Frances Perkins Flashcards
How did Perkins react in the aftermath of the stock market collapse in 1929 under Herbert Hoover’s presidency?
Outspoken critic of Hoover, persuaded Governor FD Roosevelt to form a Committee on Stabilization of Industry for the Prevention of Unemployment and to call an interstate conference on unemployment, also pressed for unemployment insurance
What place did Perkins have in Roosevelt’s administration?
Secretary of Labour from inauguration day 1933 until 1 July 1945, Perkins desired the post though she thought a trade unionist would be a more natural choice
What policies did Perkins support?
Played an ambiguous role in the formulation of the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933, helped craft legislation to create the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), played a significant role in the formulation of the Social Security Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act (also known as the Wagner Act) and persuaded Roosevelt to bring the US into the International Labor Organization in 1934
How did Perkins goals of honesty, efficiency and progressivism influence her work?
Ousted racketeers from the Immigration and Naturalization Service, expanded the Bureau of Labor Statistics, tried to heal the rift between skilled and unskilled workers by trying to encourage a unification of the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations (failed)
How did people react to Perkins role in the Roosevelt administration?
Earned increased credibility with many labour leaders however employers were increasingly hostile toward her and supported campaigns to have her removed from office, and although she publicly expressed contempt for the goals and methods of communists conservatives accused her of communist sympathies
