In 1961, Paterson met with trade union women, including Dollie Robinson and Kitty Ellickson, and began to draft a proposal for the PCSW. Peterson sent the proposal to secretary Arthur Goldberg, who wrote to Kennedy using language from Ellickson's draft. This ultimately led to President Kennedy signing Executive Order 10980 which established the PCSW on December 14, 1961. When PCSW began in 1961, Congress began considering 412 pieces of legislation related to women's status. The PCSW's very existence gave the federal government an incentive to again consider women's rights and roles as being a serious issue worthy of political debate and public policy-making. The Kennedy administration itself publicly positioned the PCSW as a Cold War era initiative to free up women's talents for national security purposes. To win the global challenge against the Soviet Union, America needed the talents of all its citizens. Discrimination against women could mean that they were barred from important positions that they could fill. Eleanor Roosevelt, widow of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, was appointed to chair the PCSW. Roosevelt chaired the PCSW until her death in 1962. No replacement was appointed, but Esther Peterson, the Executive Vice-Chair of the Commission, ran the commission until its conclusion. PCSW members PCSW Commission and committee members came from professional organizations, trade unions, and religious groups, as well as presidents of colleges and the Secretaries of all the relevant executive branch agencies. An effort was made to diversify membership, although most were white. Several men served on the various committees. Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, Chair Dr. Richard A. Lester, President of Economics, Princeton University, Vice Chair Mrs. Esther Peterson, Assistant Secretary of Labor, Executive Vice Chair Robert F. Kennedy, Attorney General Orville L. Freeman, Secretary of Agriculture Luther H. Hodges, Secretary of Commerce Arthur J. Goldberg, Secretary of Labor Abraham A. Ribicoff, Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare John W. Macy Jr., Chair, United States Civil Service Commission Senator George D. Aiken (R-Vermont) Senator Maurine B. Neuberger (D-Oregon) Representative Edith Green (D-Oregon) Representative Jessica M. Weis (R-New York) Mrs. Ellen Body, Rancher and civic leader, Henrietta, Texas Dr. Mary I. Bunting, President, Radcliffe College Mrs. Mary R. Callahan, Member, Executive Board, International Union of Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers, AFL–CIO Dr. Henry David, President, New School for Social Research Miss Dorothy Height, President, National Council of Negro Women; Director, Leadership Training Services, Young Women's Christian Association Mrs. Margaret Hickey, lawyer,