Selects: Frances Perkins: Influential and Unknown | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

Hello friends it's Josh and for this. week's select I've chosen our September. 2020 episode on Francis Perkins if you. haven't heard of her that's okay she's. one of the most unsung Americans ever. and was even left out of the history. books for a while all because she was a. woman check out this episode where. Francis Perkins gets her. due welcome to stuff you should know a. production of iHeart Radio.

hey and welcome to the podcast I'm Josh. Clark and there's Charles W Chuck Bryant. and this is stuff you should know the. amazing unsung woman Edition volume two. at least oh more than two what number. would you say then I don't know but I. tell you what if you want to take a vote. on maybe one of the most undersung while. at the same time being most influential. Americans to ever live.

Neil Diamond you be he was very Su I. know I'm I'm not a big fan anyway um you. would be hardpressed to overlook uh Miss. Perkins yeah Miss Francis Perkins. totally agree had never heard her name. before had never even known she existed. but yeah the more you dig into her the. more he was like it was almost a crime. that this this woman was virtually. written out of the history books yeah. and if you are um one of those people.

who was unfortunate to not be able to. work right now during uh quarantine and. the the effects of covid-19 and you are. um not lucky enough but uh you know. deservedly enough receiving unemployment. insurance you can thank Francis Perkins. for that that's right and every single. person who's getting a check as uh. measly as they've gotten lately is. getting one uh because of this system.

that Francis Perkins set up and what's. really I think worth noting too is this. this is exactly the kind of situation. that she got this passed for that she. helped design this for totally because. there's a quote I can't remember exactly. where the quote was but to to paraphrase. it it's basically like we need. to we need to always keep our eye on the. long term and playing for the worst case. scenario that yes there's a lot of.

immediate needs that we need but there's. always going to be something that comes. down the road and if we're we have. planned for it we're way better off just. imagine how disastrous it would be on. top of the current disaster if there. wasn't such a thing as unemployment. insurance and this is how we found out. that we really kind of need it yeah it. it would be dark ages stuff in this. country yeah so if you have gotten your. unemployment insurance check and it has. helped you thank Francis Perkins somehow.

yeah and we want to thank uh how stuff. works it's where part of this uh. research come uh came from and uh some. other places but notably and I want to. shout this out because this is a library. intern at the FDR Library who wrote a. paper called honoring the achievements. of FDR Secretary of Labor uh Jessica. Brightman MH this is really good stuff. and and she's a library intern and we. want to shout her out yeah she did great. or she was at the time I imagine uh. she's moved on from that internship. after after she turned that essay in. yeah you your bippy she did so Francis.

Perkins was born uh Fanny. Coral Perkins in uh Boston in. 1880 uh but her relatives and her. ancestors came from Maine and it's kind. of funny here at the beginning of this. house stuff works thing it says uh she. so undersung that even residents of her. hometown of DEA Scot a didn't seem. familiar with her Legacy I think that. says more about Maine.

right they're like oh we don't need to. help her put on airs well then just like. you know I don't ask I don't tell I just. don't whatever she lived here great good. for her I want to say also before the. residents of Newcastle bust a a vein in. their forehead she's also cited as um a. native of Newcastle Maine and they're. right across the de demaras scata River. from one another I think she's from. Newcastle that's so is this like a. Adidas Puma thing.

maybe maybe except imagine if neither. Town knew what shoes. were that would be a pretty accurate. analogy oh boy I love the maners so she. uh yeah she was she came from really. like died in the wool Yankee stock um. her family came over I think in the. 1680s her um she had like a her family. had built an outpost during the French. Indian War her grandmother who had more.

of an influence on her she said than. anybody had a uh a cousin who she was. close to um who founded Howard. University and uh fought for the rights. of newly freed. African-Americans um she came from like. a long line of people who like cared. about other people and yet um. surprisingly her parents were very. conservative they were uh in favor of. you know helping the poor but not. mingling with them helping them like.

