Rosie the Riveter, a Michigan Icon
31 12 10 - 12:37
Last Sunday, Geraldine Hoff Doyle passed away in a Michigan Hospice at the age of 86. Ms. Doyle was an unwitting participant in the US wartime propaganda machine & an inspiration for millions of young women around the world. The "We Can Do It" slogan/image is still immensely popular today, as Doyle became the face of female factory workers everywhere..
Ms. Doyle was obviously mugging it up for a wartime photographer when she worked a stamping press @ American Broach & Machine in Ann Arbor, MI during the early years of the war. With her colorful headscarf, her bulging bicep, & pretty face, she was perfect camera fodder. Wartime Production Committees loved the photo & used the image to recruit women into the workforce. The US propaganda machine put Rosie the Riveter's image on posters, in song, & in movies in support of War Bond sales.
Ms. Doyle was a promising young Cellist & quit the job a few weeks later when she learned a co-worker got her hand caught in a similar machine. Well before the war ended, Geraldine got married & started a family at 18. Her husband Leo became a dentist & managing his practice along with 6 kids kept Geraldine very busy.
The photog never left an impression on her, nor did the all of the wartime propaganda, because she never realized that her face had become a WW2 icon. Doyle only became aware of her impact on a generation in 1984 when she saw a copy of the WW2 poster in Modern Maturity magazine & told her daughter "This is me!"
Doyle was quick to remind folks that she was "only the We Can Do It girl, not the real Rosie". It should be noted, that it was another Michigan native that starred in those promo films, Rose Will Monroe, who actually was a riveter at the Willow Run factory in Ypsi, MI. Ms. Monroe died in 1997.
A memorial service will be held on Jan 8 in Lansing, MI.
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