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Subscribe to RSSWith a red and white bandana in her hair and factory worker uniform sleeves rolled up to reveal her bulging biceps, Rosie the Riveter was painted on a World War II recruitment poster in 1942. But for four decades, the real Rosie the Riveter had no idea she was the woman who inspired it.
Perhaps it was because Geraldine Doyle left her factory job after two weeks – or because she didn’t actually have bulging biceps – that Doyle, who died at 86 years old on Sunday in Lansing, Mich., didn’t know for so long that she was the model for what would became a symbol of women’s empowerment.
Doyle was 17 in 1942 and had been hired as a metal presser at a factory close to her home in Inkster, Mich., to help the war effort, her daughter Stephanie Gregg told the New York Times. One day, a United Press International photographer came to the steelworks factory and took a picture of Doyle leaning over machinery, a red and white polka-dot bandana covering her hair (see the original photo here). Later that year, the government commissioned artist J. Howard Miller to produce morale-boosting posters that would motivate workers and recruit women to join the war workforce. The UPI photo of Doyle, a slender brunette that her daughter calls “a glamour girl,” caught his eye.
Meanwhile, Doyle – a cellist – learned that a worker had injured her hands at the factory, and decided to get a safer job at a soda fountain and bookshop in Ann Arbor, according to the Washington Post.
In 1984, married to a dentist and a mother to five children, Doyle came across an article in former AARP publication Modern Maturity magazine that connected her photo with the wartime poster, which she hadn’t seen before.
“The arched eyebrows, the beautiful lips, the shape of the face – that’s her,” daughter Gregg told the Times. But, she said, “she didn’t have those big muscles. She was busy playing cello.”
Nonetheless, when she saw it, she said, “This is me!” Gregg told the Lansing State Journal.
Rosie the Riveter became a lasting emblem. In the early 1940s, Red Evans and John Jacob Loeb wrote a song named after her. In 1943, the Saturday Evening Post put a Norman Rockwell illustration of another female worker with the name “Rosie” painted on her lunch pail. In 1999, the U.S. Postal Service created a “We Can Do It!” stamp.
For years, Doyle signed Rosie the Riveter t-shirts, posters, and more. While many profited from her image, she never charged a penny to fans, her daughter said.
"She would say that she was the 'We Can Do It!' girl," Gregg told the Lansing State Journal. "She never wanted to take anything away from the other Rosies."
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From a person that has worked the last 20 years in factories, it is a hard job; 2 weeks would be long enough to let you know that if you continued, you wouldn't be playing the cello for long. I did some training when new people were hired; they brought men in who didn't last 1 night.
Geraldine Doyle inspired women to try things, they had been told all their lives, they could not do...whether she knew it or not.
Spot on. I've worked in factories for forty + years. It takes a toll on you. A hard one. The women of WW 2 to today working make the US what it is. Thank you Geraldine Doyle and all the women working out there. You Rock!!! :)
Iconic image is a perfect use of words. EVERYONE knows that picture!
My great aunt built planes for Grumman on Long Island as part of the war effort while raisng her kids - Aunt May was Rosie the Rivetor to me!
My former mother-in-law was a 'Rosie' at the Norfolk Shipyard in Virginia. I would have never known had she not told my mom about it.
Geraldine / Rosie, you live on emblazoned on my T-shirt and with your likeness on my key fob!
I have a Rosie the Riveter Halloween costume that is my favorite year after year.
The world needs more women like this.
The world has many more women like this. Unfortunately, they are often taken for granted by those closest to them. We all need to appreciate the strong women in our lives and give them a heartfelt "Thank you" before it is too late.
"The world needs more women like this." (you mean WORKING?)
Rosie was outsourced. --But there are plenty more like her, mostly working in China.
--today, Rosie's daughters "operate" the cash registers at WalMart...
Uhh.. she quit after two weeks. The ones that stayed on like my grandmother, an aunt, and millions others are the ones to praise.
MJHV-G,
You may sweep the floors at walmart, but I can guarantee you that a dentist and a musician didnt raise their kids to operate cash registers ANYWHERE. Most likely, they are retired professionals given Rosie's age at her death. Her grandchildren are also most likely professionals. I do NOT know who or what you are, but to spit on anyone or anything that is an American icon reveals what a lowly person you are. Here, everyone is giving their condolenceses for and honoring a woman who "knew she could" before society would admit any woman could and merely 2 decades after women gained the right to vote. It took a few more decades, give or take a few years depending upon the state, before married women were able to actually own property instead of being property. She, like most America women, did what was not considered possible by women during a world war ... they went into the workforce and more than adequately took over the jobs necessary to support our troops during wartime. They made it possible for our men to go fight a world war, free humans from a genocide in Germany, and bring freedom to most of Europe, by keeping the US economy and industry moving. And you have the audacity to spit on that.
