Life of Frances Perkins,The ~ Kirstin Downey - August Book Club Online

[PatH]

The Woman Behind the New Deal:      The Life of Frances Perkins,           FDR'S Secretary of Labor and His Moral Conscience                by Kirstin  Downey Links: Frances Perkins Center Frances Perkins, Dept. of Labor Jane Addams [Frances Perkins Speech

Discussion August   l -  8     August  9 - 15   August 16 - 22     August 23 - 31

Schedule Chapters 1-9 Chapters 10-18 Chapters 19-27 Chapters 28-38

FOR CONSIDERATION

Was FP successful in her appointment to the Industrial Commission and in her later promotion to active management ?

What are your remembrances of AL Smith and the causes of his 1928 election defeat?

What were the causes of his defeat by Herbert Hoover?

What was the reasons for the break between Al Smith and FDR during the four years preceding the 1932 election when FDR won the Presidency?

What were FP’s terms for  accepting the position of Secretary of Labor?

What did the President of the AF of L, William Green think about the President’s selection of FP for the Labor post?

What are your thoughts on the almost automatic Senate confirmation without hearings of all the President’s Cabinet nominations?

What was FP’s experience at the Inauguration and her arrival at the office for her first day on her job?

______________________________
Discussion Leaders:   Ella and Harold

[PatH]

Here's an example of the dreadful living conditions of workers Jacob Riis documented with his camera

Five Cents Lodging

Almost worse than the working conditions.

[PatH]

We haven't completely escaped from things like the Triangle fire.  In 1991, a fire in a chicken processing plant in Hamlet, NC, killed 25 and injured 54.  The management had locked all the fire doors to keep the workers from stealing chickens or sneaking breaks, and many were trapped trying to break these doors open.  There were other safety violations, including non-working emergency phones, and the plant had not had a safety inspection for a long time.  Here's more than you want to know about it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamlet_chicken_processing_plant_fire

[HaroldArnold]

The five page Chapter 4, The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, is one of the shortest chapters in the book, yet for the reader no other single chapter packs as much impact.  Understandably for the hundreds of New Yorkers including young Frances Perkins gathered in the street below watching the tragedy unfold , it must have been a gut wrenching,  life changing experience.  Frances’s work prior to the fire had been for the most part directed toward getting aid to the individual needy; it was a band aid approach to the multiple problems of the poor.    After the fire her strategy was more directed toward the underlying causes of the poor under-class.  

This new strategy involved finding powerful allies who might help the cause.  Frances turned to politicians.  She had been sympathetic to the progressive wing of the Republican Party led by Theodore Roosevelt, but In New York she turned first to the prominent Tammany Hall political group.   She also sought the friendship of prominent rich progressive individuals.  In New York Tammany was a natural ally since its whole purpose was to win elections for their candidates.  Since the poor far outnumbered the rich, it made sense for them to support the causes of the poor.  In any case by 1915 Frances had joined the Democratic Party, and  had become a political activist with enough backing to gain access to city and state political leaders.  She was primed for a career in politics but took some years off by reducing political activity to marry and have a daughter.
 

[Jonathan]

That 1991 fire in the chicken processing plant sounds grim. What a tragedy. It seems that  not only has Frances Perkins been forgotten, all her crusading efforts to make  working environments safer were in vain.

It must have been appalling to witness the unfolding tragedy at the Triangle Shirtwaist factory in March, 1911. It galvanized FP into a purposeful career direction. By then she had been living in New York for two years and had achieved a great deal, although still uncertain about her future. She considered becoming an actress. Or a writer. On the other hand she 'found that her work among the poor gave her a certain social cachet.'

What a wonderful life she was having tea-partying with her crowd of influential friends, the Astors, Vanderbilts, Cuttings, and Livingstons. And being stimulated by her Greewich Village neighbors: 'the radicals and writers, lesbians and libertines, painters and partygoers, sensualists and suffragists, immigrants and ideologues.'

'In those days, nothing upset us. We didn't get upset about anybody's ideology...you didn't get upset because people had funny ideas. That was America.' p26

And she had a few herself. What with judging people by the auras she saw about their heads.

'One man she singled out as especially interesting was Robert Moses....' He was young and up-and-coming, and handsome. I wonder did she have a crush on him? Or with Jack Reed and his communist ideas. Or Joe Cohen, and his socialism, who was 'Jewish and radical?'

