1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:08,719 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:15,440 Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, a 3 00:00:15,480 --> 00:00:19,400 Speaker 1: show that proves it's never too late to make history. 4 00:00:20,079 --> 00:00:23,880 Speaker 1: I'm Gabe Lucier, and today we're celebrating the birth of 5 00:00:24,040 --> 00:00:27,600 Speaker 1: Rosie the Riveter, one of the most enduring icons of 6 00:00:27,640 --> 00:00:31,680 Speaker 1: World War II and a versatile symbol of women's independence. 7 00:00:38,040 --> 00:00:43,480 Speaker 1: The day was February fifteenth, nineteen forty three. The now 8 00:00:43,640 --> 00:00:47,320 Speaker 1: famous Rosie the Riveter we Can Do It poster was 9 00:00:47,400 --> 00:00:52,480 Speaker 1: first displayed in Westinghouse factories. Copies of the poster hung 10 00:00:52,520 --> 00:00:55,200 Speaker 1: on the walls for just two weeks, and we're only 11 00:00:55,240 --> 00:00:58,760 Speaker 1: ever seen by the working women inside the factories. But 12 00:00:58,880 --> 00:01:02,600 Speaker 1: thanks to a confluent of circumstances including a hit song, 13 00:01:02,800 --> 00:01:07,240 Speaker 1: a magazine cover, and second wave feminism, the wartime poster 14 00:01:07,480 --> 00:01:11,520 Speaker 1: was rediscovered decades later and given new life as an 15 00:01:11,560 --> 00:01:16,600 Speaker 1: American symbol of female empowerment. In nineteen forty two, the 16 00:01:16,720 --> 00:01:20,160 Speaker 1: year after the attack on Pearl Harbor, nearly a million 17 00:01:20,200 --> 00:01:24,520 Speaker 1: American troops were deployed overseas, and several million more were 18 00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:28,760 Speaker 1: expected to follow in the years ahead. This mass exodus 19 00:01:28,800 --> 00:01:31,960 Speaker 1: of able bodied men sparked a panic at the Bureau 20 00:01:32,080 --> 00:01:36,080 Speaker 1: of Labor Statistics. It was predicted that in less preventive 21 00:01:36,120 --> 00:01:40,120 Speaker 1: measures were taken, acute labor shortages would develop and the 22 00:01:40,120 --> 00:01:43,200 Speaker 1: country's industry would grind to a halt by the end 23 00:01:43,240 --> 00:01:47,760 Speaker 1: of nineteen forty three. Luckily, the solution was just as 24 00:01:47,800 --> 00:01:52,400 Speaker 1: clear cut as the problem itself, as one government study concluded, 25 00:01:53,400 --> 00:01:56,440 Speaker 1: with the exception of the few hundred thousand boys of 26 00:01:56,560 --> 00:02:00,360 Speaker 1: pre draft age, this gap in the workforce will have 27 00:02:00,480 --> 00:02:05,000 Speaker 1: to be plugged almost entirely by women in short order. 28 00:02:05,240 --> 00:02:09,280 Speaker 1: Millions of American women eagerly rose to the challenge, having 29 00:02:09,400 --> 00:02:13,000 Speaker 1: long been deprived of opportunities to join the workforce. But 30 00:02:13,120 --> 00:02:15,600 Speaker 1: in the early days of the war effort, the US 31 00:02:15,720 --> 00:02:19,760 Speaker 1: government thought that women might need some convincing According to 32 00:02:19,800 --> 00:02:23,400 Speaker 1: an internal report from the Office of War Information, quote, 33 00:02:23,880 --> 00:02:27,400 Speaker 1: these jobs will have to be glorified as a patriotic 34 00:02:27,480 --> 00:02:30,480 Speaker 1: war service. If American women are to be persuaded to 35 00:02:30,560 --> 00:02:33,600 Speaker 1: take them and stick to