The woman who inspired the famous World War II "We Can Do It!" poster has died.
Geraldine Hoff Doyle was just 17 when a United Press photographer captured her in 1942 working at a Michigan metal factory, wearing a red polka-dotted bandanna.
Her pretty face caught the eye of artist J. Howard Miller, who had been commissioned by the government to create a series of motivational posters for factory workers.
The face on the poster was Doyle's, but the powerful muscles were not, her daughter Stephanie Gregg of Eaton Rapids, Michigan, told The New York Times.
"She didn't have big, muscular arms," Gregg said in the Times' obituary. "She was 5-foot-10 and very slender. She was a glamour girl. The arched eyebrows, the beautiful lips, the shape of the face — that's her."
Doyle abandoned the factory job after just two weeks, worried that she might injure her hands and not be able to play cello anymore, according to the Washington Post. She took a job at a soda fountain, where she met her future husband.
The poster eventually became an icon of women's empowerment, but Doyle never recognized her own face on it until 1984, when she saw it in Modern Maturity magazine, the Lansing (Michigan) State Journal reported.
Doyle was married for 66 years to dentist Leo Doyle, who died in February. They had six children, 18 grandchildren and 25 great-grandchildren. Geraldine Doyle died Sunday at a hospice facility in Lansing, her daughter said. She was 86.
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Yes we can.
http://michaelfury.wordpress.com/2010/12/06/an-opportunity/
and see the mess HE created....
NO HE CAN'T !!!!
@NYC_APT_SITTER – You must be talking about George W. Bush right?
@NYC_APT_SITTER
Your glass is half Empty... America has been through tough times before and we have pulled through.
NYC...that HE created. HAHAHAHA the ability of the right to live in complete denial amazes me on a daily basis. This mess was left in his lap like a stinking fish.
NYC_apt_sitter.. bwaaahaaa! Obama inherited a 5h1t sandwich from Bush, remember? Oh, he didn't? Ohhh, right, I forgot all about how Obama and Cheney gave up on bin Laden and Afghanistan to go invade Iraq to try to make some guy's daddy proud, spending hundreds of billions of dollars, flushing Clinton's surplus down the toilet, and driving up a deficit that'll take at least three presidential terms to fix. Yeah, somewhere along the line I forgot how to be a revisionist moron. Thanks for reminding us!
An apt sitting parasite complaining about our President.
Apt Sitter: you produce *nothing*, except greenhouse gas. You are a useless appendage in our society, used by the wealthy to make sure that their possessions are not pilfered while they trot around the globe.
You are as disposable as a tissue.
Facts are a REAL problem for stupid liberals;
January 3rd, 2007 was the day the Democrats took over the Senate and the
Congress. At that time:
.
DOW Jones closed at 12,621.77
.
GDP for the previous quarter was 3.5%
.
Unemployment rate was 4.6%
.
Bush's Economic policies SET A RECORD of 52 STRAIGHT MONTHS of JOB CREATION!
.
.
***ON THAT DAY, JANUARY 3RD 2007:
.
Barney Frank took over the House Financial Services Committee.
Chris Dodd took over the Senate Banking Committee.
.
The economic meltdown that happened 15 months later was in what part of the
economy?
.
BANKING AND FINANCIAL SERVICES!!!
.
THANK YOU DEMOCRATS for taking us from 13,000 DOW, 3.5 GDP and 4.6%
Unemployment... to this CRISIS by (among MANY other things) dumping 5-6
TRILLION Dollars of toxic loans on the economy from YOUR Fannie Mae and Freddie
Mac ! (BTW: Bush asked Congress 17 TIMES to stop Fannie & Freddie – starting in
2001 because it was Financially risky for the US economy):
.
And who took the THIRD highest pay-off from Fannie Mae AND Freddie Mac????
OBAMA!
And who fought against reform of Fannie and Freddie??? OBAMA!
Reported abuse.
This article needs a picture of ms doyle!
I am not sure how to do it. But this has a real photo of her. http://www.anb.org/articles/20/20-01920-print.html
...not that this makes it any better, but I worked for a gentleman that knew Ms Doyle personally and had pictures of her standing next to the poster shown. Unfortunatly this was quite a few years ago and we have lost contact.
Sorry Dani, but the pic on that link is not Mrs. Doyle. It's another "Rosie". The lady's name is in the photo's caption. Good find, though. The page was an interesting read.
Yes it does
Oops...that's a picture of Rose Will Monroe, not Geraldine Hoff Doyle.
Couldn't agree more! But finding one is tough ...
Yes it does!!!
Another member of "The Greatest Generation" gone.......R.I.P. Mrs. Doyle.
I had a postcard of this image hung up at every base I was stationed. It hung just at eye level by my desk to give me inspiration of working hard. My prayers go out to her family.
Looks like she didn't do it!
......and we did.
Unfortunately, our armed forces continue to fight with their hands tied and with too many left wing rules. We might never see another Rosy again...
Just give us the goals, and we'll fight. What is this Iraq thing for again?
Talk about the role of Fate in one's life!
Only 2 weeks on the factory job. Just long enough to have her picture taken.
And would she have caught the eye of the photographer had she not been wearing the distinctive red polka-dot kerchief? Another element of Fate.
Then goes to work at a soda fountain and once again Fate determines her life: her future husband walks up to the counter!
Then 66 years of marriage, six children and a whole bunch of grandchildren and great grandchildren. Truly a Rockwell tapestry of real life in what used to be the United States of America.
Did she play the cello ever again?
I'm disappointed to learn that she quit the job after such a short time, considering that the poster was created to be inspirational for factory workers.
