NEWCASTLE, Maine — Maine leaders want to honor Frances Perkins — the first woman to serve in a presidential Cabinet-level position and a driving force behind the New Deal — by encouraging the president to make her home a national monument.
Perkins served as labor secretary under President Franklin D. Roosevelt and played a key role in shaping his programs that helped Americans recover from the Great Depression, including advocating for Social Security, a 40-hour work week and the minimum wage. She died in 1965.
“She was a trailblazer, the first female presidential Cabinet member, the mother of the modern labor movement, and a pioneering advocate for social justice, economic security, and workers’ rights,” Democratic Rep. Chellie Pingree said.
The initiative announced by a group of leaders on Thursday came months after President Joe Biden signed an executive order bolstering the National Park Service’s recognition of women’s history. The order directed the Department of the Interior to do more to recognize and honor the contributions of women in the U.S.
The home where Perkins lived in Newcastle, Maine, is already designated as the Frances Perkins Homestead National Historic Landmark and the 57-acre (23-hectare) property along the Damariscotta River is run by a nonprofit.
The proposal asks the president to use his executive authority to elevate the property to a national monument, meaning it would be operated and staffed by the National Park Service. The nonprofit Frances Perkins Center would donate the 1887 brick house, barn and adjacent property, while retaining the surrounding woods and fields as the site of a privately constructed education center.
“President Biden has an extraordinary opportunity to create a national park site that will honor her life, and will help carry her work forward so future generations can better appreciate how this remarkable woman helped shape our nation,” said Kristen Brengel, from the National Parks Conservation Association.
Other supporters of the proposal include Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, independent Sen. Angus King and Republican former Sen. Olympia Snowe, along with Maine Senate President Troy Jackson, Maine House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross, Maine Labor Commissioner Laura Fortman, UMaine President Jacqueline Edmondson and University of Maine System Chair Trish Riley.