The subject of a new biography, The Woman Behind the New Deal, Frances Perkins served as Franklin D. Roosevelt's Labor Secretary from 1933 to 1945. A leading reformer in protecting the health, safety, and rights of workers, she found her calling in life at age 31 when she witness the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire of 1911.(146 sweatshop workers, mostly immigrant women, were killed in a fire that forced many to jump to their deaths from a high floor. At the ensuing trial, the owners were exonerated.)
She began working for FDR in 1928 while he was governor of New York, and was appointed the first female Cabinet Secretary after he became president. Many hallmarks of employment we recognize today -- Social Security, the 40-hour workweek, child labor laws, and unemployment insurance -- can be attributed to her influence.
Perkins was completely selfless. In order to put her male coworkers more at ease, she adopted the role of the dowdy matron. She took care of her bipolar husband and daughter and provided for their care from her government salary. She wasn't interested in using her position for fame or power. She sincerely wanted to help people.
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