You come into this thread and instead of either being respectful or silent, SPIT upon this iconic lady who just died. You are a disgrace not merely to Americans, if you have that priviledge to be an American, but to humanity itself.
uhhhhhh yes she quit after 2 weeks because she was a cellist. She knew the war wasn't going to last forever and needed a safer job to protect her hands from possible injury. I can understand that because she may need that talent later in life. She did find work elsewhere and she did contribute to the war effort by working. Get over it.
Thank you, Recycled Hope! Word.
This country has millions of "Rosie the Riveter" women. Whether they are married/divorced/single who have to work one or more jobs, trying to keep everything together and may even have a very ill child, a child with a disabiity or have a very dysfunctional family she has to cope with. Rhonda C. is very right, their "Hurculean" and thankless efforts go unnoticed all the time and many cry themselves to sleep.
That iconic poster is just as relevant today as it was back then. It would be a great support and affirmation for women to see it regularly again.
Actually what you all forget is after these women built the planes, worked in factories, made a heck of a lot of money for those times, the government put on a huge campaign to get them back into the kitchen, why our servicemen were coming home and these women were doing their jobs. So thank you ladies, times up go back to being a housewive, notice the men got the GI Bill for higher education, these women did not.
Accolades don't pay the rent - and it took many, many more years and even now to get equal pay for the work!
Rosie the Riveter was a propaganda stunt of the government to get a work force since most of the men were overseas, once back - ladies to the kitchen!
Errr, Recycled, MJHV-G was being sarcastic.
I was thinking the same thing. I'm unemployed, and I'd LOVE to have a factory job. In fact, I'd love just about ANY job right now. But here in California, I couldn't even apply for a job as a receptionist at a veterinary clinic without being certified English/Spanish bilingual, but that's a whole other ball of yarn...
I have similar photos of my mother from the time she was a "Rosie", hair covered the same way, wearing dungarees. She worked in the ship yards in San Diego for the war effort. We all love the photos of my mother during this time period. She was a tiny little thing but was a hard worker and gave much to the effort as so many of her generation did.
The real Rosie was much prettier than the animated version. Rest in Peace
I was thinking the same thing, Gary 420.
I also was thinking it was kind of ironic that the inspiration behind Rosie the Riveter, an icon that's inspired folks for generations, quit in two weeks. I don't fault Geraldine her choice - as someone who works with my hands, I've never applied for jobs that would endanger them. But it's still one of life's little quirks, the history behind the legend.
I had a big, husky logger assigned to my wave solder crew.First break, he spent the whole 15 minutes bragging about how much easier factory work was than working in the woods.I put him where a cute little 85 pound blonde could show him up, to shut him up.He kept complaining it was too hot even with the gloves.She did the same job singing and dancing to her headphones, with no gloves.He never came back from lunch.Ha!
Thank you, Geraldine
that is freaking awesome, go 85 pound blonde!
She was a very beautiful woman and her picture I will remember all through my life. A true Americana image that I hope stays in our history forever. I sure hope she and all the other Rosie's that made it happen are duly honored by some kind of memorial at her grave site.
There is a Homefront National Historic Park in honor of all the Rosies in Richmond, CA at the old Kaiser Shipyards. Check out http://www.rosietheriveter.org/ to see what's happening.
My grandmother and her sister worked at Boeing during the WWII. I remember as a youngster in the 50's of them telling me of the long hours and hard work. Thanks to all the gals that help in the effort. It took all doing their part during those tought years. Now if we could just get the now generation to put forth such an effort.
"Such an effort"?
How about any effort at all?
Exactly what the Rockefellers wanted...women in the workplace, kids in govt. controlled daycare. How to destroy the family 101. It worked.
@Dave: There is only one possible appropriate response to your comment, and it comes from the movie "Billy Madison": "What you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul."
Dave, Rosie went to work so the men could fight off Hitler and Tojo so you could sit there and bitch about how she and Rocky destroyed the family. It is called "freedom". You are either nieve or stupid or both, you certainly do not know your history! What destroyed the family is that everyone "wanted it now" and to do that Mothers and Fathers went to work leaving their kids to fend for themselves so now society has to pay the price. Money is not everything contrary to media brainwashing, it is about time people like you understood the fundementals of life.
You are a moron. Without these women in the work force, we would have not been able to win the war as quickly as we did. And FYI, these women willingly left their jobs immediately after the war, giving their places back to the men who had freed the world.