helping them by like you know sending. some money or something like that okay. um and they produced a child Fanny. Francis she changed her name I think in. I don't know her 20s or 30s um she she. was the opposite way she was like no. like like people are people and they all. deserve help and there's a lot of. Injustice in this world and I want to. change it myself and she's one of those. people who actually did did enact.

tremendous change for all the right. reasons yeah she said people are people. so why should it be you and I should get. along so awfully which one was that dep. mode depes mode I can't oh baby hey. that's Emily's Jam I mean she would she. probably has that tattooed on her body. somewhere uh in fact we're both it's. none of my business we're both doing. that that uh silly and I never do these. things on Facebook but I have time now. the top 10 most influential albums mhm.

and uh I was like which one are you. going to pick new order or depes mode. for her cuz that's a that's a tough one. well I mean can't she's got 10 to choose. from right yeah but I think for her. those two are so inextricably tied that. it was one or the other I gotta and she. went with depes mode because they were. first and thus probably more. influential depes mode was before New. Order huh yes I mean technically if you. count new order as an out outcropping of. Joy Division than Jo they were first oh.

so well Joy Division was different. though it was pretty different different. enough that they might as well be two. different bands which they were you know. who we need to to to give us the. Judgment call is Francis Perkins who who. apparently would not have enjoyed our. banter she was very much known as like a. a dow yeah serious woman but from what I. can tell that's actually a public. Persona that she wore to get men to to. take her seriously yeah well who can.

blame her uh because we'll see later on. about her it's no accident that she's. lost a history in many ways yeah but. what she was also was highly educated um. she graduated from Mount Holy Oak in. 1902 uh where she majored in chemistry. and physics yeah even though she made. her name in economics which is mean she. was a very well-rounded human and had a. a very large Brain and apparently she. had made it all the way through college.

and um in her senior year I think she. attended an economics lecture by. Florence Kelly who was a huge um wage. Justice Crusader um and that just. changed her life yeah big time uh in 19. this is post college she went to Philly. and she became General Secretary of the. Philadelphia research and pro uh. protective Association MH what did she. do there well she was in charge of. investigating uh.

employment agencies that were fake and. that prayed on women uh immigrant women. specifically and she had to sort of deal. with the the drgs of society in that job. and did so uh very successfully and then. decided she wanted to keep her education. going so while she was in Philly she. went to uh the Wharton School of finance. and commerce at the University of. Pennsylvania because that's super easy. and light learning uh and then after. that she went to Colombia where she. earned uh ma in Social economics in 1910.

and we should say like she's getting all. of this schooling but at the same time. she's also set herself off on a um. what's that like learn While You Work. program called. internship I guess so that's not exactly. what I'm looking for but yeah I mean it. makes sense so she set herself up on a. real world internship program so while. she was in Philly working for that that. Bureau she was in investigating those. those fake employment rackets like she.

was on the ground doing this stuff like. carrying out these inspections um. investigating factories like taking. notes and like in her early 20s yeah. basically yeah and while she's studying. this stuff she's also out doing and. seeing the stuff firsthand that she's. learning about which from what I can. tell she really kind of digested and. held on to and it just kept driving her. for the rest of her life what she saw I. think that's called the School of Hard. Knocks it is but enrolled in the Wharton.

School and the School of Hard Knocks at. the same time which is pretty impressive. that's right and after Colombia after. she got that uh Masters for two years. she served as executive secretary of the. consumers League of New York and this is. where she. really felt her life calling to improve. uh wages improve working conditions uh. because this was. 1910 through. 1912 and things weren't great in. factories at the time time uh we we.

could do a podcast on I don't know what. the focus would be. necessarily CU we've done labor unions. but just labor conditions would be yeah. maybe so eye opening but there's she did. she this is what one of the things she. did there's very few uh more depressing. words than these strung together she. improved working conditions for children. yeah that was one of the things she did. I know and that was at the consumers. League of New York York and she got.

there and was like yes I've I've. achieved my one of my first goals which. is working directly with the same. Florence Kelly who gave the economics. lecture that changed her life years. before at uh Mount hoolio that's right. yeah so she was one of those ones who. said I want to do this and then we do it. and then we' move on to the next thing. yeah she wouldn't stand around and wait. for the Statue to be built in her honor. exactly yeah exactly so we take a break. uh yes all right we're going to take a. break and talk about a pretty.

devastating fire in New York City that. changed the course of her life right. after. [Music]. this what fire Chuck I'm talking about. the Triangle shirt waist fire mhm uh in.

