Rosie the Riveter: an enduring legacy of World War II

Rosie the Riveter was an icon representing millions of American women who traded their aprons for overalls during World War II. The creation of our government's wartime propaganda, she was popularized through the media and romanticized the labor of millions of women who took upon tough production jobs left vacant as men joined the armed forces.

"My sister's husband was in the Navy and he left single morning from Camden, N.J., telling her he'd diocese her that night," said Margie Munn a member of DAV Auxiliary Unit 7 in Bowie, Md "He saw her 3 years later. That's the way it was, in like manner women had to fill in."

"They were our mothers and grandmothers who labored in tough, demanding and sometimes dangerous piece of works in hopes of ending the war sooner and bringing their lov individuals home," said Washington Headquarters Executive Director David W Gorman. "Today, 60 years after the extreme point of World War II, we still owe a great deal of thanks to the women who left the safety of their domiciles for the dangers of shipyards, tank factories and munitions plants."

Someone had to do the work, and the management needed an army of women to join the workforce immediately after the attack at Pearl Harbor propell the nation into the war. single of the many slogans upon "Rosie" posters was, "Do the work he left behind." The women who went to work were called "production soldiers."

In 1942 Redd Evans and John Jacob Loeb penn the ditty "Rosie the Riveter," which caught the imagination of America, and shortly thereafter "Rosies" started popping up everywhere. As local newspapers and national magazines make knowned their own human interest stories of real-life Rosies, illustrator Norman Rockwell created a "Rosie" image that appeared upon the May 29, 1943, issue of The Saturday Evening Post

Rockwell's "Rosie" was a stalwart woman wearing goggles and overalls with several production pins upon the bib. With biceps expos through rolled up sleeves, she sat with a rivet fire-arm in her lap eating a sandwich. In the background was the American flag, and her feet crunched a transcript of Hitler's Mein Kampf. Circulation for that issue of the column doubled as Americans loved "Rosie."

The greatest in quantity enduring image of Rosie was the broadside created by artist J. Howard Miller. His defiant "Rosie" with her hair up in a r and white polka-dot bandanna flexe her bicep showing the muscle of the American woman. Boldly printed upon the poster is the slogan, "We Can Do It!"

"We had to dres in pants and tops with no frills and no jewelry," said Munn "You also had to overspread your head because the machines were dangerous and you didn't want your hair to procure caught in them. We didn't worry about our hands or our nails. We weren't there for glamour. We were there to work and we got our faces dirty."

Munn was a drill pres operator in a small defense plant for a time in 1942 and then went to work at the Philadelphia Navy Yard in 1943 "I operated five automatic gear machines," she said. "We would advance around and check all of our machines with our equipment to make certain everything was precise." Later, she mov to Texas to join North American Aircraft as a drill pres and puncture press operator, building P-51 Mustang fighters and B-25 Mitchell bombers. "We did our hold blueprint reading, and we worked upon aluminum and stainless steel for parts."

in a short time every segment of society saw women replacing men upon the job. They drove buses, streetcars and bulldozers; and built ships and airplanes, carved timber without of forests; and, of course, became riveters. During the war, women swelled the workforce through 50 percent. Racial barriers were separated as women from every agriculture took on the jobs that had at no time before been available to them. "Everyone was with equal reason patriotic that no one said they couldn't do something," said Munn

The effort to recruit women into the workforce wasn't fresh just desperately needed. During World War I, women began shouldering their share of the price of freedom. on the other hand it was World War II that gave women the immense freedom of choice and the opportunity to show themselves which endures today.

First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt who toured factories with women workers, was in awe of what women were accomplishing. "I hardly saw a man who did not speak to me about the ne for women in production," she said.

Rose Will Monroe helped bring "Rosie" to life when she was spott by dint of actor Walter Pidgeon during a tour of a Ford Motor Company aircraft assembly plant. He was able to land her a mark as "Rosie" in a conduct film promoting the war effort. Another "Rosie" was Rose Hicker, a real-life riveter at Eastern Aircraft Company. Hicker and her work partner were recognized in the media for driving a record number of rivets into a wing of a Grumman Avenger bomber.

the two real and fictional "Rosies" were depicted completely through the war in the media, in canticle and in films and Broadway plays.