There was the occasion. at the Cooper Union, when she declared, 'Feminism means revolution, and I am a revolutionist. I believe in revolution as a principle. It does good to everybody.'
p28

And yet, after years of experience, she would look back and say, 'I'd much rather get a law than organize a union.' She had come a long way since the big fire, that embarkation point for her. What a many-sided portrait of FP we get in Chapter 3. Thanks Kirstin.

[mabel1015j]

Yes, Ella, i knew about the Triangle Fire. Most history textbooks now talk about it as an important motivation to the organization of women for labor unions and for changing laws in regard to facilities in NY and eventually the country.

With all due respect Harold, whom i'm assuming has never worn a dress,  , I think Hillary's wearing pants suits all the time has more to do w/ comfort than anything else.  Climbing in and out of cars, SUV's and going up and down airplane steps, sitting behind tables that have no barrier  to the audience - wearing pants just means one less thing to worry about when she's got much greater things to worry about. Especially after the big brouhaha that ignited after she "showed a little cleavage" - very LITTLE, but the media loves to make a story.

I wasn't diminishing FP's confidence and ability to do her job "as well as a man" when i used the word isolation. No matter how supremely confident you are in your decisions and ability to present ideas to the president - or whomever - not having someone who understands your situtation and the slights/jokes that i'm sure she got, is isolating. ................. There's a wonderful book titled "The Story of "O: Being an  X in and O Organization" which talks about the person who is not like the others in any organization. It doesn't matter if you are a women in a male org, or a man in a women's org, or a minority of any kind in a WASP org, certain things are going to work - or not work - in a different way for you than for the majority.......................I would imagine that would have been especially true for FP in the first half of the century when 99.99 % of all org's were WASP and male.............................. jean

[BarbStAubrey]

I remember my grandmother telling me the story of the fire and more than the fire it was the women jumping to their deaths that she would tell not looking at us and shaking her head with the horror her mental picture brought to the telling -

Then she would further the image by saying the hair or clothes on some of the women jumping were on fire. She was not there and yet the news and pictures must have been rampant for her to react so in telling us the story -

Interesting to me is that in 1911 the Italia-Turk war was raging where planes were shooting people from the sky for the first time. Also, the diplomatic build up to WWI in Europe was rampant so that in just 3 years, WW I erupted, during which the loss of young men each day was as great as the Triangle Shirtwaist fire tragedy. Yet, years later, my grandmother and even my father, who would have been 11 at the time of the fire, were so moved telling us the story - I am thinking it was because the women were locked in and the choice of death, jumping is what made these deaths more searing.

I became curious as to when the first Sec. of Labor was part of the cabinet - here is a link about the position that was split from the Department of the Sec. of Commerce ---
http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1239.html

This link has a portrait of each Secretary of Labor and it also includes our current Sec. of Labor, Hilda Solis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Secretary_of_Labor

[PatH]

Barbara, do you care to draw any conclusions from the fact that Perkins is the only one who is posed as if she might actually be working?

[BarbStAubrey]

Could be the artist - http://www.askart.com/askart/m/jean_mrs_john_c_johansen_maclane/jean_mrs_john_c_johansen_maclane.aspx

Interesting the only other woman artist was Judy Horowitz who did the portraits for Raymond Donovan and Ray Marshall

http://www.dol.gov/oasam/programs/history/sec-chrono.htm

[Ella Gibbons]

PAT, that was an interesting clickable, particularly the phrase “a look of personal extinction.  I count six people in that small room sleeping; I know immigrants were forced to live this way.  Don’t you think immigrants (legal or illegal) live under better conditions today?  I don’t know!

And the chicken fire was awful!  My nephew has all of his working life been an industrial hygienist and one of the things he does is inspect conditions in factories, schools and all public places.  I wonder how this plant escaped inspection.  If the workers had called their state office and requested one an inspector would have been out.

That  was a great summary, HAROLD.  Thank you for that!  Of course, she joined the Democratic party; at the time it is where the power lay in New York State.   That was a touching story of her introduction to Tammany Hall (pg.38).

A history of Tammany:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tammany_Hall

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


As you say, the Shirtwaist Fire - the tragedy that could be turned into a positive event - inspired FP.  She dove into power politics!  And she worked hard at it.

