Great Depression

Credited with inventing the family sitcom, a successful, decade-spanning career in television and radio, author of over 10,000 scripts, and a mother on-screen and off, Gertrude Berg is "the most famous woman in America you've never heard of."

1935 was an interesting year, to say the least. Capitalism, the industrialization of the labor market, and, most importantly, the Great Depression, had combined to create a perfect storm that left American workers and their families facing unprecedented hardships with little help from the government to overcome them. President Roosevelt faced the gargantuan task of coming up with solutions to these problems, and to help him he appointed the first-ever female cabinet member, Secretary of Labor and mother of the American welfare state Frances Perkins.  Thanks to her, that year also got to see the passage of the Social Security Act.