Clara Juanita Morris Kreps (January 11, 1921 – July 5, 2010)[1] was an American economist, educator and businesswoman who served as the 24th United States secretary of commerce under President Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1979.

A member of the Democratic Party, Kreps was the first woman to hold that post and the fourth female ever to serve in a presidential cabinet (alongside simultaneously appointed HUD Secretary Patricia Roberts Harris).

[10] Though her mother continued farming through her adulthood, her father sent monthly alimony payments to help Kreps and her siblings survive.

However, Kreps' financial situation restricted her from schools with high tuition and made the cheaper options more viable.

[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.

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.

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.

[10] As an early advocate of the feminist movement, Kreps attended events and publicly supported equal opportunity employment on numerous occasions.

People had been publicly questioning how qualified women were to hold cabinet positions and even the president himself was guilty of making assumptions on the topic.

[11] This decision came for many reasons, but one specific one that she cited in her resignation letter was that she did not want to interfere with the progress that the school was making in terms of integrating the Woman's College.

Following this resignation, Kreps returned to teaching Economics and was given the position of Vice President of Duke in 1973 until 1977[11] just a couple years later.

Kreps attributed this to anti-Commerce Department segregation and later on was relieved to find that she disagreed with many of the decisions made by this small group and was thankful for having been overlooked.

By the end, the meetings were inclusive and Kreps was offered virtually unlimited access to Carter, which she saw as good consolation for her peers' oversight.

[10] Kreps wrote a report in 1976 called "Social Security in the Coming Decade: Questions for a Mature System".

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.

During her time as Secretary of Commerce, Kreps brought proposal to the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare which stated that the age for Social Security eligibility must be raised gradually otherwise the benefits will deplete at too quick of a rate.

Her reasoning came from the fact that from her calculations the only way to keep Social Security funds at an adequate level, her solution needed to be implemented over a set course of years.

Though her vision came a little bit early, eventually the government did exactly what Kreps suggested in order to save the sanctity of Social Security.