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Julia Lathrop

1912 - Congress created the Children’s Bureau under the Department of Labor. Jane Addams presuaded President William Howard Taft to appoint Julia Lathrop to head the new agency. Lathrop is the first woman to head a federal agency. 

1914 - The Children’s Bureau discovered that infant mortality was related to unsanitary conditions, lack of health care, and poverty. The Bureau started an education campaign to teach women about prenatal care and baby and child care.

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