So Dave, what does any of that have to do with Rosie stepping up to the plate and doing a job that needed to be done, family or no family, Rockefellers or no Rockefellers? Oh, I see, you just wanted to tag this as a plot for world domination by the Rockefellers, right, so you could look like the know it all that your not. Good job though, of making yourself look like a fool.
I'm thinking this was sarcasm.
LMAO. Women go to work to support their families. Because now days it takes two incomes to provide decency in housing, groceries and healthy activities for the kidlets, nothing... sports, music, science camps, nothing... is cheap, and in this competitive world, kids have these things and those that don't are disadvantaged. Look at the price of cars. Even board games are up to 35 dollars for family nights, Cable for movie nights ridiculous. Going to church, and involving your kid in youth groups, involves campout fees, fees for every darn thing they do. It takes two to raise a family, and sadly lots of Dad's walk off, Moms too these days, and leave it to one income. Women and Men are not working to afford luxuries Evan Mecham, they work to provide a decent home and lifestyle for their families. Shut up with your stupid, antiquated notions, and work on solutions that work for today's world, what reality is, like affordable daycare, and after school study clubs, youth activities that are not 400 dollars a whack, and affordable housing. Job sharing that is practical, and family friendly work places with flex time and health insurance. And stop belly aching about the Rockefellers and the "wanting it now" bs. Put your mind, mouth and body into creating a world that is dealing with today's reality, and fixing the problems of have two parent's employed, and single parenting. Thats the way it is and will be, so work on solutions to the issues this reality creates, instead of chauvinistic dumb ass commentary.
Families were probably much closer and more functional then. The idea of shared sacrifice and everyone pulling together for a common cause will likely never be repeated.
For the record, my grandmother in the "olden days" worked. Her mother worked. To survive in the late 1800s and early 1900s, everybody worked, including children. There was no welfare state, there was no social security or free healthcare.
The idea of the "stay at home" mom was a brief, 1950s convention so that the millions of GIs could have jobs when they returned from the war. We had prosperity and growth and huge pent up demand for goods as a leftover from the Great Depression and WW2. Over the 240 year history of our country, there has been a just a very brief window( 1950 to 1965) when large numbers of women were not in the workforce in some way.
I am not saying it's good, I am not saying it's bad, it's just reality.
Has anyone ever referred to you as a misogynist?
Why would a woman not hold the very same rights as a man? Of course you see this all as progressivism. Moving forward in time. And consider that a bad thing.
And of course it was The Rockefellers? Conspiracy theory #21,023. Haven't seen Glenn Beck lately. Is this one of his pathetic theories that requires several chalkboards to lay out?
Truly one of the dumbest posts I have seen on this board or any other for that matter.
No this wasn't sarcasm.. There was no sarcasm tag, for one..
Go look at this guys profile. Not one friend. Not one group. Not one seeded article. This my friends, is the poster child for a TROLL...That is all this guy gets off on, is flaming threads...
D F T T
Why does the "community" always collapse comments that they don't like? I don't know about the Rockefellers in this case, but there are many forces in our history--some of them intentional--encouraging the breakdown of the nuclear family. Women "have" to work now (I do) because housing prices will rise to cosume the maximum income that a family can afford to spend on housing. In the 60's, a married woman's income wasn't even counted when applying for a mortgage (the assumption was that as soon as they moved in, she would quit her job and stay home with babies). Whether or not that was fair, when women's income became eligible for consideration and more women were entering the workplace, the price of housing rose to where the American dream consumes two salaries now instead of one.
There are plenty of nefarious social engineering origins for things that we are told are progress. Whether you are pro-choice or pro-life, you should really research Margaret Sanger, for example. She was a eugenicist with goals that would shock you--and you can research the rest.
There are those who believe that one of the goals of the student loan program in the US was population control (delaying marriage and children due to debt). Just saying. Don't just laugh. I'm surprised that people here have never even encounted these theories and at least reseached any of them to decide for themselves if they hold water. Do you believe everything the government feeds you?
OK Virtus,
The reason his comment was collapsed was because it made no sense in context to the article (probably marked "no value"). I have no idea what the Rockefellers have to do with anything.
Along the same lines, I have no idea what Margaret Sanger and the student loan program have to do with Rosie the Riveter. During the 40's the main reason women worked outside of the home was to help with the war effort. We went through about 15 years after the war, when the majority of women stayed home with their families.
We are celebrating the ability of Americans to band together during hard times, not debating the Rockefellers, abortion or personal debt. Let it go and find a more appropriate place to post your conspiracy theories.
