kids in school longer, instead of in mills and factories. Let me start by telling you a little bit, its awfully noisy here, but let me start about telling you a little bit i wanna read a little bit of the prologue from my book so that you know a little bit more about the breath of Frances Perkins accomplishments. On a chilly february night, in 1933, a middle aged woman waited expectantly to meet with unemployment at the residence on each 63 are new york city. She clutched a scrap of paper with hastily written notes. Finally, ushered in his study, the woman brushed aside her nervousness, and spoke confidently. They banned her casually for a while, as was their style, then she turns serious, her dark luminous eyes holding his gaze. He wanted her to take an assignment, but she decided she would not accepted unless he allowed her to do it her own way. She held up a piece of paper in her hand, and he motioned for her to continue. She ticked off the items, 40 hour work week, minimum wage, workers compensation, Unemployment Compensation, a federal law banning child labor, direct federal aid for unemployment relief, Social Security, Public Employment service, and Health Insurance. She watched his eyes make sure he was paying attention, and understood the implications of each demand. She braced for his response, knowing he often chose political expediency over idealism, and was capable of callousness, even cruelty. The scope of her list was breathtaking, she was proposing a fundamental and radical restructuring of american society, with the enactment of historic social welfare, and labor laws, to succeed, she would have to overcome a position from courts, business, labor unions, conservatives. Nothing like this has ever been done before, in the United States, she says. You know that, dont you . The man said across from her in his wheelchair, amid the clutter of boxers and rugs, soon he would head to washington d. C. To be sworn as to 32nd president of the United States. He would inherit the worst economic crisis in the nations history. An era of rampant skip speculation had come to an. And the stock market had collapsed, rendering investments fabulous. Thanks for shutting down, shredding people of their lifetime savings. About a third, of workers, were unemployed, wages were falling, hundreds of thousands were homeless, real estate prices had plummeted, and millions of homeowners phased foreclosure. His choice of labor secretary would be one of his most important decisions, his nominee must understand economic employment issues, but be equally effective as a coalition builder. He was a handsome man with features, and studied the plane matronly woman sitting ahead of him. No one was more qualified for the job, she knew as much about labor laws, as anyone in the country, hed known him for more than 20 years, the last four, in albany, where she had worked by his side. He trusted her, and he knew she would never betray him. None of the items i just mentioned were part of the fdrs Campaign Platform in 1932. Nevertheless, he told Frances Perkins he would back here. And she agreed to accept the job. That night, in bed, she actually cried, cried a deep whaling sobs, because she knew it was going to be such a difficult job. She would open herself to Constant Media scrutiny, harsh judgment, and public criticism. Yet, she knew she must accept the offer, as this her grandmother had told her that every door open to you, you have no choice but to walk through it. Frances perkins would become the nations first female secretary of labor. Now, we know what happened after that. The Social Security act, passed in 1935, gave us unemployment insurance. Social security, and our welfare system, known as aid to dependent children, designed to help the children of parents, of mothers left to raise her children alone. For fair labor standards, act passed in 1938, said that 40 hour work week. Instead of a minimal age, it put the ban on child labor. Other things she did, insurance, she was a primary booster of the civilian confirmation court, she was the largest single supporter of the wpa, truly, this was a remarkable woman. Now, its a little interesting and unusual that i came to write this book, i came from a staunchly republican family. I actually came from a family of roosevelt haters. But when it came to washington d. C. In 1988, as a young business reporter, one of the first things i did, as i sat out to learn my way around the town, was to sign up for a trolley bus tour for the city. And one of the first things i noticed, was that Frances Perkins department of labor. As those of you who live in washington know, there is very few buildings in washington named after women. And so i noticed it, and i filed it away in wondered, who was Frances Perkins . I had never even heard of her. As we went around in the trolley bus, on this day i took the tour, we got around over by the washington monument, in the tour bus driver said, along with his regular pattern, one american women had the worst childbirth experience . There was a long pause. Frances perkins, he spent 12 years in labor. [laughs] thats the first time i ever remember hearing Frances Perkins name spoken aloud. Now i laughed. Like the rest of the did. But also as a feminist, it irritated me, i never after that i kept Frances Perkins name in my mind that i kept listening for her. I spent 20 years at the washington post, and over the years i realized how often i heard her name. Often like a distant whisper, when we talked about Social Security, Frances Perkins, when we talked about age