Biden to sign proclamation establishing national monument honoring first US female Cabinet secretary
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will sign a proclamation Monday establishing a national monument in honor of the late FDR-era Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins, the first woman appointed to a presidential cabinet and a driving force behind the New Deal, the White House said .
Biden is expected to win the Department of Labor to formally make the announcement and sign the proclamation Monday that will establish the monument in Newcastle, Maine, the White House said.
As Secretary of Labor, Perkins helped President Franklin D. Roosevelt formulate the policies behind the New Deal of the 1930s and create safeguards in the national economy after the Great Depression.
During her twelve years as Roosevelt’s labor secretary, she is credited with helping create the Social Security Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act and the National Labor Relations Act, which established workers’ rights to organize and collectively bargain.
“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 has worked tirelessly to bring it to fruition, and she has set a standard of excellence that stands as a beacon to all of us who serve.”
The proclamation calls for the creation 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 erected on her family’s farm and managed by the National Park Service.
Biden is expected to be joined at the signing by Haaland, acting Labor Secretary Julie Su, other Cabinet members and leaders of the Labor and Women’s Rights Movement.
The proclamation announcing the monument’s creation comes with just over five weeks left in Biden’s presidency and as he seeks to burnish his legacy as a champion of women’s and labor rights.
The White House said Biden will honor Perkins’ legacy in his remarks later Monday. He will also discuss his record over the past four years on labor issues.
Haaland toured Frances Perkins’ homestead in August and met with community leaders to discuss the historic site.
Haaland also announced on Monday five new National Historic Landmarks that recognize women’s history: the Charleston Cigar Factory in Charleston, South Carolina; The Furies Collective, and Lucy Diggs Slowe and Mary Burrill House, both in Washington, DC; Azurest South in Petersburg, Virginia; and the Peter Hurd and Henriette Wyeth House and Studios in San Patricio, New Mexico.