Manhattan sort of near Washington Square. Park in grin right next to Washington. Square Park yeah in greinwich Village uh. I think it's an NYU building though it. is and I tried to pinpoint if that was. the building where I actually had my. film classes was it I don't know I can't. quite tell we got to know Chuck I'll see. if I can find out uh but a shirt waist. was a woman's blouse is what they called. it at the time M and this was a Factory. that made women's blouses uh if you.

worked there you were probably a young. woman uh you might be an immigrant uh. you would work about 52 hours a week oh. I saw 12 hours a day seven days a week. what does that math turn out to uh let's. see. 70720 uh wait I can't do math out loud. well let's say between 52 and 80 hours a. week no no no it was way more than that. 12 time 7 84 yeah that's what I said 84.

hours a week but like even that doesn't. sound that. big 12h hour days seven days a week just. to keep your job right so I Saw 52. either way uh they made between s and. $12 a week uh making these blouses for. women which was not good even back then. yeah it wasn't good and because this was. a factory in New York in. 1911 uh they had the doors locked they.

had the staircases locked they thought. it prevented theft uh if you remember. what happened to lock doors and. stairwells in our hotel Fire episode uh. the same thing happened here on March. 25th 1911 mhm when the Triangle shirt. waist fire started uh because they think. of a of a match or a cigarette butt. thrown into a waistband yeah and it just. you know everything in there was. flammable practically that wasn't metal. because of all these Fabrics like highly. flammable it went up really quick uh.

it's one of the deadliest us workplace. disasters of all time to this day uh for. 146 uh workers died 123 of which were. women uh and girls between the ages of. uh generally between 14 and 23 the. oldest was 43 but that was kind of an. outlier mhm and 62 of those people. jumped to their death in front of full. view of uh New York City. including uh Francis.

Perkins right in front of Francis. Perkins she didn't jump to her death no. no no so she yeah she's literally. witnessing one of the turning points in. history as it happens seeing women. teenage girls jump out of the ninth. floor of this building because it's on. fire and not only is she witnessing a. fire that will change history she is one. of the people that will force history to. change because of this fire the the the. the fate or the destiny that that that.

put her a block away from this fire when. it happened uh is it's just astounding. to me that she was there because she. went on to be one of the people who said. this is never going to happen again and. under her watch it basically didn't it. was the worst that it ever got and it. never got that bad again because of the. um the the Safeguard she forced the. state and then later on other states and. the Federal government to adopt yeah I.

mean she was already kind of headed down. this road anyway she was already part of. the New York State Factory investigating. commission and because of this fire. which she well I don't think we said she. was just having tea um across the park. there ran over and saw this uh one of. the things she saw at one point there. were 20 people that had managed to get. out of window onto a a fire escape one. of those tiny little flimsy New York. fire escapes M and that all 20 of those. people uh the thing collapsed and they.

all fell to their 100t to their death. right in front of her face God yeah we. need to do an entire episode on that at. the very least just to to shame the two. owners who's who were just totally. responsible for all those deaths yeah. absolutely um but this was sort of just. the way it was I mean not absolving them. but she saw this as part of the bigger. problem not like these two owners are. responsible but she was like it was an. indictment of the system yeah it was but. at the same time those guys were. particularly nasty examples of this.

system they weren't they weren't average. by any means from what I understand no. but what was average was the fact that. they didn't have fire codes and she's. the person that brought that in by the. time she was in her early 30s she had uh. called for and successfully called for. exit signs um occupancy limits. sprinklers fire escapes um unlocked. doors and stairwells how wide the. doorways had to be uh depending on your. factory floor. like all these sort of Common Sense.

things like a lot of people saw this. stuff happen and and and saw this. incident that day and we're horrified. but Francis Perkins said nope I'm going. to change it I'm a woman in 1911 and I'm. in my early 30s but I'm going to make. this happen and she did she did um she. was appointed to the New York committee. on safety under the recommendation of. Teddy Rosevelt which says a lot because. that means she'd already made a name for. herself in her 20s in New York City. politics to to the point where Teddy.

