President Joe Biden will sign a proclamation Monday establishing a national monument honoring the late FDR-era Labor Secretary Frances Perkins, the first woman appointed to serve in a presidential Cabinet and a driving force behind the New Deal.
The White House said Biden is expected to visit the Labor Department on Monday to formally announce the announcement and sign the proclamation establishing the monument in Newcastle, Maine.
As labor secretary, Perkins helped President Franklin D. Roosevelt formulate policies behind the 1930s New Deal and create safeguards in the national economy following the Great Depression.
During her 12 years as Roosevelt’s labor secretary, she was credited with helping establish the Social Security Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, and the National Labor Relations Act, which established workers’ rights to organize and collective bargaining.
“Frances Perkins accepted the position as the first female Cabinet member only after President Franklin D. Roosevelt agreed to support her goals to improve working conditions for all people,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement. “She worked tirelessly to see them to fruition, and she set a standard of excellence that is a beacon for all of us who serve.”
The proclamation calls for the establishment of the national monument in Newcastle, Maine, where Perkins and her family had deep roots and where she was buried after her death in 1965. The monument would be established on her family homestead and managed by the National Park Service.
Biden is expected to be joined by Haaland, acting Labor Secretary Julie Su, other Cabinet members as well as labor and women’s right leaders for the signing.
The proclamation announcing the establishment of the monument comes with just over five weeks left in Biden’s presidency and as he seeks to burnish his legacy as a champion of women and labor rights.
