A discussion of the women who supported Eleanor Roosevelt and Frances Perkins in their pathbreaking endeavors to rescue the nation and create a better future. The panel will feature preeminent Eleanor Roosevelt biographer Blanche Wiesen Cook and historian Deborah Gardner, and will be moderated by professor emerita of American history at Columbia University Alice Kessler-Harris. When Eleanor Roosevelt and Frances Perkins went to Washington in March 1933, they did so with the support of millions of women who had voted for FDR’s promise of a “New Deal”—including those in the political and social welfare networks with whom they had worked for more than two decades. Among the more significant of those groups were the leaders of the women’s divisions of the Democratic party, the Women’s City Club, the League of Women Voters, peace activists, and the Women’s Trade Union League. Incoming Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins, who shared many of Eleanor Roosevelt’s interests and values, was also connected, through her time with the New York State Industrial Commission, to the leading consumer protection groups and advocates for retirement and employment protection plans. Secretary Perkins supported the women from networks who were already working in the Department of Labor, and brought along others, who helped her launch some of the New Deal’s most consequential programs—which the First Lady then promoted in her speeches and columns, and during her travels. Those groundbreaking initiatives included: the Civilian Conservation Corps, Social Security, minimum wage, worker’s compensation, unemployment insurance, and a ban on child labor.
New York City, NY; NYC