March 4, 1933: The 1st Female Cabinet Secretary

March 4, 1933: Franklin Delano Roosevelt is sworn in as the 32nd President of the United States. He begins to implement his "New Deal" program, to alleviate the Great Depression. I have a separate entry about his Inauguration.

He will be aided by many, including the Secretary of Labor who also takes office on this day: Frances Perkins, the 1st woman to serve in any President's Cabinet.

Fannie Coralie Perkins was born on April 10, 1880 in Boston. She earned a bachelor of science degree from Mount Holyoke College is South Hadley, Massachusetts. She changed her name to "Frances," and volunteered as Jane Addams' Hull House in Chicago.

In 1910, she was appointed the head of the New York office of the National Consumers League. The next year, she witnessed the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, where the deaths of 146 people led her and others to push for new labor and fire safety laws.

In 1913, Perkins married New York economist Paul Caldwell Wilson. She kept her maiden name because she did not want her activities in Albany and New York City to affect the career of her husband, then the secretary to Mayor William J. Gaynor of New York. The couple had a daughter, Susanna, born in 1916.

In 1919, a new Governor, Alfred E. Smith, appointed her to the Industrial Commission of the State of New York. Her fellow Commissioner, James M. Lynch, called Perkins' contributions "invaluable," and added, "From the work which Miss Perkins has accomplished I am convinced that more women ought to be placed in high positions throughout the state departments."

In 1929, another newly-elected Governor, Franklin Roosevelt, appointed Perkins as the inaugural New York State Industrial Commissioner. Perkins helped put New York in the forefront of progressive reform, as she expanded factory investigations, reduced the workweek for women to 48 hours, championed minimum wage and unemployment insurance laws, and worked vigorously to put an end to child labor and to provide safety for women workers.

So, even as a woman, she was a natural for FDR's Secretary of Labor. This made her not only the 1st woman in the Cabinet, but the 1st woman in the line of succession to the Presidency.

She held the post for the entirety of his Administration, and into Harry S Truman's: 12 years and 116 days. Only 3 Cabinet officials have served longer, in any Department, including Harold Ickes at Interior at the same time. The other 2 have been James Wilson at Agriculture from 1897 to 1913, and Albert Gallatin at Treasury from 1801 to 1814. FDR's 1st Secretary of State, Cordell Hull, and his 1st Secretary of the Treasury, Robert Morgenthau, each served 11 years.

She helped write the Social Security Act, helped create the Civilian Conservation Corps, and, by herself, created the Immigration and Naturalization Service. So, not only was she one of FDR's most influential officials at the time, but her stamp on the federal government has been one of the longest-lasting and most effective. She is one of the most important Cabinet officials of all time, for reasons that have nothing to do with her status as the 1st woman.

After FDR's death, Truman wanted his own people in place, and Perkins stepped aside on June 30, 1945. Her replacement was Lewis Schwellenbach, a federal Judge and a former U.S. Senator from the State of Washington. He didn't make it through a full term, dying in 1948.

However, Truman didn't fire Perkins; his action was more of a "reshuffling" of the executive branch. He appointed her to serve on the U.S. Civil Service Commission, leaving office in 1952 after the death of her husband.

She taught at Cornell University, and died on May 14, 1945, at the age of 85. The U.S. Department of Labor Building in Washington is named for her, and her house in Washington, at 2326 California Street NW, is a historical landmark.

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March 4, 1933 was a Saturday. Baseball teams were starting Spring Training, the NFL was out of season, and the NBA hadn't been founded yet. There was only the NHL to provide games and scores. Even then, there were slim pickings:

* Only one American-based team was scheduled to play: The New York Americans lost to the Montreal Canadiens, 2-0 at the Montreal Forum.

* And, in a game broadcast on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's most popular radio show, which would become, and remains, the CBC's most popular television show, Hockey Night In Canada, the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Montreal Maroons, 4-2 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* The Detroit Red Wings and the Ottawa Senators had last played on March 2, against each other at the Ottawa Auditorium, with the Wings winning 3-2. They would play each other again on March 5, at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit, with the Wings winning 2-0.

* The Chicago Black Hawks had also last played on March 2, beating the Americans 3-2 at Chicago Stadium. They would next play on March 5, also at the Stadium, losing to the Maple Leafs 2-1.

* The Boston Bruins had last played on February 28, against the Senators at the Boston Garden. It ended in a 0-0 tie.

* The New York Rangers hadn't played since February 26, a 4-1 win over the Hawks in Chicago. Their next game would also be the Bruins' next game, on March 5, at what was then called the new, but would eventually be called the old, Madison Square Garden, and the Bruins won 2-1.

Also, Arsenal beat Liverpool, 1-0 at Highbury in North London.