Roosevelt would say like you really kind. of need this woman on there and then. let's not forget the fact that he that. operative word here was woman yeah as. far as Society was concerned at the time. and this this legislation that she got. passed through in New York or that she. helped get passed through in New York. like I was saying it became a model for. other states and then eventually the. federal fire codes um because of this. because of of largely because of her. efforts and she she made a name for.

herself she'd already made a name for. herself but this really kind of helped. cement her name and she started working. closely with a guy named Alfred Smith. who was an assemblyman from New York. right but um he uh she won his respect. um pretty easily I think they worked on. this um New York committee on safety. together um and so when he became. Governor she kind of um Rose along with. him she was appointed by him to New York. State's industrial commission which made.

her the first woman to be appointed to a. state government position in the country. and with her $8,000 salary she was the. highest paid woman to hold any office in. the United States at the time so she. became important pretty quick but she. became important everybody this is. really important to. Remember by hard work and heart which is. a a just a wonderful combination like. amazing things happen in in from people. who have that combination. yeah and she um she ingratiated herself.

to these male politicians a couple of. different important times in her life. and the first one was Alfred E Smith. like you were saying so she Rose along. with him because he knew he was like man. I don't care if she's a woman or not she. works harder than anyone I know MH and. she gets the job done so I'm just going. to bring her along with me and not just. not just works harder she was known as a. policy expert about worker safety and um.

wage Justice by this time too well yeah. I mean I talked about her very large. Brain and her higher education she was. super super smart she like I said she. majored in chemistry and physics even. though her real love was e econ so it's. like are you kidding me uh no we're not. kidding at all Chuck no it's very much. true so um so like you were saying she. first kind of rose to prominence with. Alfred E Smith who from what I can tell. I didn't get to research him very much. but the stuff that I ran across the.

references to him he seemed like a. genuine like True Believer Crusader in. justice social justice as well yeah um. so they were like a good a good pair um. and he made it as far as New York. Governor he ran for president uh and. didn't win uh and when he didn't win he. I guess lost the governorship and was. succeeded by Franklin Delano Roosevelt. and so Roosevelt came in came into power. in New York as the governor of New York. uh and Francis Perkins was already there.

and it already buil up a reputation and. Roosevelt. recognized the kind of person she was. pretty quickly because a lot of people. are you know you you can give a lot of. credit or a lot of vilification to to. Roosevelt for his new deal policies. depending on your political Stripes but. if you you know if you admire him for it. as I think most people should he um it. wasn't just him one of his great. talents was to recognize talent in.

others and to bring those people. together and then enact policies based. on their expertise and their. recommendations and one of those people. was Francis Perkins starting when he was. governor of New York and then also when. he became president too yeah so when he. came into his governorship she had. already been named and was the the. chairperson called it a chairman back. then in 1926 of the state industrial. board mhm um she was doing a great job. there and then in 1929 uh FDR appointed.

her as the industrial commissioner of. the state of New York and what. happens the stock market crashes the. Great Depression hits America like a. punch in the face and she was the one. who stepped in and got it in his ear and. said you know what like I know that we. have to to feed people right now we have. really immediate needs but like you. mentioned earlier in the episode she. thought about the the big pi and. long-term goals she said we need to.

