Francis Perkins was born on April 10, 1880, and this post is in honor of her 113th birthday.

In 1933President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Francis Perkins as Secretary of the Department of Labor, a position she held for twelve years, longer than any other Secretary of Labor.  She became the first woman to hold a cabinet position in the United States and thus, became the first woman to enter the presidential line of succession.  Perkins played a key role in the cabinet by writing New Deal legislation, including minimum-wage laws. Her most important contribution, however, came in 1934 as chairwoman of the President’s Committee on Economic Security. In this post, she was involved in all aspects of the reports including her hand in the creation of the Civilian Conservation Corps which ultimately resulted in the Social Security Act of 1935.

Perkins would have been famous simply by being the first woman cabinet member, but her legacy stems from her accomplishments. She was largely responsible for the U.S. adoption of social security, unemployment insurance, federal laws regulating child labor, and adoption of the federal minimum wage.   The Frances Perkins Building that is the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Labor in Washington, D.C. was named in her honor in 1980.