them, their importance to a 36 00:02:33,680 --> 00:02:38,960 Speaker 1: nation engaged in total war must be convincingly presented. To 37 00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:42,200 Speaker 1: that end, the government called upon the wartime committees of 38 00:02:42,280 --> 00:02:46,079 Speaker 1: private industries and the American media to help with the task, 39 00:02:46,480 --> 00:02:50,120 Speaker 1: and the resulting posters and films that they generated became 40 00:02:50,200 --> 00:02:53,160 Speaker 1: some of the most compelling and well known images of 41 00:02:53,200 --> 00:02:57,160 Speaker 1: World War II. Case in point is J. Howard Miller's 42 00:02:57,320 --> 00:03:00,600 Speaker 1: we Can Do It poster. In late nineteen forty two, 43 00:03:00,919 --> 00:03:04,600 Speaker 1: the Pittsburgh artist was hired by the Westinghouse Electric and 44 00:03:04,639 --> 00:03:09,040 Speaker 1: Manufacturing Company to create a series of motivational posters to 45 00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:13,120 Speaker 1: hang inside its factories. The goal was to boost employee 46 00:03:13,120 --> 00:03:18,800 Speaker 1: morale and productivity while also discouraging absenteeism or potential strikes. 47 00:03:19,480 --> 00:03:23,560 Speaker 1: Miller produced forty two different posters in total, with each 48 00:03:23,680 --> 00:03:27,280 Speaker 1: design displayed for just two weeks before being replaced by 49 00:03:27,320 --> 00:03:30,560 Speaker 1: the next one. The we Can Do It poster began 50 00:03:30,760 --> 00:03:35,040 Speaker 1: its two week stint on February fifteenth, nineteen forty three, 51 00:03:35,320 --> 00:03:38,480 Speaker 1: when it was hung up in several Westinghouse factories in 52 00:03:38,520 --> 00:03:42,600 Speaker 1: Pennsylvania and the Midwest. The image on the poster shows 53 00:03:42,600 --> 00:03:45,600 Speaker 1: a female worker in denim coveralls and a red and 54 00:03:45,680 --> 00:03:49,280 Speaker 1: white polka dot bandana which she wears as a headscarf. 55 00:03:49,760 --> 00:03:53,720 Speaker 1: Sporting a stoic expression and one raised eyebrow. The figure 56 00:03:53,760 --> 00:03:56,520 Speaker 1: looks toward the viewer as she draws back her shirt 57 00:03:56,560 --> 00:04:00,560 Speaker 1: sleeve and flexes her bicep. A blue speech bum above 58 00:04:00,560 --> 00:04:04,840 Speaker 1: her head proclaims her now iconic catchphrase, and a Westinghouse 59 00:04:04,880 --> 00:04:08,840 Speaker 1: employee id badge pinned to her lapel tells us exactly 60 00:04:08,960 --> 00:04:12,880 Speaker 1: to whom she's speaking. Miller took his inspiration for the 61 00:04:12,920 --> 00:04:16,880 Speaker 1: poster from Naomi Parker Freeley, a twenty year old metal 62 00:04:16,920 --> 00:04:21,280 Speaker 1: stamp presser at the Alameda Naval Air Station in Oakland, California. 63 00:04:21,880 --> 00:04:24,880 Speaker 1: A wire service photographer had taken her picture for a 64 00:04:24,960 --> 00:04:27,840 Speaker 1: story on women in the workplace, and when Miller came 65 00:04:27,880 --> 00:04:30,560 Speaker 1: across it in a newspaper, he decided to use her 66 00:04:30,600 --> 00:04:34,119 Speaker 1: as a model for his latest poster, including her polka 67 00:04:34,200 --> 00:04:37,400 Speaker 1: dot bandana. And while you might think it strange that 68 00:04:37,480 --> 00:04:40,520 Speaker 1: Miller would use a metal stamp presser as a model 69 00:04:40,560 --> 00:04:43,880 Speaker 1: for his portrait of a riveter, there is