By Linda Stamato
As Labor Day approaches, we live under the threat of a second wave of the coronavirus, even as the first remains with us. Unemployment is raging and food lines are long, and the small businesses that haven’t closed are hanging on by a thread. Many familiar names and places—local and national–are no more.
In desperate times, though, we can turn to history, to days when the nation faced a crisis of extraordinary proportions—the Depression—and appreciate when government mattered and leadership was up to the challenge, and find inspiration and hope in it.
It is a good time, then, to put a focus on the first woman cabinet member in American history. Frances Perkins was instrumental in seeing what the nation needed to do and, along with Franklin Roosevelt, the progressive president who appointed her, she did it.
She stands out among the most dynamic, capable, accomplished political leaders in the nation’s history. She served from 1933 to 1945, longer than any Secretary of Labor.
Perkins created the safety net that continues to shape the lives of Americans today: Social Security, a federal minimum wage, the 40-hour work-week, and unemployment compensation. And she brought an end to the legal use of child labor.
All of these efforts helped the nation get back on its feet after the Depression and helped countless Americans during those grim years. No wonder she is one of those people featured in the PBS series, American Masters, which presents portraits of Americans who have transformed the nation.
Summoned: Frances Perkins and the General Welfare captures Perkins’ life and the impact of her work. It’s a compelling story.
Perkins also was one of the most consequential cabinet members America has known. A profile in courage and competence, a consummate professional, she understood that professionalism in public administration was essential, and she had a high regard for public service; indeed, she saw nobility in it.
What a refreshing contrast to today’s low regard for government, for service, not to mention the presence of unabashed self-dealing by those in public positions.
We have seen, in recent days, what the absence of leadership at the federal level has done to the nation. We have a mounting caseload of COVID-19 cases and a high percentage of deaths due to our lack of preparation for the pandemic.
Indeed, we lead the world in both coronavirus deaths and confirmed infections. We lack the commitment and the coordination we need to fight the virus effectively.
Crises often produce leaders. The Great Depression gave the nation Franklin D. Roosevelt. And FDR summoned Frances Perkins to D.C. at a time when average working people needed help. They were determined to give it to them.
Perkins was devoted to social reform. Accordingly, she pressed Roosevelt for his commitment to support federal initiatives in the areas of unemployment relief and public works, insurance to guard workers from the hazards of old age and unemployment, and efforts to regulate child labor as well as wages and hours for adults. These became the cornerstones of the New Deal’s policies for Depression relief and reform.
Perkins shepherded landmark measures through Congress as she gained in skill and grace to work her way through the intricacies of the political process. Those critical actions remain monuments to her remarkable presence and commitment to justice. Social Security and Fair Labor Standards are evidence of her sound understanding of the need for, and her skill in, developing, and advocating for, policies in the public interest.
The American people are coming to understand that we need government. We can’t fight a common enemy alone. We need smart, sensitive, wise and compassionate government, government that acts wisely to serve the public good.
We can still look to Frances Perkins for the profile in courage we need, and for the model of what we need government to do in the days ahead.
Linda Stamato is the Co-Director of the Center for Negotiation and Conflict Resolution at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University in New Brunswick. She is a Faculty Fellow there as well. Active in the Morristown community, she serves on the trustee board of the Morristown and Morris Township Library Foundation and is a commissioner on the Morristown Parking Authority.
In most cases government gets in its own way with an unending supply of onerous rules, laws, and regulations. Government causes more problems than it does with bringing solutions. Its goal is to reward society’s takers rather than the makers. Look at all of the social programs that are designed to reward those who choose not not work, have huge families, or otherwise live irresponsibly.
If you are in business, government does its level best to make it as difficult as it can for you. Example: Imagine being a responsible landlord right now and having big brother tell you how to run your business, that many of the Covid-related housing costs have to placed on your shoulders, and that you can’t do anything about it.
Linda, not sure if you’ve ever owned a business or not. It doesn’t sound like it but here’s my take. Government hurts the free market more than it helps a lot of time. Look at prevailing wage rates. No business can take on a small public contract if it involves any construction at all, unless they are essentially union shops and participate in a national training program. Most small businesses cannot afford this or have the connections to do this. I could not bid on the work at a local park because it involved installing benches, which is considered construction and therefore throws the entire landscaping bid into the prevailing wage category.
BTW – SS is bankrupt. If the gov’t lets people keep their wages, they would get a lot more back in returns over the years in most cases. At least give people the option – its nothing but a forced tax.
Can you tell me why my employees cant work more than 40 hours if they WANT to at regular wage? I cannot afford to pay them 1.5x plus the additional workers comp and tax charges that come with that, but I can pay them their regular rate if they wanted to work 45 or 50 hour week. The government is PREVENTING a voluntary transaction in the market place. The same rationale for minimum wage, if a worker with no experience at all wants to work for $7 an hour, and employer is willing to pay them that to train them and give them a job, who are you to say that transaction cannot take place?
Often people with no economic background, and with emotional based policy and ideas will brow beat those asking these exact questions. Curious to hear if your answers are different.
The embedded video, thanks to Kevin Coughlin, provides remarkable insight into Perkins and the battle(s) she had to fight in service, as she said, “to the people of this nation.” Captured in a mere six minutes, we see the kind of inspiration we need now in the accomplishments of that singular figure, a woman committed to public service and to a belief that government can make a significant difference, and a defensible difference, in the well-being of its citizens. For those who seem to see government “as the problem,” think, carefully, about Social Security, Medicare, fair labor standards, collective bargaining rights, being guaranteed a minimum wage, a 40-hour week….and tell me that government doesn’t matter.