Triangle Shritwaist Factory Fire

On March 25, 1911, Frances Perkins heard fire engines when she was having tea with friends in Washington Square. She ran to the commotion, witnessing 47 workers jump from the eighth and ninth floors of the building to their deaths on the street below. This deeply impacted Perkins and molded her future.

A citizen's Committee on Safety was established with Frances Perkins as the group's executive secretary under Theodore Roosevelt's suggestion. Her first action was to request a state commission to investigate and make legislative recommendations, leading to the creation of the FIC, which she continued to have an impact on.

"It provided a way by which such codes should be formulated with the advice and assistance of various qualified bodies, including the technical bodies - the Institute of Architects, the American society of Mechanical Engineers and others - and also including labor, the real estate interests and the manufacturing business interests."
Frances Perkins interview with Dean Albertson, Columbia University Oral History Research Office

Frances Perkins talking about overproduction, Courtesy of US Natioinal Archives

Frances Perkins was a member of the New York State Industrial Commission under Governor Al Smith for four terms, becoming the first woman to be appointed to an administrative position in New York. She was part of the commission even when Franklin D. Roosevelt took office, who asked her to become the Industrial Commissioner. Roosevelt committed himself to unemployment insurance and sent Perkins to England to study the British system.

When FDR won the presidential election in 1932, he asked Perkins to be his Secretary of Labor, making her the first woman to hold a cabinet position in American history. Her list of policy priorities: 40-hour work week, minimum wage, unemployment compensation, worker's compensation, Social Security, federal employment service, etc. would all be passed during her office except universal healthcare.

Frances Perkins is credited with being a key architect of FDR's First and Second New Deals. She was a supporter and contributor of programs such as the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Public Works Administration, and the National Industrial Recovery Act in the First New Deal. Her influence was more heavily felt on the Second New Deal which focused on long-term reform and shaped America.