Mary Norton—then second-ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Labor—posed with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and Ishbel MacDonald, daughter of British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald. These dignified guests were visiting the House to hear Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins—the first woman cabinet member—testify before Norton’s committee. Mrs. Roosevelt was the first President’s wife to attend a congressional hearing. This combination of firsts and prominent people drew a huge crowd, as well as press attention. According to the Chicago Daily Tribune, the hearing was moved to “the large caucus room” where “even then people jammed the aisles.”
