OH&S Interviews Author Kirstin Downey
A new book offers a revealing portrait of the most influential U.S. Labor secretary in history, Frances Perkins, and how she shaped the major labor and workplace safety laws enacted during the early years of Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency.
A new book offers a revealing portrait of the most influential U.S. Labor secretary in history, Frances Perkins, and how she shaped the major labor and workplace safety laws enacted during the early years of Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency. The Woman Behind the New Deal: The Life of Frances Perkins, FDR's Secretary of Labor and His Moral Conscience (Nan A. Talese/Doubleday 2009) has gone into its fourth printing.
Click here for a podcast of author Kirstin Downey's interview with OH&S Editor Jerry Laws, a link to her Web site, and information about some of her appearances as she promotes the book.
There are clear parallels between the challenges Perkins and FDR faced as the Depression took hold and today's economic challenges, Downey says as she discusses the origins of Perkins' concern for working people and the goal she and the president pursued as they enacted the 40-hour work week, child labor laws, and other key reforms.