Frances Perkins: The Woman Behind the New Deal

President Roosevelt > With President Roosevelt

Photograph of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Frances Perkins

Washington, December, 1943

Frances Perkins Papers

Perkins greets the President on his return from the Tehran Conference, held November 28 to December 1, 1943.

Gift of Frances Perkins

 

Frances Perkins

“I thought I ought to give my life to the poor…”

Washington, [1939]

Frances Perkins Papers, Box 51

In these notes beginning “I thought I ought to give my life to the poor,” Perkins thinks through her life objectives, writing “This country had done so much for me – Health – Education – Free religion – Opportunity …”

Gift of Frances Perkins

 

 

Frances Perkins

Proof of “Frances Perkins Explains the New Deal”

New York, Pictorial Review, March 1934

Frances Perkins Papers, Box 47

Writing “‘Depression’ is a word of despair. ‘Recovery’ is a word of hope,” Perkins here states: “The election of the fall of 1932 … was a vote against the depression – a bewildered people … voted overwhelmingly for what they called a ‘New Deal.’ And by that they meant apparently exactly what the term meant in its original card-playing sense in a different arrangement of trumps and aces in different hands.”

Gift of Frances Perkins

Frances Perkins

List of Accomplishments for F.D.R.

Typescript, carbon, signed by Perkins in pencil, Washington, 19 January 1945

Frances Perkins Papers, Box 62

Gift of Frances Perkins

 

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