Perkins, Frances (orig. Fannie Coralie Perkins)

1882 – She was born on the 10th of April this year in Boston, Massachusetts.

1902 - She attended the Ferry Hall School in Illinois before graduating from Mount Holyoke College.

1910 - She came to statewide prominence as head of the New York Consumers League, in which position she lobbied with vigor for better working hours and conditions.

1913 – She married Paul Caldwell Wilson. She kept her maiden name, defending in court her right to do so.

1918 – She accepted Governor Al Smith's offer to join the New York State Industrial Commission, becoming its first female member.

1926 - She became chairperson of the commission this year.

1929 – She was appointed as the state's industrial commissioner.

1933 – She was appointed by Roosevelt as Secretary of the Department of Labor, a position she held for twelve years, longer than any other Secretary of Labor and making her the first woman to hold a cabinet position in the United States (thus becoming the first woman to enter the presidential line of succession).

1934 – Her most important contribution came in as chairperson of the President's Committee on Economic Security.

1935 – She was involved in all aspects of the reports and hearings that ultimately resulted in the Social Security Act of this year.

1939 - She came under fire from some members of Congress for refusing to deport the communist head of the west coast International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Harry Bridges.

1945 - She was asked by President Harry Truman to serve on the United States Civil Service Commission, which she did until 1952, when her husband died and she resigned from federal service.

1946 – She published a detailed memoir of her years working with Franklin Roosevelt, called "The Roosevelt I Knew." The book is clearly biased in favor of a president she called a friend; but it is also a subtle character study and is frequently recommended by scholars.

1965 – She died on the 14th day of May this year in New York.