actually nothing 70 00:04:43,880 --> 00:04:46,599 Speaker 1: in the poster to suggest she's a riveter at all. 71 00:04:47,160 --> 00:04:50,200 Speaker 1: In fact, the women the poster was made to inspire 72 00:04:50,440 --> 00:04:55,640 Speaker 1: weren't riveters either. Their job was to make plasticized helmet liners, 73 00:04:56,000 --> 00:04:59,680 Speaker 1: a task that in no way required riveting. Of course, 74 00:05:00,080 --> 00:05:03,360 Speaker 1: Holly the helmet liner maker doesn't have the same ring 75 00:05:03,440 --> 00:05:06,159 Speaker 1: to it as Rosie the Riveter, But the truth of 76 00:05:06,200 --> 00:05:09,400 Speaker 1: it is that j Howard Miller never gave the character 77 00:05:09,480 --> 00:05:13,960 Speaker 1: a name at all. The illiterative Moniker was actually coined 78 00:05:13,960 --> 00:05:18,239 Speaker 1: by a pair of songwriters, Red Evans and John Jacob Loebe. 79 00:05:18,839 --> 00:05:22,680 Speaker 1: In a strange coincidence, Their song Rosy the Riveter was 80 00:05:22,760 --> 00:05:26,479 Speaker 1: popularized by The Four Vagabonds around the same time that 81 00:05:26,640 --> 00:05:29,359 Speaker 1: Miller's We Can Do at poster was tacked up in 82 00:05:29,440 --> 00:05:34,200 Speaker 1: Westinghouse factories. The two works were completely unrelated at the time, 83 00:05:34,440 --> 00:05:37,440 Speaker 1: as only eighteen hundred copies of the poster had been 84 00:05:37,480 --> 00:05:41,960 Speaker 1: printed and no one outside the factory walls had seen them. Still, 85 00:05:42,200 --> 00:05:45,600 Speaker 1: the song did cover the same subject matter as the poster, 86 00:05:46,080 --> 00:05:49,000 Speaker 1: singing the praises of women going to work in record 87 00:05:49,080 --> 00:05:53,320 Speaker 1: numbers to tackle jobs they'd never done before. Take a listen, 88 00:05:54,320 --> 00:05:59,599 Speaker 1: long weather, Jesus of the assembly line. She's making history. 89 00:05:59,680 --> 00:06:06,360 Speaker 1: What Rosie keeps a sharp lookout as advantage sitting up 90 00:06:06,400 --> 00:06:15,880 Speaker 1: there on the Rosy the roses of friend Charlie. Charlie, 91 00:06:15,960 --> 00:06:21,159 Speaker 1: He's a marine, Rosie is predicting Charlie working over time 92 00:06:21,279 --> 00:06:24,680 Speaker 1: on the raveting machine. When they gave her a production name, 93 00:06:25,040 --> 00:06:27,720 Speaker 1: she was as proud as a girl could be. There's 94 00:06:27,760 --> 00:06:33,960 Speaker 1: something new about Red, White, and Blue about Rosie. According 95 00:06:33,960 --> 00:06:37,279 Speaker 1: to Loeb's widow, the song wasn't based on any one 96 00:06:37,360 --> 00:06:41,279 Speaker 1: woman in particular. The name Rosie was chosen simply because 97 00:06:41,320 --> 00:06:44,799 Speaker 1: it went well with Riveter. But as the song became 98 00:06:44,880 --> 00:06:48,280 Speaker 1: a national hit on the radio, Rosie began to take 99 00:06:48,320 --> 00:06:51,039 Speaker 1: on a life of her own. She became a symbol 100 00:06:51,120 --> 00:06:53,400 Speaker 1: of all the women who were doing their part to 101 00:06:53,480 --> 00:06:56,479 Speaker 1: win the war, from the welders to the mechanics, to 102 00:06:56,560 --> 00:07:02,279 Speaker 1: the taxi drivers, nurses, firefighters, and yes, the riveters. A 103 00:07:02,279 --> 00:07:05,880 Speaker 1: few months after the song's debut, Rosie finally got a 104 00:07:05,920 --> 00:07:08,320 Speaker 1: face to go with her name, but it wasn't the 105 00:07:08,320 --> 00:07:12,640 