Oral history interview with Frances Perkins, 1955

Biographical Note

Government executive; interviewee married Paul Wilson

Scope and Contents

An extended memoir dealing in particular with the following: Mt. Holyoke College; social work in Chicago and Philadelphia; New York: Consumers' League, 54-hour bill, Triangle fire, Factory Investigation Commission, 1909-10; womans' suffrage, 1905-10; New York State Legislature, 1910-13; Mayor John P. Mitchel's administration, 1913-17; art and literature; Committee on Safety; World War I; New York Industrial Commission; Democratic National Convention, 1920; Merchants Association; Spargo Wire Company strike; Alfred E. Smith as Governor; Democratic National Convention, 1924; Mayor James Walker and Tammany Hall; workmen's compensation, 1922-28; New York election of 1926; labor unions and labor legislation; election of 1928; Alfred E. Smith and Franklin D. Roosevelt; New York Labor Department; unemployment, 1929-32; New York election of 1930; Samuel Seabury Investigation; election of 1932; women and careers; Secretary of Labor, 1933-45; inauguration, 1933; the cabinet; reorganizing the Department of Labor; press and congressional relations; General Pelham Glassford and migrant labor; Black bill; relief; Federal Emergency Relief Administration, Civilian Conservation Corps, Works Progress Administration; Russian recognition; New York election of 1934; background of National Recovery Administration; Title II; administrative committees; Section 7(a) and textile code; coal and steel codes; Atlanta speech; National Labor Relations Board; Avondale strike; automobile workers; Toledo strike; Akron sitdown strike; General Motors strike, 1937; steel strike; San Francisco longshoremen's strike; election of 1936; Walsh-Healy Act; Schechter case; Supreme Court fight; Communist Party; outbreak of World War II; third term issue; election of 1940; cabinet reorganization; Department of Labor preparing for war; Advisory Commission to the Council for National Defense; Lend-Lease; Cabinet Propaganda Committee; Pearl Harbor; labor and manpower in wartime; President Harry Truman; Civil Service Commission, International Labor Office. There is only extant audio for a few segments of the interview. These audio segments correspond to the following page ranges: 77-114, 148-160, 191-206, and 4705-4707

Subjects

• Albertson, Dean, 1920- interviewer.
• Democratic Party (U.S.)
• Government executives--United States--Interviews.
• Interviews.
• Labor unions.
• New Deal, 1933-1939.
• New York (State)--Politics and government--1865-1950.
• Oral histories (literary works)
• Perkins, Frances, 1880-1965--Interviews.
• Strikes and lockouts--United States.
• United States--Economic policy--1933-1945.
• United States--Politics and government--1901-1953.
• United States--Public welfare--20th century.
• United States--Social conditions--20th century.
• United States. Dept. of Labor.
• Women in politics--Interviews.
• Women social reformers--Interviews.
• World War, 1939-1945.

Access Conditions

Copyright by The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York, 1976