HERSTORY
On This Day: Frances Perkins becomes 1st female Cabinet member
On March 4, 1933, Frances Perkins was sworn in as U.S. labor secretary, becoming the first female member of the Cabinet.

By UPI Staff


President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Social Security Act into law at the White House on August 14, 1935. On March 4, 1933, Frances Perkins, standing behind FDR, was sworn in as U.S. labor secretary, becoming the first female member of the Cabinet. File photo by ACME Newspictures

March 4 (UPI) -- On this date in HERSTORY

In 1917, Jeanette Rankin, a Montana Republican, was sworn in as a member of the House of Representatives. She was the first woman to serve in Congress.

In 2005, homemaking guru Martha Stewart returned home after serving five months in a federal prison for conspiracy, obstruction of an agency proceeding and making false statements to federal investigators.

THE REST OF TODAY'S HISTORY

THE ATOMIC AGE AND THE SPACE AGE OVERLAP
In 1958, the U.S. atomic submarine Nautilus reached the North Pole by passing beneath the Arctic ice cap. It would become the first submarine to pass underneath the North Pole later that year.

BLASPHEMY
In 1966, John Lennon told Britain's Evening Standard that the Beatles were "more popular than Jesus." The comments sparked condemnation and protests the following summer.

UPI File Photo

IRAN CONTRA
In 1987, U.S. President Ronald Reagan acknowledged his administration swapped arms to Iran for U.S. hostages and said, "It was a mistake."

BLACK LIVES MATTER 

In 2015, a report released by the Department of Justice found that the Ferguson Police Department routinely performed "suspicionless, legally unsupportable stops" against the African-American residents of the Missouri city.