In KD’s notes on this chapter she recounts how FP had pictures and drawings made of conditions in factories to show members of the Factory Investigation Commission.

The following is a paragraph from Frances Perkins' book THE ROOSEVELT I KNEW:

"I was an investigator for a the Factory Investigation Commission and we used to make it our business to take Al Smith, the East Side boy who later became New York’s Governor…..to see the women, thousands of them, coming off the ten-hour night shift on the rope walks in Auburn.  We made sure that Robert Wagner (Senator) personally crawled through the tiny hole in the wall that gave egress to a steep iron ladder covered with ice and ending 12 feet from the ground, which was euphemistically labeled ‘Fire Escape’ in many factories.  We saw to it that the austere legislative members of the Commission got up at dawn and drove with us for an unannounced visit to a Cattaraugus County cannery and that they saw with their own eyes the little children, not adolescents, but 5, 6, and 7-year olds, snipping beans and shelling peas.  We made sure that they saw the machinery that would scalp a girl or cut off a man’s arm………"

Later, ella

[Ella Gibbons]

Frances is being wooed.  He is rich, good looking, successful!  And he proposes.

RHAPSODY! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1U40xBSz6Dc

(Isn't that lovely!)

But Frances  wrestles with the decision!

Didn't most of us?

"She was becoming famous in her own right."

Single woman are taken more seriously.  What would her husband expect.

It is "uncharted territory" as KD stated (pg.58) and further it was made more difficult because "the roles of men and women were in a particular state of flux at the time."

Well, aren’t they always?  Certainly in my lifetime!

Unlike most married couples, they downplayed their marriage? 

What a strange beginning, don’t you think?

[Jonathan]

Divine...without mercy.

Isn't she a character. A dynamo. Teddy Roosevelt has no hesitation recommending FP as the executive director of the new Committee on Saftey following the Triangle fire. But then, 'she shared', we are told, 'the intense vitality that animated the Roosevelt family, the same intrinsic optimism, the same self-confidence bolstered by conviction.' p49

KD already has her pegged in the title to Chap 3:

'The Young Activist Hits New York.'

What really drives her? She'll work with the devil if it gets things done. She'll quote scripture if they're helpful. (There must be a reason for question 14 in the link Harold provided to KD's readers' guide: What role  did religion play in FP's life?)

Why does Frances feel a 'sweet vindication' soon after arriving in New York? It still rankles, it seems, that she was turned down ten years earlier in the NY office of the Charity Organization Society as too naive.

Nevertheless, now she turns again to the COS for help in a charity case: '...to help a family in distress. A teenage boy, the sole support of his mother and two younger sisters, had been arrested and faced a prison term.' p38 She's promised help, but after a lengthy investigation FP is told by a very uncharitable COS official that the woman has been found unworthy of help because one  of her children appeared to be illegitimate.

The next stop. The office of the neighborhood Tammany boss. 'By the next afternoon, the boy had been released from jail.' And Frances had found an ally in Tammany Hall.

After reading about all the good Tammany Hall was doing in the community, one has to think those guys were out to win the hearts and minds of the people.

And the guy heading up the Charity Organization Society? Edward T. Devine.

[Jonathan]

Or was the COS  on the side of law and order?

[serenesheila]

I just finished reading the chapters for this week.  I had no idea what FP's life was like prior to becoming FDR's Labor Secretary.  She certainly accumulated a lot of experience with government, and worker's riights issues.  I found it interesting that she decided to dress like a matronly woman, so that men would see her as like their mothers!

The Triangle Shirtwaste factory tragedy made quite an impression on me.  On 9/11 as I watched people jumping to their deaths, I thought about the TSF.  It was unnerving for me, to see people intentionally jump- to their death.

I am also impressed by her connection to Teddy Roosevelt.  It amazes me how many connections she formed with the rich and famous, and politically powerful.  Have any of you ever heard about any other females who had such a civilly active life?

How sad I found it that her husband developed what sounds as if it was bipolar disorder.  I admire her for her willingness to take care of him.  So far, at least, she has not abandoned him. 


Sheila

[Ella Gibbons]

Women, minority women, are making inroads into American politics.  Now we have Sotomayor as a Justice of the Supreme Court and we have Hilda Solis as Secretary of Labor; formerly we had Condoleeza Rice as Secretary of State in GWBush's administration.

