Juanita M. Kreps
Juanita M. Kreps | |
---|---|
24th United States Secretary of Commerce | |
In office January 23, 1977 – October 31, 1979 | |
President | Jimmy Carter |
Preceded by | Elliot Richardson |
Succeeded by | Philip Klutznick |
Personal details | |
Born | Clara Juanita Morris January 11, 1921 Lynch, Kentucky, U.S. |
Died | July 5, 2010 Durham, North Carolina, U.S. | (aged 89)
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse | Clifton Kreps |
Children | 3 |
Education | Berea College (BA) Duke University (MA, PhD) |
Clara Juanita Morris Kreps (January 11, 1921 – July 5, 2010)
Early life and career
Kreps was born Clara Juanita Morris
On August 11, 1944, she married Clifton Holland Kreps Jr., a former professor at the University of North Carolina. They had two daughters and one son.[5]
Kreps was awarded the 1976 North Carolina Award for public service and 20 honorary degrees.[6] She sat on the board of 10 major corporations.[5] A collection of Kreps' papers is housed at the Rubenstein Library at the Duke University.[7]
Political advisor
Kreps died on July 5, 2010, in Durham, North Carolina, from complications of Alzheimer's disease at the age of 89.[9] She was buried at the Chapel of the Cross Episcopal Churchyard in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Family background
Living in Harlan County, Kreps was raised in a part of Kentucky known for its coal mining industry.[10] Coming from a family of mostly farmers on her mother's side which continued through her mother's adulthood, Kreps' father was initially an accountant for the coal mining business, later he moved up to be the manager of a small, independent coal mine. When Kreps was young her parents divorced. Her father lived close by to lessen the impact of divorced parents. Kreps had five siblings: one older sister and four brothers.[10] Though her mother continued farming through her adulthood, her father sent monthly alimony payments to help Kreps and her siblings survive.
Education
Around age twelve, Kreps was sent to boarding school at the now defunct
Kreps attended Berea College in the late 1930s into the 1940s and Kreps noted that the national atmosphere had changed. Her college days were driven by equality motivated philosophies and the idea that gender and race did not divide anyone intellectually.[10] At Berea, Kreps worked as a dishwasher, a college hospital receptionist, a theater department costume designer and finally as an aide to one of the top Economics professors in the department as a paper grader. Through her connections with Rector Hardin, a professor who had received a Ph.D. from Duke himself, Kreps was able to attend graduate school at Duke University. One of her mentors at Duke was Frank Deviyver.[10] Over the years as student, Kreps helped edit his book and she wrote her dissertation under Deviyver's supervision. Kreps attributed her ability to continue her education with less discrimination during her college years because she was not a man. At the time, men were being drafted for war and women were not, which Kreps noted made it more possible for her to teach almost directly after graduating seeing as no men were around to tell her not to. Teaching at this time, Kreps realized most of her students were women with some men scattered here and there.[10]
First meeting her husband in Atlanta while working with the National War Labor Board in 1943,[11] she later reconnected with him while he was also doing his Ph.D. at Duke University. That summer, Kreps and her husband worked as wage analysts who were in charge of trying to stop inflation and ensure that wage increases were not increasing too rapidly.[10]
Marital teaching career
During the mid-1940s, Kreps and her husband had faced many obstacles in terms of managing to match up with their appointments. Both of them managed to get teaching jobs in Ohio but at two different colleges. Their relationship consisted of seeing each other very sparsely and when Kreps' husband got offered a position in California at Pomona College in 1950, Kreps used this time to herself to finish her dissertation.[10] Eventually the two returned to Ohio for a few years until her husband was offered a position with the Federal Reserve Bank in New York in the mid-1950s and at this point in their life is when children became Kreps' main focus.
Working mother in the 1950s
During her time as a child bearer, Kreps never maintained a full-time position. During the 1950s, Kreps believed it would be too difficult to juggle the responsibilities of motherhood on top of being part of the full-time labor force.[10] With her time away from full-time appointments, Kreps managed to edit a few books but other than that was very distant from the work force. Kreps' husband eventually left his position in New York to pursue a position at the University of North Carolina. Knowing that her family was being moved to Chapel Hill, Duke University reached out and offered Kreps a job teaching a few classes. As her children got older, Kreps started to take on more and more responsibility as a professor with Duke and gained entry back into the world of full-time appointment.
