Maine leaders seek national monument for home of Frances Perkins, 1st woman Cabinet member

NEWCASTLE, Maine (AP) — Maine wants to do more to honor America’s first female presidential Cabinet member. State leaders asked President Joe Biden on Thursday to transform the home of Frances Perkins, who was labor secretary to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, into a National Monument, operated and staffed by the National Park Service. Her homestead in Newcastle, Maine, is already a National Historic Landmark. Perkins helped shape Roosevelt’s New Deal, advocating for Social Security, a 40-hour work week and the minimum wage. Congresswoman Chellie Pingree calls her “the mother of the modern labor movement, and a pioneering advocate for social justice, economic security, and workers’ rights.”