Thank you, JEAN, for your comments comparing Rice and FP.  I believe with you that both women had a tough time dealing with men who probably grumbled in private about taking orders from women.  Then, too, I think men, unintentionally perhaps talk in terms of sport - , a foul, fumble, forward pass, the neutral zone, etc. .  or golf or basketball when describing actions and women do not think in those terms.

Thank you, BARBARA, for the clickables to all the Secretaries and for your stories of your grandmother and the Shirtwaist Fire.  There were other tragedies during that period due to negligent and unfair labor policies but this one will go down in history, I think,  because it exemplifies the horror of such practices and made laws mandatory.

HI JONATHAN!  I loved the Divine story.  What did drive Frances Perkins?  That energy, that ambition?  Was it fear of failure?  She escaped from her parents' home to go to the big city and found success, but she still dreamed of marriage and a home it seems.  She had the dream.

SHEILA, thanks for your comments.  When do you think bipolar disorder was first called that?  When did this mental condition get diagnosed as such?  I remember all of a sudden everyone I knew was talking about it and had a brother or a family member with the problem.  My oldest sister was diagnosed with it some time in the 80's after having mental problems since menopause which was blamed for her problems for years.

I must run now to do some errands but will be back later and let's discuss FP and her married life, her husband with his bipolar.  How does one balance home, career, sickness of a loved one, a child, all the condiments of living.

[Ella Gibbons]

Oh, before I run I wanted to THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR MAKING THIS SUCH A GREAT DISCUSSION, I'm enjoying it so very much and it is due to your comments.

KEEP THEM COMING!

And a question for KIRSTIN if she is around.  Which was more fun to do, or less tedious perhaps I should say, the research or the writing?  As a staff writer, an award winner at that,  for the Washington Post I would imagine the writing would be easier for you.

[PatH]

Ella asks what drives Perkins?  She started out kind of hard-wired to be that way.  p 7--"Wending their way through the Perkins' family tree were strains of brilliance, traces of manic depression, and a propensity for acts of public altruism that cost the doers dearly...."  The family particularly admired these members.

Of course, that was only the beginning.

[Ella Gibbons]

And from the beginning to the guy she loved and a home.  It should have been perfect.

But at this point in their lives, both Paul and Frances might be thinking that their marriage was the biggest risk they have ever taken and a not too successful one at that.

Paul is drinking, lost his job, Frances is obsessed with the house, hiring and firing maids, bored.

Their daughter Susanna later stated:

"It was a battleground.  They were continually shouting at each other.  It wasn't a happy household." (pg.73)

What would Dr. Phil have to say about this marriage?  Is he still on TV?

[JoanK]

SHEILA:"Have any of you ever heard about any other females who had such a civilly active life?"

FP certainly has to be near the front. but there were other women socially active at that time. Jane Addams, we mentioned, and Lilian Helman was running settlement houses in NYC, Margeret Sanger and the birth control movement. The women behind the temperance movement.

They all saw the same problems, but tackled different aspects of them. FP seems to be the one who realized the many aspects, and saught political power to deal with them all.

[Jonathan]

That about sums up this unusual marriage, Ella. What a disaster. But aside from all the mental illness, perhaps it was politics that drove them apart. Paul hitched his wagon to that oddball mayor's notions of reform, out to get the Tammany Hall guys, just the people Frances needed to get legislative action for her reforms. And, of course, there was Paul's extra-marital affair.

What an interesting family tree. Even Robert Lowell shows up, the poet who 'struggled with mental illness and had a fascination with insanity.' p72

Yes, Sheila, there is another woman very active politically. We meet her in the next chapters. Belle Moskowitz. A friend of Frances Perkins.

[Jonathan]

I've just noticed your reply, Joan. Of course, there were many other women.

[mabel1015j]

And we can't forget Susan B. Anthony who was alive until 1906 and the many other suffragists, including my favorite, Alice Paul, who began to fight for women's rights in 1910 in the U.S. And Florence Kelly, who battled for better working conditions for women and children w/ studies and statistics to support her campaign. FP had a lot of role models at this time.

