Dear Miss Perkins with Rebecca Brenner Graham

Here's Where It Gets Interesting

Sharon McMahon

Government, History, Storytelling, Education

4.9 • 15.1K Ratings

🗓️ 13 January 2025

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

She was the first female cabinet secretary, but secretly, out of the spotlight, Frances Perkins also saved countless lives during World War II. Author Rebecca Brenner Graham shares incredible stories from her new book, Dear Miss Perkins, which showcases the letters of people who wrote to Perkins, desperate for her help to escape Nazi Germany. As the longest-serving Labor Secretary, Perkins stared down personal attacks and fierce opposition to do what she knew was right: making quick decisions that would protect those at a time when many turned their backs. Credits: Host and Executive Producer: Sharon McMahon Supervising Producer: Melanie Buck Parks Audio Producer: Craig Thompson To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, friends. Welcome, delighted to have you with me. My guest is Rebecca Brenner Graham, who has
0:09.8	written a delightful book called Dear Miss Perkins. And it is a story of Frances Perkins, an American you
0:17.3	absolutely should know, and some of her important efforts that she
0:22.0	undertook during World War II. So let's dive in. I'm Sharon McMahon. And here's
0:29.0	where it gets interesting. Rebecca, thank you so much for being here. I have been
0:34.2	anxiously anticipating this book. So I'm so happy that we were able to make time to do
0:40.3	this today. Thank you so much for having me. And as a longtime listener, I'm extra excited to be here.
0:45.6	First of all, I need to tell the listeners why I was excited about it. And then I want to ask you some
0:50.7	questions about this book. Francis Perkins is such an interesting historic figure
0:56.3	that most Americans know nothing about. Has that been your experience that people are like,
1:01.9	Francis Perkins, who? I loved sitting near the Francis Perkins portrait in the National Portrait
1:07.8	in downtown Washington, D.C. while I was writing and listening to what people said about her.
1:13.9	One of my favorite examples actually made it into the first page of the last full chapter because I was just sitting there and this person says,
1:26.2	I know who she is. Isn't she the handkerchief lady? Yes, triangle shirtway
1:31.3	spire. See, I know my stuff. And that was an informed person. That was a person who felt like
1:39.3	they were informed at least. It was a stranger that I was listening to their conversation,
1:43.4	but there was a lot going on in that short quip. And I love asking people when was the first time you heard of her. A common answer is watching the movie Dirty Dancing because the character Baby is named after Francis Perkins.
1:57.9	Yeah, I didn't know that. I would not have made that connection. Tell me a little bit
2:01.5	more about before we get into Francis Perkins, who she was and what she did. What about this topic
2:08.2	beckoned you? Because honestly, like, you could have written about anything, right? What about this topic
2:13.4	where you're like, but I need to devote years of my life to writing a book about this woman.
2:20.6	My entry point to Francis Perkins was over a decade ago when I was a senior at Mount Holyoke College.
	...

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