"Becoming Madam Secretary" by Stephanie Dray

Frances Perkins is one of those figures in history that you need to know more about. Helping in that regard is the latest book from Stephanie Dray, a historical novel called Becoming Madam President.Published in March 2024, Becoming is the 10th work of historical fiction for Dray who likes to write about revolutionary women, both those involved in the American Revolution and, as in Perkins' case, women whose work was revolutionary.Perhaps best known as the Secretary of Labor in Franklin D. Roosevelt's cabinet, a position she held for 12 years, Perkins is credited with helping FDR create Social Security. As the first woman to serve in a presidential cabinet, Perkins drafted the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, a bill that banned child labor, established a minimum wage and brought about the 40-hour week.Dray, who started her research for the book in 2020, said that Perkins credited her grandmother, Cynthia Otis Perkins, with setting her on a course to help others. “The people are what matter to government, and a government should aim to give all the people under its jurisdiction the best possible life," said Frances Perkins, often seen as the driving force in the New Deal.Dray refers to Perkins as the most consequential cabinet member since Alexander Hamilton. Ironically, Dray related that when Perkins and FDR first worked together in New York, the pair didn't see eye to eye. “They loathed each other when they first met. She thought he was just a spoiled rotten arrogant jerk. He thought she was a stuffy insufferable blue stocking," Dray said in an interview with Spectrum News.Perkins, who played such a big role in pushing for worker safety, was at the scene of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911, a horrific fire in New York City that took 146 lives, most of them young women employed as garment workers. Doors had been locked at the factory as a precaution against the threat of theft, said Dray. Perkins was at a meeting nearby when the fire broke out. "She knew the source because she knew of problems (for workers) that existed there," said Dray. Perkins was witness to the scene of many workers who leapt from the building to their death trying to escape the fire, she said.Perkins handled her government job with distinction, but what many don't know is that her husband, Paul Wilson, a fellow reformer, suffered from serious mental illness, said Dray. "There's a picture of the signing of the Social Security Act in 1935 with Perkins looking over Roosevelt's shoulder right into the camera. The day that photo was taken, she had to leave to look for her husband who had just escaped from an asylum," Dray said.While acknowledging many marvelous biographies of Frances Perkins, Dray said that the historical novel allowed her to share more of Perkins as a person--not just a government official. Novelists can go where historians rightfully fear to tread, she said.