Kirstin Downey, a 2001 Nieman Fellow, recently spoke with NPR’s Jacki Lyden on “All Things Considered” about her new biography, “The Woman Behind the New Deal: The Life of Francis Perkins: FDR’s Secretary of Labor and His Moral Conscience.” Perkins was the first woman named to a U.S. president’s Cabinet and as FDR’s Secretary of Labor, she worked to establish Social Security.

Listen to the interview