Interviews

Rebecca Brenner Graham

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.

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Host: Sharon McMahon
Supervising Producer: Melanie Buck Parks
Executive Producer: Sharon McMahon
Audio Producer: Craig Thompson

Host: Sharon McMahon
Supervising Producer: Melanie Buck Parks
Executive Producer: Sharon McMahon
Audio Producer: Craig Thompson

Guests

Rebecca Brenner Graham

Rebecca Brenner Graham is author of Dear Miss Perkins: A Story of Frances Perkins’s Efforts to Aid Refugees from Nazi Germany (Kensington, 2025).

Rebecca is a postdoctoral research associate at Brown University. Previously, she taught at the Madeira School and American University.

She has a PhD in history and MA in public history from American University and a BA in history and philosophy from Mount Holyoke College. In 2023, she was awarded a Cokie Roberts Fellowship (https://www.archives.gov/news/articles/cokie-roberts-fellow-graham) from the National Archives Foundation and a Rubenstein Center Research Fellowship from the White House Historical Association.

Her writing has been published in the Washington Post, Time, Slate, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and elsewhere.