Jo Brown - my mother-in-law also worked there. I'll have to ask her for a picture. It was hard work, but I know she enjoyed it. Knowing her she could match up with any guy, probably even now at 82.
I have always loved that poster - it reminded me of my own mother, who drove trucks in Great Britain during the war. I sometimes wonder if the exposure to work outside the home - men's work - led these young women to encourage their own daughters, who came of age in the 60's and 70's, to pursue their career dreams.
Amazing that "Rosie" was really a cellist.
my mom drove a 16 wheel truck during the war ww2 my dad worked on the bomb project in washington
My mother also was a "Rosie". Her real name was Rose and she worked at the giant airplane manufacturer Glenn L. Martin Aircraft in Dundalk, Maryland during WW11. It was a proud era!
these women where part of the great generation that saved the world
I wish we had just a small fraction of the pride and respect for each other we had during that period, but as the years passed greed invaded every corner of society and we lost our respect for each other, our trust for our fellow man, and our faith in God & country. What a sad bunch we now are.
Do not give up yet there are people like Rosie who continue to sacrifice everyday. The sad ones are in honesty the richer portion of our society who does not believe in sacrifice but entitlement. They hold on to wealth and never seem to understand that they need to create jobs to acquire more wealth. Yes I am talking about cooperation’s, not individuals. Wall Street is doing well how you are doing this year?
Right on!!
Whether "Rosie" played the cello or Milked cows---she has contributed to us women big time!
At 17--she had a very mature perspective of what was going on at that time.
Cris, it's not just the rich who feel entitled, all those able bodied slackers who have worked the welfare system for generations are equally so.
My Aunt Avis Was a "Rosie" in the shipyards of Portland, Or. We should be proud of our "Rosie's" then and now.
My nearly 94 year old mom was also a "Rosie," worked as a welder on ships in Portland
Rosie the Riveter is an American icon. Probably as famous and well known as any other women in America because of the message she communicated. Americans, men and women, working together to get a job done.
Geraldine Doyle, thank you.
Vernon, you are so right; I grew up on a farm in NW MO and can remember going off and leaving the doors unlocked without a worry that someone would come in and clean the place out. Our neighbors were just like relatives (some were actually), and as kids we could count on getting safe candy, or apples or whatever at Halloween when we went trick or treating. I think some of the downfall came about as a result of Ms Ohara and ACLU getting religion kicked out of public schools, kids no longer respect the teachers or school staff as I understand it. In my days in school, if we misbehaved in school we also got into trouble when we got home.
from sandals to sandals in three (3) generations! rosie replaced by liberal dooche bags with multiculturalism-how sick. liberalism is a mental disorder!
1st Cav. The inclusion of women like 'Rosie' in the workforce IS liberalism. Since we know that women of several ethnicities and biological ancestries were employed as 'Rosies' it is clear that a multicultural approach was in place during her heyday. Thus, Rosie wasn't replaced with liberalism and multiculturalism, she helped to usher those concepts to the forefront; and thank goodness she did.
When my sister and I saw the photos and read the article in the former AARP publication, Modern Maturity, we both said, "That's mom!" The black and white beauty, the bandana, the work-ethic, all fit to a "T". And, to top it all off, our mother did work in a WWII defense plant, doing all kinds of things, including being a riveter.
"We Can Do It" today would be "We Can Do It, But The Chinese Can Do It Cheaper With Fewer Regulations And Labor Standards"
Condolences to the family of Ms. Doyle. It should be noted, however, that "Rosie the Riveter" was a composite of several women during the WWII era, most of whom were name Rose. The following link has a short article about them:
http://www.anb.org/articles/20/20-01920.html
And how nice that Rosie/ Geraldine got introduced to a new generation in Pink's "Raise Your Glass" video.
My Mother went to work in a machine shop in NYC during the war. She operated a lathe and one day brought home a piece she had made for one of the airplanes we built. She didn't know what it was for and at 7 or 8 years old neither did I. But my older brother was in the Navy, so it didn't matter what it was but she knew it would help bring him and the others home. Yes, we were a very different country them.
My mother worked at the Rome Air Depot in Rome, New York during the war. She said that all types of material headed for the war in Europe and beyond transited through there. She told me that a Captain in the Army noticed that she had "Perfect" hand writing (legible) and had her address all the crates and packages to be shipped over seas. My mother was immensely proud of her contribution if even in that small way. I was very proud of her doing what she did while my father was on board a ship in the Pacific. He was a veteran of the attack on Pearl Harbor and his ship, the USS Curtiss (AV-4) received 7 battle stars during the war in the Pacific.