We call it the "Roosevelt Revolution" (I use the term too) but it's technically Perkins' revolution. Underappreciated is her influence over FDR at the start, when he didn't have his policies prioritized yet. (Recall he tried to balance the budget causing the '37-38 recession) 1/x 
1st on Frances Perkins' list where public works. She did think of them as temporary, but as the primary tool for tackling unemployment. 2/x
Perkins studied the UK welfare system, but in Downey's bio, unempl insurance makes an appearance in the conversation w/ FDR (who's trying to convince her to join the team) only after banning child labor, reducing the working week, & establishing a min wage. 3/x
FDR was himself suspicious of relying too heavily on the UI (noting how unpopular the dole was in other countries). This may be why the right to a job was #1 in his Economic Bill of Rights and UI was #5. 4/x
It is well known that Frances Perkins' work was truly transformative, but perhaps not so well known is her original insistence that FDR launch a revitalized public service at the Federal level. 5/x
Unfortunately direct employment programs as unemployment-fighting policy never made it into the permanent policy landscape, like Perkins' other initiatives. 6/x
Indeed Lewis Douglas, FDR's conservative budget director told FDR that public works were so popular that he might never be able to cancel them if he didn't do it soon. He cited budget concerns. FDR agreed. 7/x
The debt/deficit phobia has always been used strategically to cripple essential public policies. And as Kirstin Downey observed in her bio of Francis Perkins
"Labor always comes last."
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8/8
"Labor always comes last."
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8/8
