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The Woman Behind The New Deal The Woman Behind The New Deal (2009)

by Kirstin Downey(Favorite Author)

4.1 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0385529503 (ISBN13: 9780385529501)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Anchor Books

review 1: This book appeared in 2009, but I had never heard of it till I saw a rerun of the author discussing it on BookTV. I was impressed with the author, and her subject. Frances Perkins was an amazing woman who successfully worked with so many male movers and shakers during her lifetime. Her difficult personal life is also told in detail. The book is well researched and written.I must agree with one reviewer who said, however, that this book has one of the worst titles Ive ever seen.
review 2: From page 126 (my book)- The Baltimore Sun in 1933 – when Frances Perkins was appointed Secretary of Labor“A woman smarter than a man is something to get on guard about. But a woman smarter than a man and also not afraid of a man, well, good night.”Evidently Frances Per... morekins had obstacles to face when she was appointed Secretary of Labor in Franklin Roosevelt’s cabinet after he was elected in 1932. She was the first woman to be in the Cabinet (women were only given the vote in 1920). She held this important post for the duration of Roosevelt’s term of office, until he died in 1945.She accomplished a great deal: a federal law abolishing child labor, a forty hour work week, workers compensation (prior to this if a worker was injured on the job he was on his own), a minimum wage (although this could vary by state), unemployment relief, social security (as in old age pensions). All of these today are sacrosanct. She also tried to introduce universal health care – but the struggle for that goes on to this day!Also during her tenure the strength of unions and the ability of workers to unionize increased. Frances Perkins wanted workers to have rights – and she passed legislation ensuring this.This is a great read detailing this woman’s tremendous accomplishments! We follow her upbringing as she came to abandon her staid middle class roots to become more socially involved. She became a social activist in New York City and was very adept at making numerous contacts – among them Franklin Roosevelt when he was Governor of New York.She took the Labor post at a time when unemployment was 30 percent. The author describes her involvement in many of the New Deal programs.We also get a personal feel for who Frances Perkins was as the author describes her troubled marriage and family, and also her relationship with Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. The author humorously compares her relationship with her former boss, Governor of New York Al Smith as being a very straight forward give and take – understanding Franklin Roosevelt’s methodologies was at a totally different level! But we also see how Roosevelt gave great flexibility to his cabinet and staff to get the job done – and this Frances Perkins did. We come away from this book with a greater understanding of how the Roosevelt administration worked.Frances Perkins wanted to resign several times but Roosevelt refused. She faced opposition not only because she was a woman, but as is inevitable in a long political tenure, she made enemies – but this never stopped her from pursuing her social legislation for the working people.I do take issue with the author during the Truman administration when Frances was appointed to the Civil Service Commission and started to investigate communist infiltration in government. If one had been a communist sympathizer or party member the Civil Service Commission could remove you from your post. This just seemed a nefarious advent of the McCarthy witch-hunt era. The author approves of this role, which, to me, seems a contradiction of Frances Perkins prior Labor post of giving more rights to workers. Nevertheless this is a remarkable account of the first woman to hold power in the U.S. government. We are given a view of government working for the people. less

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