Speaker 1: one we most associate her with today. Instead, the Rosy 106 00:07:12,760 --> 00:07:16,600 Speaker 1: made popular during the war was created by illustrator Norman 107 00:07:16,760 --> 00:07:20,440 Speaker 1: Rockwell as an apparent homage to the song. It first 108 00:07:20,440 --> 00:07:23,120 Speaker 1: appeared on the cover of the Memorial Day issue of 109 00:07:23,200 --> 00:07:26,920 Speaker 1: The Saturday Evening Post, and it depicts a muscular, red 110 00:07:26,920 --> 00:07:31,000 Speaker 1: headed woman wearing coveralls and goggles. She sits with an 111 00:07:31,040 --> 00:07:34,160 Speaker 1: old school rivet gun laid across her lap and is 112 00:07:34,200 --> 00:07:37,040 Speaker 1: holding a sandwich in one hand, with the other draped 113 00:07:37,080 --> 00:07:39,960 Speaker 1: over her lunch pail, which is inscribed with her name, 114 00:07:40,640 --> 00:07:43,160 Speaker 1: and if you look closely. At the bottom of the image, 115 00:07:43,240 --> 00:07:45,280 Speaker 1: you can see that her feet are resting on a 116 00:07:45,320 --> 00:07:51,280 Speaker 1: tattered copy of Adolph Hitler's manifesto Mine komf. Rockwell's cover 117 00:07:51,560 --> 00:07:55,400 Speaker 1: was enormously popular, so much so that the US government 118 00:07:55,440 --> 00:07:58,720 Speaker 1: began using the art to advertise war bonds and to 119 00:07:58,760 --> 00:08:03,440 Speaker 1: aid in recruiting. That usage cemented Rockwell's image as the 120 00:08:03,480 --> 00:08:08,360 Speaker 1: definitive representation of Rosy the Riveter throughout the war. It's 121 00:08:08,440 --> 00:08:12,200 Speaker 1: worth noting, though, that both Norman Rockwell and J. Howard 122 00:08:12,240 --> 00:08:16,520 Speaker 1: Miller depicted only a very specific type of American women, 123 00:08:17,000 --> 00:08:22,240 Speaker 1: namely those who were feminine, traditionally attractive, and white. All 124 00:08:22,280 --> 00:08:25,640 Speaker 1: the other women who made up America's wartime labor force 125 00:08:25,880 --> 00:08:29,480 Speaker 1: went unsung by the government and the media, including the 126 00:08:29,600 --> 00:08:32,560 Speaker 1: hundreds of thousands of black women who had made the 127 00:08:32,600 --> 00:08:37,960 Speaker 1: same sacrifices as their white colleagues. The government's recruitment campaign 128 00:08:38,120 --> 00:08:41,800 Speaker 1: failed to reflect the diversity of wartime workers, but it 129 00:08:41,920 --> 00:08:45,000 Speaker 1: did succeed in its mission to fill the gap left 130 00:08:45,040 --> 00:08:49,120 Speaker 1: by active duty soldiers. As Newsweek reported in August of 131 00:08:49,200 --> 00:08:53,480 Speaker 1: nineteen forty three, there are practically no jobs it has 132 00:08:53,559 --> 00:08:58,080 Speaker 1: been found that cannot be adapted for women workers In 133 00:08:58,120 --> 00:09:01,880 Speaker 1: March of nineteen forty one, just under eleven million women 134 00:09:01,960 --> 00:09:05,199 Speaker 1: were employed in the US, but by August of nineteen 135 00:09:05,280 --> 00:09:09,880 Speaker 1: forty four that number had risen to eighteen million. You'd 136 00:09:09,880 --> 00:09:13,120 Speaker 1: think the country would owe those women a debt of gratitude, 137 00:09:13,280 --> 00:09:16,640 Speaker 1: but across the board, they received lower wages than men 138 00:09:16,760 --> 00:09:19,280 Speaker 1: for the same work, and once the war was over, 139 00:09:19,640 --> 00:09:22,280 Speaker 1: women were forced out of their roles