Dear Miss Perkins: A Story of Frances Perkinss Efforts to Aid Refugees from Nazi Germany

In 2024, President Biden designated a national monument in honor of Frances Perkins. Who? The first woman to serve as a Cabinet secretary, she led FDR’s Department of Labor and successfully advocated for unemployment insurance, the 40-hour work week, minimum wage, Social Security, and more. At that time, Labor also oversaw the Immigration Bureau (later moved to the Justice Department).

Although choppy, this book takes the history of immigration policy as its larger canvas while highlighting Perkins’ efforts to bring Jews out of Nazi Germany to safety in the U.S. It was an uphill battle: Depression-era people were leery of immigrants who might take scarce jobs or be a burden on taxpayers. There were strong anti-Semitic and anti-immigrant forces as well as national quotas, and it took a great deal of political acumen to arrange safe passage for 600 Jewish children, a handful at a time.
Miss Perkins is a fascinating figure, and the biography provides plenty of historical context for her work and the reactions she received, including hate mail and a serious effort at impeachment. Access to her letters and notes gives us rare glimpses of this national heroine’s inner thoughts.