As a mother, Kreps was satisfied and grateful for her time away from the workforce. However, as a woman, she did note that her six to eight years away for reproductive leave did stifle her in terms of achievement in comparison to other women around her age. She appreciated the time she got to write while being home for those years.[10]
Feminist Movement supporter
As an early advocate of the feminist movement, Kreps attended events and publicly supported equal opportunity employment on numerous occasions. Through teaching, Kreps was able to try and instill more than just the life of a homemaker and teach all her students that women were entitled to a fulfilling occupation just as much as men were.[10]
Kreps' appointment to
While working at Duke University, Kreps was promoted to dean of the Women's College. In her time working there, she noticed that after a while the college was faced with too much pressure to combine with the rest of the campus and that women were not particularly inclined to enjoy how segregated from the rest of their own campus they were. At first, Kreps was very cautious of the position since she could visibly see how much more progressive women on the campus were becoming.[10] Though the college did want a new dean, Kreps was very much aware her administration would be marked by the integration of the Woman's College into the whole of campus and that her position of leadership at the college would be one of short standing.
Eventually, Kreps resigned from her position as dean in 1972.
Woman of firsts
In addition to being the first female
Cabinet appointment
Before her appointment in the Carter administration, Kreps had never worked in a government position. During her appointment, Kreps faced numerous issues in terms of adjusting to a government level occupation. Kreps faced budgeting issues and struggled to work with other Cabinet members who did not take her seriously since she was a woman. She also had to manage a good relationship with Congress which was nearly all male. Kreps still felt close to Carter regardless and enjoyed a friendly relationship with the president.
Kreps' time as a cabinet member was considered different not only because she was a woman but also because no economist had ever before held her cabinet position.
Kreps worked heavily on trade issues during her appointment. One of her biggest accomplishments as a cabinet member was noted as the trade agreement with
Policy
Kreps wrote a report in 1976 called "Social Security in the Coming Decade: Questions for a Mature System".[13] The report examined Social Security as a whole and its feasibility. The report began with a quote that Kreps herself agreed with in regard to Social Security policies: "There is really no way to support retired Americans comfortably and affordably."[13] The conclusion of the report found that increased interest in where Social Security is going by the general public is what will keep retirement benefits alive. The people must stay invested in knowing where funding for Social Security is coming from and staying vigilant of the amount of new people reaching retirement eligibility each year to ensure a working system.
During her time as
Cultural depiction
Kreps is played by
See also
References
- ^ a b "[UPDATED] Juanita Kreps, former Duke Professor, U.S. Secretary, Dies". Archived from the original on 2010-07-26. Retrieved 2010-07-07.
- ^ "Juanita M. Kreps dies at 89; first female secretary of Commerce". Los Angeles Times. July 8, 2010. Retrieved July 9, 2010.
- ^ Morris, Clara Juanita (16 February 2018). "The wage stabilization policies of the National war labor board, January, 1942- January, 1944" – via Open WorldCat.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-02-14.
- ^ a b "Juanita M. Kreps". www.nndb.com.
- ^ NC SPIN Online Archived 2007-04-16 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Juanita Morris Kreps Papers, 1921-2001 and undated". Rubenstein Library, Duke University. Archived from the original on 2014-02-20.
- ^ Martin, Douglas. "Anne Wexler, an Influential Political Operative and Lobbyist, Is Dead at 79", The New York Times, August 8, 2009. Accessed August 8, 2009.
- ^ McFadden, Robert D. (7 July 2010). "Juanita M. Kreps, Commerce Secretary, Dies at 89". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 July 2010.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s "UNC Interview". UNC Chapel Hill. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
- ^ a b c "Juanita Morris Kreps". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
- ^ a b c "No Napping for Her". Boards at their Best. 7 July 2010. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
- ^ PMID 1023428. Retrieved 2 April 2018.