MHC Forward: Updates From Leadership Webinar - January 28, 2025
Listen to Mount Holyoke President Danielle R. Holley and Vice President for Finance and Administration and Treasurer Carl M. Ries discuss the bold strides that the College is making and the plans that are emerging for our beloved campus.
The recording is available on THE GATES, Mount Holyoke’s community connections platform. If you have not already joined, sign up today. To access the recording on THE GATES, go to the “Resources” menu, then click on the “Webinars” menu.
https://thegates.mtholyoke.edu/hub/mountholyoke/resources/post/mhc-forward-updates-from-leadership
Frances Perkins,
MHC Class of 1902
President Biden Designates Frances Perkins Homestead as New National Monument
12/16/24 Heather Cox Richardson:
Today, President Joe Biden designated a new national monument in honor of Frances Perkins, secretary of labor under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The first female Cabinet secretary, Perkins served for twelve years. She took the job only after getting FDR to sign on to her goals: /unemployment insurance, health insurance, old-age insurance, a 40-hour work week, a minimum wage, and abolition of child labor. She later recalled: “I remember he looked so startled, and he said, ‘Well, do you think it can be done?’” She promised to find out.
Once in office, Perkins was a driving force behind the administration’s massive investment in public works projects to get people back to work. She urged the government to spend $3.3 billion on schools, roads, housing, and post offices. Those projects employed more than a million people in 1934.
In 1935, FDR signed into law the Social Security Act that she designed and negotiated, providing ordinary Americans with unemployment insurance; aid to homeless, dependent, and neglected children; funds to promote maternal and child welfare; and public health services.
In 1938, Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act, which established a minimum wage and maximum hours. It banned child labor.
The one area where Perkins fell short of her goals was in establishing public healthcare. It was not until 2010 that President Barack Obama signed into law the Affordable Care Act.
Heather Cox Richardson continued: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/december-16-2024
12/16/24 National Parks Conservation Association Press Release (excerpt):
Frances Perkins was a trailblazing woman and pioneering advocate for social justice, economic security, and labor rights. Perkins was the first woman to serve in a presidential cabinet as Secretary of Labor under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, becoming one of President Roosevelt’s closest and most highly regarded advisors. She fought for working people and served as a driving force behind the New Deal, helping to lift Americans out of the Great Depression.
The new Frances Perkins National Monument will be managed by the National Park Service. The designation comes after a successful grassroots campaign led by the nonprofit Frances Perkins Center and the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), urging the president to honor Frances Perkins’ legacy with a national monument.