to make way 140 00:09:22,360 --> 00:09:26,400 Speaker 1: for returning veterans. Rosie the Riveter was pushed to the 141 00:09:26,480 --> 00:09:30,120 Speaker 1: side along with them and would remain largely forgotten for 142 00:09:30,200 --> 00:09:34,120 Speaker 1: the next several decades. It wasn't until the early nineteen 143 00:09:34,200 --> 00:09:37,400 Speaker 1: eighties that the character returned to the spotlight, and when 144 00:09:37,440 --> 00:09:40,000 Speaker 1: she did, it was in the form of Miller's we 145 00:09:40,120 --> 00:09:43,800 Speaker 1: Can Do It poster. It's hard to pin down exactly 146 00:09:43,840 --> 00:09:46,840 Speaker 1: how it happened, but in nineteen eighty two the poster 147 00:09:47,040 --> 00:09:50,920 Speaker 1: was included in a Washington Post magazine article about wartime 148 00:09:51,000 --> 00:09:55,240 Speaker 1: posters in the National Archives. The image was heavily circulated 149 00:09:55,320 --> 00:09:58,840 Speaker 1: after its rediscovery, and somewhere along the way it was 150 00:09:58,880 --> 00:10:02,680 Speaker 1: mistakenly labeled as Rosy the Riveter, and the name just stuck. 151 00:10:03,400 --> 00:10:07,559 Speaker 1: Around the same time, American feminists started looking for images 152 00:10:07,600 --> 00:10:11,120 Speaker 1: from the past that they could recontextualize as symbols of 153 00:10:11,160 --> 00:10:16,480 Speaker 1: female empowerment and sisterhood. It's possible that they considered Rockwell's 154 00:10:16,600 --> 00:10:19,520 Speaker 1: Rosy for the job, but since that painting was still 155 00:10:19,600 --> 00:10:23,480 Speaker 1: under copyright and also featured a staunchly pro war message 156 00:10:23,520 --> 00:10:27,040 Speaker 1: through the inclusion of mind komp, they settled on Miller's 157 00:10:27,080 --> 00:10:30,880 Speaker 1: poster instead. From that point on, the we can Do 158 00:10:31,000 --> 00:10:33,920 Speaker 1: It image became what most people think of when they 159 00:10:33,960 --> 00:10:38,040 Speaker 1: hear Rosy the Riveter. Even today, she holds a commanding 160 00:10:38,120 --> 00:10:42,200 Speaker 1: place in pop culture, appearing in everything from advertisements to 161 00:10:42,240 --> 00:10:47,080 Speaker 1: political campaigns to postage stamps. Modern depictions of Rosy have 162 00:10:47,160 --> 00:10:50,760 Speaker 1: also become more inclusive over the years, casting her in 163 00:10:50,840 --> 00:10:54,840 Speaker 1: a broader range of identities and underscoring the idea that 164 00:10:54,880 --> 00:10:58,640 Speaker 1: the we and we can do It means all win it. 165 00:11:01,760 --> 00:11:05,200 Speaker 1: I'm Gabe blues Yay and hopefully you now know a 166 00:11:05,280 --> 00:11:09,560 Speaker 1: little more about history today than you did yesterday. You 167 00:11:09,559 --> 00:11:13,719 Speaker 1: can learn even more about history by following us on Twitter, Facebook, 168 00:11:13,760 --> 00:11:18,360 Speaker 1: and Instagram at TDI HC Show, and if you have 169 00:11:18,440 --> 00:11:21,600 Speaker 1: any comments or suggestions, feel free to pass them along 170 00:11:21,760 --> 00:11:26,400 Speaker 1: by writing to this day at iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks 171 00:11:26,440 --> 00:11:29,600 Speaker 1: as always, to Chandler Mays for producing the show, and 172 00:11:29,720 --> 00:11:32,240 Speaker 1: thank you for listening. I'll see you back here again 173 00:11:32,320 --> 00:11:45,319 Speaker 1: tomorrow for another day in history class.