Perkins Becomes Secretary of Labor | Research & Encyclopedia Articles

Perkins Becomes Secretary of Labor

United States 1933

Synopsis

Frances Perkins was the first woman to serve in a presidential cabinet position. She became secretary of labor in 1933 after Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected president. This position allowed her to bring about sweeping changes with regard to social reform and labor conditions. She served in the position for the entirety of Roosevelt's term in office, 1933-1945, making her the longest-serving secretary of labor in the nation's history. Among her achievements in office were three hugely influential pieces of social legislation: the Social Security Act (1935), the National Labor Relations Act (1935), and the Fair Labor Standards Act (1938).

Timeline

• 1917: Russian revolutions.
• 1922: Inspired by the Bolsheviks' example of imposing revolution by means of a coup, Benito Mussolini leads his blackshirts in an October "March on Rome," and forms a new fascist government.
• 1927: Charles A. Lindbergh makes the first successful solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic, and becomes an international hero.
• 1929: On "Black Friday" in October, prices on the U.S. stock market, which had been climbing wildly for severalyears, suddenly collapse. Thus begins the first phase of a world economic crisis and depression that will last until the beginning of World War II.
• 1932:

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