discrimination, Frances Perkins, when we talked about the fair labor standards act, and making revisions to it, we talked about Frances Perkins. When we talked about the Labor Movement, we talked about Frances Perkins. This was all her handiwork, quite an extraordinary record of achievement. I spent 20 years at the washington post, i went all over the country for the washington post, it was a wonderful life education, going to visit places and learn new things. And as i traveled around the country, writing business stories, i began to realize how little i knew about the history of the working people of america. Its something that really is not taught. In the late 1990s i wrote a series of articles on sexual harassment. And i heard a lot of chilling stories about places where there had been an imbalance of power, where people were not able to use their powers, and to force people to do things they did not want to do. There were people who were sort of trapped in a cycle of abuse, and a lot of times historians were really very bad, its really much more akin to criminal activity than most of us have realized. And i heard all of these stories, all around the country, and i began to suffer myself with psychologist called called secondary stress. And i got afraid to fly, i started to feel like Authority Figures couldnt be counted on to do the right thing. If they were a problem. I suppose part of the issue for me was that i had both the good luck in the bad luck to sit by the post, fabulous aviation reporter don phillips, and he was writing about every plane crash that happened in america. So every day, and i was afraid to fly, i was over hearing him talk about every air accident that had happened, and how the people on board had died. So, i started to travel places by train, whenever i could get away with it. I took a long trip out west to do a story on the national parks, and on the way i read a book called big trouble, which is a really fabulous book about the great label battles of 100 years ago. And i was shocked to realize, actually, that these were pitched battles, this was almost like warfare out on the western frontier, between employers and workers. And i realized how little i knew about that. So i began looking for the vehicle to write about the epic struggle of the working man in america, to get a better life. I came back to the post, and i started writing a column called on the job, where people could write me letters about their problems outwork. And one day, and then wrote, at the end of the day every day, we are locked into our offices while they count the money and the cash register, do you think thats unsafe . Yes, it is. Even a rat has an escape whole, he told me. So i decided to write a column on workplace fire safety, and in doing it i did a little bit of research on the triangle shirtless fire. And i heard that a young social worker, named Frances Perkins had actually witnessed the triangle shirtless fire. And what he had seen hug so horrified her, 146 people died that day, and many leapt into their debts, from a building in lower manhattan, it was a sweatshop. From that experience, Frances Perkins was so motivated to make changes, that she drafted the law as it became our National Fire safety act. You might say, he rica at that point i felt this is the women that has a fabulous story, it has to be told. This aspect, labor history, is something that is not told very much at all in america, and by telling the story of Frances Perkins life, i saw an opportunity to do it. Today, in the various tents, youll hear a lot about political history, military history, civil rights history, but except for me today, you will hear very little about labor history. And my book has tried to rectify that. I got a contract to write the book, i began doing the research when i got a fellowship at hardware university, i was a fellow at harvard, and that harvard at the time, there was not a single professor of labor history. At this point now, theres only one major newspapers that employs a fulltime labor reporter. Thats the new york times. And its stream in greenhouse, and he has a lonely job. Now, many people advocate heartily for free trade today, but there are not a lot of peoples speaking for the defense of the working people in america. And in fact, thats what Frances Perkins devoted her life to doing. Talking about the problems of working people, and trying to find ways to solve those problems, ways that could also keep americas businesses strong and prosperous. Now, if Frances Perkins were standing here today, i couldnt assure you and tell you that what do you think he would be talking about . She would be talking about jobs, today, she would be talking about how to generate jobs, and how to bring good paying jobs back to america. She would be talking about smart employers, who are finding ways to grow their workforces, economic policies, step bring good paying jobs back to america. And she would be talking about ways to strengthen the Labor Movement today, so the workers can protect their pensions. Theyre right, to a 40 hour work week. And their right to Health Insurance, if it actually works, when its opposed to. Now, the Labor Movement, theyre working people of america, they are the backbone of america, and they are much of the source of our countrys economic prosperity. But nobody talks about them very much at all, almost nobody at all. And thats alarming, especially when we face an economic crisis, as we do today. This is a matter of particular interest to me, because i spent a lifetime studying the american