really take Swift action here so with. her help they created a committee on. employment he appointed uh her the head. of that and then when he was elected. president in 1933 he said you know what. I'm going to appoint you to be my. Secretary of Labor that was huge I've. been working with you for 20 years I. trust you and you're going to do a great. job and the public roundly said what a. woman in the cabinet mm they really did. I mean like she she was the first.

cabinet first woman to serve as a. Cabinet member I mean women had just. gotten the right to vote about 13 12 or. 13 years before so dude she couldn't. vote till she was 40 I know isn't that. crazy and yet she held Public public. appointed offices and still couldn't. vote but wasn't allowed to vote for her. boss ESS exactly yeah so it was a really. big deal that that FDR appointed a woman. as a into a cabinet position and an.

important cabinet position too I mean. like it's not like there's any. necessarily unimportant cabinet. positions but Secretary of Labor is. pretty big yeah especially espcially. yeah especially then right and. especially um you know at a time when. this this emerging superpower to took a. huge punch in the face and got knocked. on its butt like the rest of the World. by the Great Depression this is. important stuff that they were trying to. figure out on the fly but he he chose a. really a really great person um who.

wasn't really accepted at first not just. by the public but by virtually anybody. the labor unions weren't happy she was. there because she had a background in. social work and policy not labor scared. them to death yes but she eventually won. them over just by virtue of what she did. like the labor movement was on the ropes. at the time the Progressive Era ran from. I think 1890 to about 1920 so by the. time 1929 1930 comes around. it's it's dying off the the labor.

movement but under her leadership as the. department of labor secretary she um. revived it and and by the time she. either died or left office I can't. remember um I think a third of all. Americans were members of unions yeah. and and pre the union stuff like kind of. right after the Great Depression hit one. of the first things they did together. was uh created the civilian conserv Corp. the CCC which was a really big success.

uh one of the big early successes of the. new deal in that they said you know what. we have all this we have this Workforce. of these unskilled unmarried men and. let's get these guys working in. conservation uh we have this this uh. vast areas of rural land and natural. resources and let's send these guys out. there to work on this stuff and they did. and it provided a ton of jobs through. the Civilian Conservation core it did. and it also helped reinforce and build.

out America's infrastructure too because. they had all this labor that the. government was putting to work doing it. right yes so she was in charge of. overseeing that um and one of the one of. the other I guess the next big thing I. think it was before Social Security was. something called the Wagner Act and the. Wagner Act gave I think you mean the. Vagner act the the the uh the Vagner wag. Wagner Act depending on your persuasion.

um it gave uh workers the right to. unionize and the right to collectively. bargain yeah and um one of her roles was. to go out and promote this stuff not. just to you know other members of the. government um or members of industry but. to individual Americans too so in 1933. alone she gave a hundred different. policy speeches in just that one year on. New Deal projects promoting. um and one of the speeches she gave I.

don't know if it was in that year or not. but she went to Homestead Pennsylvania. right across the river from Pittsburgh. where Carnegie steel was headquartered. and she was going to inform these. workers about their newly won rights. through the Wagner Act and Carnegie. steel and the local government would not. give her any place to hold this this. meeting they wouldn't give the Secretary. of Labor a place to talk to voters so. she and there's apparently a famous. picture of her leading all of these. steel workers um on foot to a post.

office she's like oh I can think of a. place where I can assemble legally and. that is the post office so she gave her. speech on the grounds of the homestead. post office to thousands of Steel. Workers informing them that they could. legally um unionize and and bargain. collectively for workers rights that's. amazing I feel. like if I feel like we had to have. talked about her in our unions episode. MH and if we didn't. shame on us but also shame on the fact.

that she probably didn't pop up in our. research which is one of the problems. yeah mostly the second one all right so. GNA pass that buck right uh the buck. stops over there well we're making up. for it now either way okay Chuck so we. were saying at the outset that if you um. got an unemployment check thank Francis. Perkins or if you ever get an. unemployment check if you even like the. idea of the fact that an unemployment. insurance policy is out there for you in. case you ever need it thank Francis.

