Before I read this book, I knew that Frances Perkins had been Secretary of Labor for FDR, but I don't think I really grasped the rarity of her situation or the importance of her work. I knew nothing about her background or her closeness to FDR. She was the first woman to occupy a cabinet post, with all the prejudice and negativity you can imagine that would entail, but despite that, she was the architect of Social Security, unemployment insurance, worker's compensation, and the eight-hour workday. Her contributions to safety in the workplace are legion.
She lived a long life, dying at eighty-five, and worked nearly until her last days. She was widely known in political and academic circles, but now, in our modern age, she is more or less forgotten, and overshadowed by Eleanor Roosevelt, who of course had many remarkable and important accomplishments, but was not an official part of the government and not a policy member.
The author, Kirstin Downey, a former reporter for the Washington Post, has done a remarkable job in creating a portrait of Frances Perkins and emphasizing the importance of her accomplishments. The research must have been long and intensive, but the resulting book is so worth it. By reading it, not only will you learn about Perkins, but will obtain a truly in-depth understanding of the Settlement House movement (where Perkins got her start as a social worker), the Great Depression, World War II and the root causes of the evils of McCarthyism in the 1950s. Perkins was right in the middle of all of it. The lessons of her role in history, which ends in the 1960s, are helpful as a background to the situation we find our country in right now. We all have so much to learn...
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