economy, and the Unemployment Rate is its really becoming a very serious problem for the United States. We need to get people employed with jobs that are earn enough money to give them financial security, and allow them to buy the things they need, food, and housing, and health care. I think it Frances Perkins was here today, and i think i have the right to say it, i spent nine years studying her life, i think shed say we need to pay a lot more attention, again, to the working man. And i am open for questions. [applause] i was wondering if he could talk a little bit about how Frances Perkins in an era when there were essentially no other women in high political positions, was able to navigate with the other political players in washington . Thats right. Could everyone hear the question . Okay. Its a really good question, and i think thats part of what fascinated me, is he essentially had to invent the role of a woman in high public office. She had to figure out how she was gonna dress, how she was gonna talk, even what she was going to call herself. Now, in some ways this caused her some embarrassment, because early on when she started someone said that she should be called madam secretary, now, she sort of went along with it, but she didnt realize that after that you would be getting to be called the madam. Which made her very embarrassed. She was quite the victorian. And she never like that. But she did define herself in the position of inventing everything about herself, she tried to be very careful how she spoke, she tried to speak as men do, she try to keep her sentences short, and to point. And she tried to make sure that the man never felt like she was stealing the limelight from them. Now this was very important that she always light fdr shine. And that was part of the secret of her success. But in fact, every single day of her life, she had to think about those gender issues, and how exactly things were gonna play out. It was very difficult, in fact, she did find washington to be just as frightening of a place as she feared. Could you expand a little more in the relationship between Frances Perkins and fdr . Frances perkins was, i believe, fdrs closest friend. Now its funny because a lot of, other men played poker with, him hung out with him, helped him a lot. Harry hopkins, henry morgan, these men were all devoted friends. But across the years, Frances Perkins first met fdr in 1910, when she became his secretary of labor, she had already known him, 22 years. And he kept her by his side, for the entire length of his presidency. The 12 years in labor. That ive mentioned earlier. The whole time of his presidency, in fact, he tried to resign. Repeatedly, she really hated life in washington, found it very difficult. But he could never let her go. And in fact, when she tried to resign, in 1944, she was exhausted, you wanted to go home to new york, he actually reached his arms up to her, put his arms around her, and said, please dont go, france is helping you be so selfish . And she stayed. Were there any initiatives, progressive initiatives, that fdr pushback on, or didnt fully implement . Right. Thats a really good question. And in fact, the debate is raging right now in washington, as we speak. Frances perkins had presented fdr with a list of about ten items, that i mentioned to you at the beginning, when i was reading the prologue. And i know its kind of difficult to hear me, blight she had presented him a list of about ten items, the only one she did not accomplish, was National Health insurance. In fact, the American Medical Association told roosevelt, and Frances Perkins, that they will kill Social Security to prevent what they called socialized medicine, from taking root in america. What we ended up with was a Health Insurance system that happened to grow accidentally. It was a reaction to the wage and price controls during world war ii. Companies were not allowed to raise wages, but they really wanted to track workers, so they began to work to offer Health Insurance. So in that up with Health Insurance system that was targeted to the strong and healthy, not to the sikh and jobless. The program Frances Perkins wanted, would have allowed more of what medicare looks today, a program that would be targeted to people who dont have money to pay for health care. She was never able to get that accomplished, fdr abandoned National Health insurance to get Social Security enacted. Every two or three years she would bring it up again, and say is a time now . To get National Health insurance . And each time someone with tyler, no, too much of a hot potato, were not gonna touch that one now. And her very last communications with fdr were please dont forget, National Health insurance. [applause] thank you so much for your work, on here, i think its grateful to you for having done that. As a feminist, a minor suggestion, im sending to the working man and would invite you to say working men and women, but that aside. I wonder if you could talk a little bit about what in her childhood, we foretold this deep sympathy to the working people, and to those who were kind of left out . Right. Frances perkins was a very devout christian, she was an episcopalian. And she had enormously deep empathy for the human condition. She was interested in the plight of immigrants, she was interested in the plight of workers, she often said that she felt peoples pain. She became fascinated in the american economy, she studied business. She was very interested in businessman, and how they businessmen and women, primarily at that