Perkins and the reason you thank Francis. Perkins is because she basically oversaw. the creation of the legislation that. became the Social Security Act of. 1935 um and when I say oversaw the the. the creation of that legislation like. she that was it she was the head of this. cabinet level committee that was. assigned um the task of coming up with a. a social insurance policy a social.

safety net for the country and they came. up with this within six months this full. policy report within two days of. delivering the report FDR turned around. and unveiled the Social Security program. idea to Congress and another six months. or so later maybe eight it passed into. law yeah and boy we should do one on. Social Security at some point I agree I. think I think we have man I'm almost.

positive yeah it really rings a. bell let go ahead I'm looking at up well. no I'm going to have our little uh our. assistant over here check that can you. go and check on that okay they're on it. who is are Tommy. Chong like we've ever had anyone that. worked for us right that's the funny. thing is when we get emails over the. years they're like well to Josh and. Chuck and Jerry or whoever on your staff. is reading this I was like right yeah. it's pretty much uh us. yeah while we're we're reading these.

emails while we're having to sweep up. the studio well I I want to be fair to. be fair we work for a a big podcasting. Network and there are a lot of people. that help us get stuff out in the world. but we' have never had like a stuff you. should know staff of eight people who no. only work for us and research for us and. all that stuff and I feel like it really. shows in the podcast I feel like I'm. glad you said that because I felt like I. was patting ourselves on the back for a. second there no the opposite you dash. that very fast sure self-deprecation. Chuck that's our specialty that's.

[Music]. right stuff you. should so uh Social Security what we're. talking about in general everyone knows. what this is. is um basically a system where um.

younger hearty people working hard in. this country help out older people. retired people uh perhaps disabled. people people that have had work-related. accidents people who wear funny hats. people who wear funny hats um and and. pay into this system that uh ideally and. you know we're not going to get into the. weeds here that that would come on our. social security podcast but ideally then. when you are old or in need then you. have that same money waiting for you.

because of the younger generation and. the younger Workforce right that's the. Brilliance of the whole thing is it's a. transfer payment system to where you are. directly funding the people who have. retired now but it's on the premise that. people behind you are going to fund into. this to support you later on it's. beautiful it's a genius idea and. apparently FDR sent her uh Francis. Perkins to study um the British system. of unemployment insurance even before he.

was president back when he was governor. of New York and he became the first. public official to commit to developing. an unemployment insurance plan and it. was at the persistent behest of Francis. Perkins that he did that yeah and it's. not like uh I mean he he didn't run for. office with Social Security on his list. of things to do well yeah that's the. thing a lot of people say like if it. weren't for her no joke this stuff. probably wouldn't exist certainly not in. the form that it does now and that's not.

necessarily Fair there are like there. were programs that had like Social. Security type programs among the states. including unemployment programs but they. were ad hoc they were Patchwork Most. states didn't have them and it's the. kind of the the the the beauty of this. the federal program is they're basically. like okay states do this but we're going. to oversee it and organize it and and. help fund it yeah and it's not like I. was saying at all the FDR was like not a.

champion of it or was just lazy he was. he had a bunch of stuff going on and he. had a bunch of irons in the fire so he. needed her to come in and say Hey listen. this is all great cuz we're in a in a a. tragic situation right now like we're. trying to put out a fire but what I want. to do is make sure another Fire doesn't. happen in the. future yes and that was like her whole. thing like we do need to make sure that. people get peanut butter sand whiches. because their families are going to. starve like yes these immediate needs.

have to be met but we also. simultaneously have to plan for the. future too it was it was just this. persistent drum that she beat like we're. going to continue to have problems let's. plan for him now like the level of. visionar um in this in this person was. you just don't see that I can't think of. too many other people who've come and. gone in the federal government in the. United States at least that had that. level of I guess awareness of looking.

down the line that far rather than just. you know four years out or to the next. election yeah and she also you know we. talked about some of the things she did. earlier in terms of of her career in. terms of uh Fair Labor practices but. when she was Secretary of Labor she had. real teeth to make real change and. during her tenure um she helped craft. the Fair Labor uh standards act um she. helped establish minimum wage laws. maximum work hours. and she finally said you know what maybe.

