A Proclamation on the Establishment of the Frances Perkins National Monument | The White House

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

62% : IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand thissixteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-four, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-ninth.
60% : When President Roosevelt formally asked Perkins to join his Cabinet as Secretary of Labor, she responded by saying that if she accepted the position, she intended to execute an ambitious plan of action that included establishing maximum hours and minimum wages, ending child labor, developing unemployment relief through public works, providing unemployment insurance, and creating an old-age pension and a national health insurance program.
59% : The Secretary of the Interior shall manage the monument through the National Park Service, pursuant to applicable legal authorities and consistent with the purposes and provisions of this proclamation.
57% : The list of accomplishments detailed in her letter encompasses many programs and laws that continue to undergird the Nation's economy and social safety net, including establishing Social Security and contributing to the development of the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act.
54% : As Secretary of Labor, Perkins often supported the rights of workers to organize unions and to negotiate with employers through collective action, laying the foundation for the rebirth of American labor -- including through helping write recovery legislation that provided a right to collective bargaining and laid the groundwork for the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 (also known as the Wagner Act).
52% : Historians have also noted that, because of deep racial inequities and injustices of the time -- including segregation -- the benefits of the New Deal were not available to all Americans initially.
51% : The management plan shall ensure that the monument fulfills the following purposes for the benefit of present and future generations: (1) to preserve the historic objects and other resources within the boundaries of the monument, and (2) to interpret in its entirety the story of Frances Perkins and the history of the New Deal, including the impact Perkins had as the first woman Cabinet Secretary; the complexities of Perkins as an individual and of her ideas, perspectives, and views; and her role in advancing hallmark labor, economic, and social reform within the historical and political context of the early-to-mid 20th century.
50% : Perkins later cited that tragic day as the impetus for policies that would become central to the New Deal.Perkins' subsequent work at the New York Factory Investigating Commission, where she investigated and advocated for worker health and safety reforms, led to 33 new State laws that improved worker safety, workplace sanitation, and working conditions; provided workers' compensation; and placed limits on child labor.
49% : WHEREAS, section 320301 of title 54, United States Code (the "Antiquities Act"), authorizes the President, in the President's discretion, to declare by public proclamation historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest that are situated on land owned or controlled by the Federal Government to be national monuments, and to reserve as a part thereof parcels of land, the limits of which shall be confined to the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected; andWHEREAS, the Perkins Homestead was designated a National Historic Landmark on August 25, 2014, establishing its national significance as the ancestral home and lifelong summer residence of Frances Perkins, the first woman to serve as a Cabinet Secretary and one of our Nation's most influential and effective public servants whose legacy includes the historic New Deal; andWHEREAS, the Frances Perkins Center has been managing and preserving the approximately 57-acre Perkins Homestead, including the objects identified above and additional archives and collections illustrating the historic value of this site, and has expressed support for inclusion of the Perkins Homestead in the National Park System; andWHEREAS, the Frances Perkins Center has donated to the Federal Government for the purpose of establishing a unit of the National Park System fee interest in the core area comprising approximately 2.3 acres of land in Newcastle, Maine, which includes several historic objects associated with the Perkins Homestead and Perkins' life located on this site, including the brick house, the connected barn, and portions of the stone wall; andWHEREAS, in support of the establishment of a national monument to be administered by the National Park Service, the Frances Perkins Center has also indicated its intent to develop a partnership with the National Park Service to help manage, oversee, interpret, maintain, and protect the Perkins Homestead (including the core area) and the historic objects it contains as appropriate; andWHEREAS, the Frances Perkins Center has indicated an interest in donating a majority of the remaining approximately 54.7 acres of the 57-acre Perkins Homestead to the Federal Government in the future; andWHEREAS, the designation of a national monument to be administered by the National Park Service would recognize the historic significance of Frances Perkins and her role in the New Deal, particularly her contributions to social welfare, safe working conditions, and protection of workers' health and well-being, and would provide a national platform for preserving and interpreting this important history; andWHEREAS, I find that all the objects identified above, and objects of the type identified above within the area described herein, are objects of historic interest in need of protection under section 320301 of title 54, United States Code, regardless of whether they are expressly identified as objects of historic interest in the text of this proclamation; andWHEREAS, I find that the boundaries of the monument reserved by this proclamation represent the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects of historic interest identified above, as required by the Antiquities Act; andWHEREAS, it is in the public interest to preserve and protect the objects of historic interest associated with the Perkins Homestead in Maine;NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, by the authority vested in me by section 320301 of title 54, United States Code, hereby proclaim the objects identified above that are situated on lands and interests in lands owned or controlled by the Federal Government to be part of the Frances Perkins National Monument (monument) and, for the purpose of protecting those objects, reserve as part thereof all lands and interests in lands owned or controlled by the Government of the United States within the boundaries described on the accompanying map, which is attached to and forms a part of this proclamation.
47% : She used her post not only to advance labor protections in national policy, but also to call personally for workers' fair treatment and access to the halls of power.

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