![]() Her greatest triumph was creating Social Security. As head of the Immigration Service, she fought to bring European refugees to safety in the United States. She breathed life back into the nation's labor movement, boosting living standards across the country. ![]() Arriving in Washington at the height of the Great Depression, Perkins pushed for massive public-works projects that created millions of jobs for unemployed workers. Perkins' ideas became the cornerstones of the most important social-welfare programs and legislation in the nation's history, including unemployment compensation, child-labor laws and the 40-hour workweek. ![]() As the first female Cabinet secretary, she spearheaded the fight to improve the lives of America's working people while juggling her own complex family responsibilities. Kirstin Downey discussed her new book, "The Woman Behind the New Deal: The Life of Frances Perkins, FDR's Secretary of Labor and His Moral Conscience."Franklin Delano Roosevelt named Frances Perkins secretary of labor in 1933. ![]() Although she is no longer a household name, Frances Perkins was one of the most influential people of the 20th century. ![]()
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