Wartime factory work was EXTREMELY dangerous. In Philadelphia alone, 20000 people died per year in accidents manufacturing war supplies, weapons and ships.
Had she remained and been killed or maimed, they probably would have pulled that poster.
Sure, and I am not arguing that. I just think that the message of the painting contradicts the fact that the woman only lasted two weeks. Yes we can what? Give up after two weeks?
i don't think this poster was made purely for factory workers. it's women in general. you have to think this was 1940s and woman did not work. just woman getting out there, trying to be equal to whatever men were still here. thats why women had to work, that's why people planted the victory gardens, and rationed food. it wasn't just factory's that needed women to work, every where needed to work, and as a 17 year old single girl, why not get a better job if the option is there, and you have no husband or kids to be responsible for? as women we do that now, taking what we can get until something better comes along. this woman's story, is the typical american woman's story. her life shaped what we idealize ours to be now. may she rest in peace!
likely none of the women inspired by the poster knew that she quit after two weeks. the poster accomlished its goal and beyond, by inspiring generations of women to achieve their goals
Why would you be 'disappointed'? Because her life was real and not some fictionalised 'feel good' story? Why in blazes did it have to do with you anyway? What if she had been a model, hired for the poster? Would that burst your bubble, too?
That is how ALL propaganda works. Any time you see or hear anything that is intended to be politically inspirational, remember that poster, and remember that it is driven by an agenda.
She did the right thing, If she enjoyed playing music why continue working someplace that could jeopardize that. If you were a musician you would understand.
It doesn't matter that Ms Doyle happened to quit her job... Rosie as an icon was inspired by the young woman's looks, not the young woman's life. I doubt many people knew she was modeled after a real person. And actually, if you find a picture of Ms Doyle as a young woman, the resemblance isn't wholly accurate anyway. Rosie is still Rosie, and still true to everything she represents.
She only lasted two weeks on the job out of CHOICE, not because she couldn't handle it. The message of the poster still rings true and isn't at all diminished by her choice. If she had run from the factory in tears and given public lectures encouraging women to not work and only procreate in the years that followed, well, that would be something totally different.
well it worked for Sarah Palin - she quit as governor after only 2 years - and is still lauded and held up as a right-wing icon!
Very little in our lives is actually under our control. Coincidence and randomness rule. You are in the right place at the right time, and you become famous. In the wrong place and you might die. Pick the right numbers you become rich. If you are good in sports and the right person sees you, you go to the majors. If you are in the right place you meet your soulmate. If you aren't, you may live a lonely life. Not saying you should leave everything to coincidence. You have to become educated and try to better yourself.
So very true. People often tout that I did this or I did that, without considering that much of our lives is determined by where we were born and who were are parents. We usually have much power over our childrens' lives then over our own.
A picture would have been great. Rest in Peace Mrs. Doyle. Condolences to her family.
Not anymore we can't. Now it's "Yes we can!!!!" Demaning free dual citizenship Amigo.... The greatest generation has been replaced by generational welfare folks and illegals with grubby paws. Our grandparents would have kicked them where it counts and shown them the door. That generation is long gone, replaced by Socialists and Liberals. What a shame.
Actually, my mother would have fed you your own words. She grew up during the Great Depression, but she DID have an element of compassion.
And I've also watched her knock a 6 foot 5 inch man flat on his butt and send him running.
Don't forget "conservatives" too. The problem today isn't liberals or conservatives. It's the fanatical partisan zeal on both sides that keeps us from working together for the common good.
BINGO!
you sure got that right!!!
It is the radical conservatives who have become the "No We Can't" party with the overt agenda of obstructing as much progress as possible, then blaming Obama for all of the crap that George W Bush created and handed to him.
Interesting thought, however; your grandparents and just about everyone in this country are either imigrants themselves or decendents of. Funny how people forget that. And please, unless you are a true "Native American"...don't bother arguing this point.
Your so-called "Native American" is an immigrant, too. Every human being on this continent is an immigrant, the difference is whether you contravened the laws of this country to get here.
One would think you'd be grateful to no longer be destined to work a factory job, and instead to have much more comfortable job prospects behind a computer. Technology is the great equalizer, and you no longer have to have brawn to earn a good living. Personally, I'm happy the manufacturing jobs have gone overseas... as long as the administration, engineering, legal, accounting, marketing, sales, and management jobs stay here.
I'm confused. I thought the original Rosie the Riveter passed away in 1997. She was from my hometown of Somerset Ky. Here is her story from the New York Times: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A02E3DF143DF931A35755C0A961958260
I was wondering the same thing. Who is the real Rosie?
It clearly states in the article that you posted that the poster was already famous, when they found that woman in your article to play a part in a movie about a fictional Rosie the Riveter. They wanted to make a movie because of the poster and the song, so they picked a woman named Rose. It's not like Audie Murphy playing himself in the movie about his life, she was after the fact.
This poster is not "Rosie the Riveter." The article is correct in not using that name.
Either way, another great icon from America's history is gone. For some reason, the AC/DC song called "Whole lotta Rosie" comes to mind. Makes me want to listen to it one more time...
"Rosie the Riveter" is an amalgamation of a lot of women. She's an ideal...read on:
"Rosie the Riveter (fl. 1942-1945), Rose Will Monroe (1920-1997), and Rose Bonavita (1921-1966), iconic figure of the women who worked in defense industries during World War II, was a composite of the experiences of many real women, including Rose Bonavita, Rosalind P. Walter, Geraldine Hoff Doyle, and Rose Will Monroe.
During World War II the term "Rosie" was used to refer to all women who worked in defense industries and not just riveters."
I thought of you when I saw this article. Kinda interesting.
Later