In the book i'm reading there are 2 great quotes:
"Every man and woman who works at a living wage, under safe conditions, for reasonable hours, or who is protected by unemployment insurance or social security, is her debtor," ....former sec of labor, Willard Wirtz, said of her. More modestly, when she herself once was asked to appraise her place in history, she said, "you might say that i happened to be a woman, born in my own time." ..............i don't know if your book has stated those, i wouldn't be surprised.

FP and FDR were both only children and in the study of children's place in the family, there is a theory that only children are often leaders, very self-confient and disciplined. On the other hand, Severn says, "Proverty was a subject seldom discussed in the P's household, where dinner talk was of 'literature, art, drama and even the greek classics.' "

Severn has a quote from her...."sometimes she joked about getting married 'to get it off my mind,' but she prized her independence and turned down sev'l proposals. Among the men who pursued her in his young yrs, before he became a famous novelist, was Sinclair Lewis, altho she felt it was more because he enjoyed the make-believe of imagining he was in love w/ her.
"Lewis was fun to be with, unusual, unpredictable, amusing and oddly appealing, and at times she felt an almost motherly sense of wanting to protect him from others, even tho she was only a few yrs older. He used to try out his ideas on her, bring her stories to read."

Another interesting quote from her time w/ the Consumer's League: " Her investigation of the small cellar bakeries, where most of the city's bread was then made, exposed unsanitary conditions such as cats falling into the dough, soot from city streets sifting down from sidewalk-level windows into pans of bread set out to cool, and men w/ filthy hands kneading dough on vermin-infested work counters. Many workers in the overheated cellar shops were sneezing, coughing, and suffering from ill health as they labored at the ovens." .............shades of The Jungle!!! ...........It's amazing that any of our parents survived - mine were probably fortunate to be living on a farm in Pennsylvania where they produced most of their own food.........................what an interesting life she had in NYC, meeting all those interesting people......... I want to be her!.......................jean

[PatH]

Jean, the book you're reading oversimplified.  Perkins did have a sister.  Frances' father, an intellectual, had married a woman notable mainly for her farming skills.  Eventually the couple had little in common, and the other daughter was not intellectual, so Frances' father gave her a lot of attention, including teaching her to read Greek when she was 8.  Both parents were proud of her intelligence, but conflicted about the fact that they were raising her in a way that wasn't expected for a woman.

I can't wait until you get the real book.  You'll love it!

[HaroldArnold]

In our 9 Chapter first week assignment we have seen Frances Perkins through her child hood, through Mount Holyoke, and her emergence as a young social reform activist hitting Chicago and New York.  In the last 2 chapters of this week’s assignment we have followed her through her marriage and the birth of a daughter. 

Tomorrow we will begin a new week moving on to chapters 10 through 18.  Right away in Chapter 10 we see Frances begin a new phase of her career that now takes on a definite political dimension.  In 1918 Frances’s work helped a budding Democrat politician, Al Smith win the New York Governor race.  Frances was rewarded with appointment to the New York State Industrial  Commission, a job paying a salary of 8,000/ year.  Was France successful in this post and in her later promotion to active management of the Industrial Commissions functions?   What are your remembrances of AL Smith and the causes of his 1928 election defeat?  Click the following link for a Wikipedia Biographical sketch of Al Smith.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Smith 

Some of the discussion points that will come up this week will center on the career of a Al Smith that culminated in his winning the 1928 nomination for President.  What were the causes of his defeat by Herbert Hoover?   Then will come Franklin D. Roosevelt who won the New York Governor Race in 1928 as Smith went down to defeated in the National election.  What was the reasons for the break between Al  Smith and FDR during the four years preceding the 1932 election  when FDR won the Presidency?   This led to Frances’s being offered the Secretary of Labor Position., but what were Frances’s terms for her accepting the offer?   And what did the President of the AF of L, William Green think about the Presidents choosing Frances for the Labor post?   What are your thoughts on the almost automatic Senate confirmation without hearings of all the President’s Cabinet nominations?   What was France’s experience at the Inauguration and her arrival at the office for her first day on her job?

[ANNIE]

Our author was interviewed yesterday on our Columbus NPR station and the interview was repeated in the evening. I was most impressed in the faithfulness and admiration the author brought to this book plus the bibliography that is printed at the end of our book.  She spoke of interviewing of the generation that remembers her.  Sounds like Studs Terkel's many interviews.  These people are leaving for the better place and their memories will go with them.

