FDR's New Deal programs often contained equal opportunity clauses stating "no discrimination shall be made on account of race, color or creed",:11 but the true forerunner to affirmative action was the <answer>Interior Secretary</answer> of the time, Harold L. Ickes. Ickes prohibited discrimination in hiring for Public Works Administration funded projects and oversaw not only the institution of a quota system, where contractors were required to employ a fixed percentage of Black workers, by Robert C. Weaver and Clark Foreman,:12 but also the equal pay of women proposed by Harry Hopkins.:14FDR's largest contribution to affirmative action, however, lay in his Executive Order 8802 which prohibited discrimination in the defense industry or government.:22 The executive order promoted the idea that if taxpayer funds were accepted through a government contract, then all taxpayers should have an equal opportunity to work through the contractor.:23–4 To enforce this idea, Roosevelt created the Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC) with the power to investigate hiring practices by government contractors.:22
What position of power did Harold L. Ickes hold?
Interior Secretary