we shouldn't make uh labor for children. better maybe we should not bring our. children to work and make them work so. let's just get rid of child labor Al. together and you can make the case Chuck. that she is the woman who gave America's. kids the concept of a childhood yeah at. the very least she extended it by many. many years totally um I've got another. amazing fact about her she I believe is. the first Cabinet member um who Congress. ever sought to impeach oh really yes I'm.

almost positive that's correct I know. that they did try to impeach her and. they they failed in the impeachment not. just the conviction she they couldn't. get enough support for articles of. impeachment but it was because she. refused to deport a an Australian long. shoreman who'd successfully organized a. general strike in San Francisco and the. anti-com Communist elements in. Congress suspected that this guy was a. communist and wanted him out and she.

said you know I don't think very highly. of this guy I I don't really agree with. a lot of what he stands for but um I. don't think that you have really good. evidence and I think this is all. retaliation for the strike you organized. so I'm not going to deport him and you. might say well what did this lady have. to do with deporting apparently back in. the day the immigration the power of. immigration or control of immigration. was up to the the department of of Labor. so the Secretary of Labor was also in.

charge of immigration which really kind. of gives you an idea of where America's. immigration policies you know where. their mind was at yeah that it was about. importing you know good um good good. workers or also controlling who came in. to keep competition for jobs down. totally but she so she was in charge of. immigration which as we'll see later on. she used to great effect is that our. little uh is that our cherry on top at. the end yeah I think so okay I that's a. good idea it's it's the kid with the.

last question in Q&A oh man uh and not. the drunk guy I hate that. guy so when FDR uh passed away in 1945. she was the longest serving labor. secretary uh and one of only two cabinet. members um to serve the entire length of. his super super long. presidency and she held over into Truman. as well he was like if it ain't broke. don't fix it so you're welcome to stay. which you don't see a lot of that. anymore yeah um she published a.

biography a bestseller about FDR called. the Roosevelt I knew and uh here are a. few other just sort of uh career. feathers in her cap she was the head of. the American delegation to the. international labor organization in. Paris MH uh Truman appointed her to the. US Civil Service Commission which uh was. a position she held till. 1953 and she B basically accomplished. every single one of her goals while she.

was Secretary of Labor except for one. thing she went in there wanting to do. which was universal access to health. care yeah which is kind of a. bummer some people might say it's a. bummer some people might say good sure. she also played drums for Dawan for a. brief time for a little bit she did it. all and all while wearing a a frumpy. tric cornered hat that's right uh and. then after that she did what a lot of. people in um public policy doe she went. on to teach and lecture at the New York.

State School of industrial and Labor. Relations at Cornell University she did. that to till she was 85 years old when. she passed away in. 1965 yes there were a couple of other. things to throw into um both her husband. and her daughter suffered from what we. today call bipolar disorder she cared. for them their entire lives. um that little thing yeah right can you. imagine no while she's doing all this. other stuff she she made sure that they.

were cared for took care of them. directly herself um and one of the other. things I think is worth mentioning too. that while before um FDR became. president while she was working in New. York she was already known publicly. um before she became Secretary of Labor. because she was the first U public. official to call Hoover out on his BS. when he was downplaying uh joblessness. numbers and unemployment figures um and.

just general terrible economic news and. pretending things were way better than. they were she was the first person to. step up and publicly contradict him and. made national news for that wow and um. you know again this is a woman doing. this in like 1930 so just that alone. makes national news but she was also. calling him out on his BS and one thing. that we have to say um before you you. finish with the cherry on top Chuck is. she had guys figured out she had a a. folder called notes on the male mind and.

she would just take notes on guys and. and men that she worked with and just. kind of try to get an understanding of. them and she she. realized that the way to get male. colleagues to treat you normally or. maybe even respect you is to remind them. of their mother wow and that's what it. takes apparently to get a guy to treat a. woman with respect at work well and you. know we mentioned why she's undersung. there you know history is written by men.

we all know this and a lot of those New. Deal histories in the 70s and 80s didn't. even mention her which is just. staggering that you can write a history. of the new deal and not mention Francis. Perkins it's just like a black eye on on. any author that did something like that. it almost seems malicious in a weird way. like I I like to think that that's not. the case but what other explanation is. there it's nuts it's weird so the cherry. on top here at the end uh is World War.