On to the new chapters today.

[Ella Gibbons]

JEAN, I loved your post!  And all those quotes from your book, what is its title?  

"It's amazing that any of our parents survived."  Indeed yes!  

And the quote about Sinclair Lewis - "He used to try out his ideas on her, bring her stories to read."

She would be a great person to talk to, she had a nimble mind, don't you all agree?  And hard working, dedicated, pursuing goals.  

Look what she did when her marriage was foundering.  She pioneered an organization to help poor women who were pregnant, at the request of a couple of doctors.  They must have recognized the unique qualities  of hard work and  organizational skills that Frances possessed, "soul-satisfying" work.  Her efforts became the Maternity Center Association, now Childbirth Connections.  See the clickable below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maternity_Center_Association

Note the first paragraph!

Thanks, HAROLD!  We will put those questions in the heading tomorrow so that folks, including myself, can remember them and think about them while reading those chapters.

HELLO ANN!  I heard parts of Kirstin's interview yesterday on NPR/Columbus, but was out the door and off on appointments and errands, darn!  I remember Kirstin mentioning that FP had a wonderful sense of humor which helped immensely with dealing with politicians.

There is a picture of her whispering something in FDR's ear and he is plainly laughing out loud!  The two of them together must have been fun to behold!  We'll talk more of that next week.

[Ella Gibbons]

Early on in her career, FP made a right turn.  She had already, through Hull House, met an incredible array of the famous or soon to be; Board Chairman of AT&T, the future prime minister of Canada, British statesman Ramsay MacDonald, Clarence Darrow, Frank Lloyd Wright.

In her new church, her new religion, she met others.  Socialities, heirs to family fortunes. 

She vacationed in Europe where she met more.  Was she a social climber or did she just see the value of friends in high places?  Or both?

And she met politicians and was particularly impressed with a  young assemblyman, Al Smith who:

"turned out to be a fine orator with a command of language, a pungent, racy talk in the language of the people, a gift for the figure of speech that would make people remember things and would also make them laugh at the same time.  He really was quite extraordinary and if you ever saw him perform on the floor, you'd never forget it." (pg.40)

A Bill Clinton?

[mabel1015j]

Thank you for that summary Harold, it is really helpful to me to know what you all are reading about and where i need to go in the book i have.

Ella - the name of the book i'm reading is Frances Perkins: a Member of the Cabinet by Bill Severn.

Pat - thanks for the correction on her family. This is a small book, 243 pages, so  you are probably right about it being oversimplified. I'm very much enjoying reading all of your posts and additional links w/ information. That's part of the wonderfulness of sharing in a book discussion on SL...................jean

[Jonathan]

...."sometimes she joked about getting married 'to get it off my mind,'

Doesn't that  throw a curious little light  on her personal life? And the bitter irony. Could she ever get it off her mind after the quickie wedding in the church chantry?

After nine chapters, she has come such a long way? Achieved so much. Acquired so many friends and connections. Not to mention the political skills. Somewhere, it seems to me, I read that Harry Truman thought that was the one thing she lacked. Neither Al Smith nor FDR, seemed to have felt that way. Both found her very  useful in their political calculations. And she worked hard at her politics, not to mention the good use she made of her feminine wiles with both of them.

'They (the doctos) must have recognized the unique qualities  of hard work and  organizational skills that Frances possessed, "soul-satisfying" work.  Her efforts became the Maternity Center...' Ella.

Of course. The Maternity Center Association was such a great success. And at that period in her life, it must have preserved FP's sanity.

[Ella Gibbons]

Yes, she's come a long way and she has a long way to go, but what a start!

[serenesheila]

Ella, I am not sure when the term bipolar began to be used.  I think I first began to hear it, about 20+ years ago.  Before that, wasn't it called Manic Depression?

Thanks for the additional women's names that were activists at the turn of the 20th century.  My granddaughter studied, and wrote a paper about Alice Paul.  I had not heard of her until Sarah told me about her.  I did know about Margaret Sanger, and her efforts to bring birth control to American women.

I am looking forward to the chapters this week.
Sheila

[PatH]

Yikes!  I thought we had another day and weren't going to move on until tomorrow.  I'll try to summarize what I had to say.