time, primarily businessman, how he conducted business. Which was fascinated to see the role that workers played in making those businesses prosperous. She wanted to see a better balance of power between employers and workers. And that became her lifetime crusade. She had an enormous number of interests over the years, she was a very big suffrage activist, and so she was very strong advocate for womens rights, she was a Birth Control supporter to. But she chose the one particular issue, which was a worker rights. She made that her lifetime cause. And that seemed to have out jailed for her, after seeing the horror of the fire. Relations with organized labor, the unions, and that . Yes. Its fascinating relationship between Frances Perkins and organized labor. They were mad as hell, when she was made secretary of labor. Unions at the time did not permit wanted to be members at all, and a lot of the man who wear the heads of the labor unions had hoped to be labor secretary themselves, so they were personally resentful, and they were also resentful that if social worker was the one who could be leading the department of labor. Over time, though, they saw that she was their most stalwart supporter, and the things that she did, enable the Labor Movement to grow dramatically in the next 20 years. Now, we know that fdr and Frances Perkins didnt pull United States out of the great depression, the capitalist system eventually recovered, after the big employment push of world war ii. But, but the Labor Movement was a huge beneficiary of this growth, with labor laws, protective labor laws in place. We had an Enormous Growth of the middle class in america. And the country became the prosperous place that it was in the fifties and sixties. And thats been the base of our countrys great global wealth. Good morning, you mentioned she was a strong supporter of the wpa, and im wondering if she had friendships with lewis han, and dorothy lying . Photographers. Well Frances Perkins was less immediately involved with the wpa and the public works project, which he did is law before the funding that allow those programs to happen. She was a reason that any of those things actually happened. And in fact, as a wonderful story, she went to the white house, and battled fdr to keep those programs in place, though money for all the various programs, and in fact, david taylor will be speaking after me, he will be talking about the authors program, that was part of the new deal at the time. And Frances Perkins what the biggest single advocate of that. Hi, i just had a question about the program that you create created on, what was a top program as she pushed forward . Her top priority. Im sorry for top i . Already a top priority. How temporary was an acting Social Security, and that was her biggest, Single Source of pride, in her entire life. She felt it was a program that would last forever, and in fact, there is 15 Million People on Social Security today. One could you comment on her relationship to eleonora roosevelt . Frances perkins and alien arose have had a very interesting complicated relationship. They both shared the affection of franklin roosevelt, in different ways. Eleanor was an enormously valuable Frances Perkins was the one who came up with the ideas, and enacted legislation. Franklin roosevelt was the one who had the political savvy, and popularity to make things happen. And eleanor was the one who could popularized the zeid eons. The two women were friends, they loved each other, as allies of a lifetime due, and they were also fierce rivals and often jealous of each other. At the end of their lives, theres a wonderful picture of the two women, at the 50th anniversary of the triangle fire, and their heads are bent in close to each other, and you could see what sincere friendship and affection they had for each other. Despite, whatever little tip stay may have had over the years. Yes, thank you very much for writing the book, i enjoyed it very much. And i agree with you that its an issue that needs to be brought forward, now. Do you think that the book brings any new research, or addition to the historiography of that period . Id say the things that i learned in my research that are probably used to most people is, really what really huge role Frances Perkins played, in all aspects of the new deal. She sort of gotten a raised out of the new deal history, you can see new repeal history books, including some that are taught in colleges. That mention it three or four times, five times. Thats extraordinary. I also found out that Teddy Roosevelt was also the person that first picture to head the committee on safety after the fire. So that meant that her first important contact was not Teddy Roosevelt and i thought that was a pretty cool find at the library of congress. Weeknights this month on American History tv, thats the contenders. I was serious that looks at 14 president ial candidates that lost the election. But who had a lasting effect on u. S. Politics. Tonight we featured the life and career of u. S. President ial nominee dewy, governor dewy lost against roosevelt in 1920. Before that he was one of the most famous prosecutorial attorneys in the country he remained powerful in enjoy American History tv this week and every weekend on cspan 3. Gov. Thomas e. Dewey which is over california on his Campaign Around the nation. Striking at communist elements in government, the gop governor, of new york, governor of new york reaches california. Making a bra for world peace, the gop leader draws a big audience. Audience. Next step is