II she um World War II was not a cherry. on top but she was watching Hitler uh do. his thing in Germany and got really. worried she's like man that guy's. cranked up she was uh read about. anti-Semitism and everything that was. going on with the violence there and she. wanted to help German refugees escape. and at the time the uh coolage. Administration the uh immigration laws. that came through his administration. were really tough and Americans were. very fearful that relaxing these laws.

would increase the job competition and. that Americans weren't going to have. these jobs and she said you know what I. don't agree um the Immigration Services. Under the Department of Labor and so I. am going to put some quotas down to get. some of these refugees here and to Aid. them and she did that to great success. yeah she made sure that about at least. 55,000 um Jewish German immigrants made. their way into the United States through.

these Department of Labor immigration. quotas uh and another I think 200,000. people in general were rescued from. Europe as as World War II was starting. to develop over there because of her. just on top of everything else she also. saved a bunch of tens of thousands of. Jewish people from Hitler in World War. II amazing amazing. Chu uh I guess that's it for Francis. Perkins huh that's it. well if you want to know more about. Francis Perkins go start reading about.

her CU there's even more detail to her. life than we captured here and she's. worth reading about very admirable. person and since I said admirable it's. time for listener. mail I'm going to call this helping a. helper uh and this is from. tonnie T says this hey guys I've been. sewing face masks for almost a month now. and I'm close to my 1,000th mask nice. that's a lot that uh I have given and. donated to friends family co-workers uh.

I'm a 911 dispatcher by the way. healthcare workers retail workers. delivery people postal workers and other. essential workers and people wearing. funny hats people wearing funny hats and. complete strangers uh now that face. masks uh have become mandatory here in. San Diego the need has grown. substantially and through all of this. you three have been uh with me and. keeping me company sh about Jerry too. well yeah okay she wasn't talking about. Tommy Chong I'll tell you. that uh old episodes and new have.

entertained me through the tedious hours. of cutting fabric ironing pinning and. sewing I started listening to your. podcast while I was in the Navy and soon. introduce you guys to my husband who was. still in the military we have both. listened um and learned through the. years together thank you for continuing. your show and helping the helpers of the. world side note love the 911 dispatcher. episode and thank you for clearing up. the pizza order myth second side note. I wrote my Master's thesis on the use of.

body-worn cameras by law enforcement and. I decided to focus on that top topic. after listening to that awesome episode. oh neat yeah that's pretty cool uh all. three of you are thanked and mentioned. in the thesis even oh that's cool uh. when I'm tired and don't want to sew. anymore I think of this quote from Mr. Rogers head down when I was a boy and I. would see scary things in the news my. mother would say to me look for the. helpers you will always find people who. are helping go to them and they will.

help you and that is from T and that's a. great quote tnie I'm going to going to. use that in my own house it's kind of. like um if you're afraid of flying watch. the flight attendants and as long as. they're not freaking out you're fine. it's the exact same thing he's saying. when the S when the S goes down there's. people helping so that's always. good God bless Mr Rogers and you oh man. man y thank thanks a lot is it Tony Tony. t a w n y I couldn't tell if you were.

just putting a little mustard on the. Tony no like Tony katain sure yeah from. the wh snake videos that cultural. icon well thanks a lot tnie I apologize. for Chuck calling you ton. Kayan okay can I apologize for you. Charles sure okay uh well I'm going to. do that if you want to get me to. apologize for Charles let's see if you. can do it you can send us an email wrap. it up spank it on the bottom and send it. off to stuff podcast at iheartradio.com.

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