Perkins doesn't seem to have been cut out for marriage, at least in the frame of the conventions of the time.  She and Paul were very much in love, but she needed to be her own person and do her own thing, and felt stifled.  The letter she wrote him is revealing: "...something has happened to me in these years that I've become a different kind of person with a lesser degree of working efficiency and paler kind of spiritual efficiency.....I do mean that I can't play with you all the time and exclusively, that I can't have you in my house all the time on the terms of me belonging."  I wonder how she would do in today's climate of equality in marriage?

But just when things have gotten bad, she gets pregnant.  They are delighted, but then follows a long, horrible physical ordeal.  First she has a miscarriage.  She gets pregnant again, and develops toxemia.  This was life-threatening and terrifying, and they didn't really know how to treat it then.  She is hospitalized, a likely death sentence then, and has a Cesarean, another likely death sentence plus a long tiring convalescence, and the baby dies.  So it is after much physical strain, plus the grief of losing two babies, that they finally have a healthy child.

More in a bit.

[EvelynMC]

I am reading along with you and appreciate all the links so many of you have provided.

This is a very interesting discussion.

Evelyn   

[bellamarie]

Ella, I am not sure when the term bipolar began to be used.  I think I first began to hear it, about 20+ years ago.  Before that, wasn't it called Manic Depression?

My daughter was diagnosed Bi Polar/Manic Depression about 10 yrs. ago and I have done extensive research on this mental illness.  Years before there was a medical name for this it was considered a nervous breakdown and they treated patients with drugs to sedate them just to keep them from harming themselves or others.  We have come a very long way with mental illnesses in knowing what they are and what the genetic makeup has to do with them.  Living with a loved one with Bi Polar/Manic Depression is indescribable.  As long as the right medication is prescribed and the person takes it faithfully it is a disease that can be managed.  If ever there was a person with the stamina to deal with a loved one with this mental disorder I sense Francis Perkins would be up to the task.  Yet, no matter how strong you are it is very taxing on you emotionally, physically and mentally.

[PatH]

Hi, Bellamarie, I'm glad to see you're still with us.

Some things a person would rather not have had to become expert at, but you can set us straight if we say something stupid.  I'm guessing that the disintegration of Paul's ambitions as the mayor lost ground plus the emotional strain of three difficult pregnancies triggered a worsening in his condition, but that maybe he was always hard to live with.

Of course they knew almost nothing about how to treat bipolar disorder then; it's hard to imagine the horror of having to hire able-bodied men to restrain your husband when he got violent.  It's no wonder they ended up shouting at each other.

In spite of this, it was during this period that Perkins did her groundbreaking work establishing the Maternity Center Association, drastically reducing the maternal and neonatal death rate in New York City.  Strong is an understatement.

[ANNIE]

I received this in an email and thought everyone here might want to read about this lady.  Here is another of our heroines and from our generation.

Marilyn Clement: June 30, 1935 to August 3, 2009
"...working for the common good is a wonderful way to live a wonderful way to spend a lifetime." - Marilyn Clement, June 7, 2003

Marilyn Clement, founder and National Coordinator of Healthcare-NOW!, passed away on Monday, August 3 surrounded by her children, Scott and Pam, her daughter-in-law Liz, and the caring thoughts of all of us who knew her, worked with her, and had come to love her.
Marilyn's life and work was dedicated to social justice. She worked tirelessly to build, speak, and spread the word about meaningful civil rights and healthcare reform. Her leadership, vision, and passion helped to strengthen the recognition of healthcare as a human right throughout the nation.
Marilyn led a rich, decades-long career in social justice activism, including civil rights, women's rights, human rights, and peace. She worked with and through a variety of organizations, including the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, the Center for Constitutional Rights, the United Methodist Church, and the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization, among other organizations.
Marilyn served as the National Coordinator for Healthcare-NOW until her death. Doctors diagnosed her with multiple myeloma in June of 2008, and Marilyn had to step back from her leadership role at Healthcare-NOW to undergo extensive and painful treatments. A tribute to her organizing skills, a group of nine committed activists responded to her call, and stepped up to form a Steering Committee to assume leadership during her illness.
At the June 7, 2009 event at Judson Memorial Church, Marilyn's consistent optimism rang loud and clear as she remarked to the crowd, "We are on the verge of winning something that is so desperately needed for all of our people... Love to all of you. Keep up the fight... And we are going to win single-payer healthcare."
Healthcare-NOW! recognizes the great loss to everyone in the single-payer healthcare and human rights communities that Marilyn's passing represents. Our resolve to continue and strengthen the movement she started is stronger than ever. As we mourn her loss, we also celebrate the amazing gifts she has given to us all.
Marilyn is survived by her brother, Les Boydstun; her children Pam and Scott; her daughter-in-law Liz Arwine, widow of her deceased son Mark; and three grandchildren Kendall, Chelsea and Alex. Following Marilyns wishes, the family is planning a memorial service to be held at Judson Church on Washington Square later this fall. We will provide details when they are available.
The family suggests that those who wish to donate in Marilyn's memory should do so to the Center for Constitutional Rights or to Healthcare-NOW!
A more detailed statement on her life with comments from those who knew her can be found here.

