ABSTRACT
In a telling remark before the House of Representatives in February 2002, Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao extolled the following words spoken by her predecessor some sixty years earlier: “One of the things we have tried to do is to become very realistic about requests for any increases in this coming year’s budget. We know only too well that the great expenditures should be directly on the war effort.” Secretary Chao is a direct beneficiary of the rich legacy of Frances Perkins, the nation’s fourth secretary of labor and most often referred to as the first female member of the cabinet. But Secretary Chao is not alone in this regard.