[bellamarie]

PatH 

I'm guessing that the disintegration of Paul's ambitions as the mayor lost ground plus the emotional strain of three difficult pregnancies triggered a worsening in his condition, but that maybe he was always hard to live with.

Yes, I think the tragic things happening in his life and the stress of his job could have caused his condition to worsen.  I learned a person is born with the gene of Bi Polar and it could remain dormant their entire lifetime.  Tragic things in a person's life can trigger the manifestation of the mental illness.  Violence can be one of the symptoms and can be managed through proper medication.  One of the most difficult things to deal with is the person takes the medication, starts to feel better and wants to discontinue the medication, which results in more episodes.  Keep in mind that many scholars, writers, musicians, artists,  and highly intelligent people were/are Bi Polar/Manic Depressants.  I was amazed to find an entire list of names from centuries ago to the present with this mental illness.

Francis seems to be a woman of great strength, passion, fortitude and knowledge.  She seems a woman not going to let anything or anyone stop her from her missions.  I have to admire her, especially when in her time a woman would rarely stand up and speak out to politicians or other high ranking individuals. 

[bellamarie]

I have to admit I am sort of jumping into the discussion at this point only due to the fact I had a most welcome, unexpected visit from my daughter and her husband, who I have not seen for two years. They stayed with us for three glorious weeks.  We were on vacation just before they came, so as much as I wanted to participate, I found no time to spare.  I have read all your posts and hope to be more present in the coming weeks.   

[Ella Gibbons]

BELLEMARIE, Welcome!

I'm so glad you can now join us.  Bipolar disorder is so difficult and I am so sorry about  your daughter.  My older sister had mental illness for years and it was only a few years before she died that the bipolar disorder was diagnosed.  Before it was depression and treatments were inadequate.  Her family resorted to shock treatments at times.

Thanks, Ann, for the information about another social activist and thank goodness, our society still has those who see the need and do for others.

AND THANKS TO ALL OF YOU FOR MAKING THIS DISCUSSION SUCH A SUCCESS,  SO DELIGHTFUL TO COME IN AND READ YOUR COMMENTS ABOUT THIS REMARKABLE WOMAN!

Kirstin had told me in an email that she would be in and out of our discussion, as she is a busy gal, jumping from this city to another to promote her book.  I think I will email her any questions we may have and report back here.

Yesterday, a panel of historians were on BookTV and were asked two questions:  (1) did you find any surprises in doing your research, and (2) do you find it dangerous to write of your biographical character in the sense that you may not have covered all the bases and may find something after the publication that may prove embarassing such as Ellis did in his biography of Thomas Jefferson.

We discussed his AMERICAN SPHINX here some years ago.  Most of the authors had stories to tell, none quite as bad as the above.

The risks of being a nonfiction author.

Frances Perkins was a risk taker don't you think?

I'm wondering why she didn't run for political office?  There were a few women in elective office during those years I believe.

Can you think of any?

[Ella Gibbons]

No, I don't believe there were!!!  I've done a bit of searching on the Internet for women in political office - NOTHING!

http://www.enotes.com/feminism-literature/women-early-mid-20th-century-1900-1960

Madeline Albright is mentioned.  Remember her!  We discussed her book, I believe.  She was appointed Secretary of State, later Condoleeza Wright would take her place.

So Frances Perkins was a remarkable presence in Washington; although not elected to office, she was a force in politics and an early role model for those to come.