she starred in a famous World War 2 era
propaganda campaign and eventually
became one of the most famous icons in
American history but who exactly was
Rosie the Riveter and what's the real
story behind her well-known image to
start with it's not really about a
Riveter named Rosie it's not even about
one woman but about millions after the
United States entered World War two in
late 1941 government and industrial
leaders called on American women to join
the workforce in order to replace
manpower lost when men enlisted as
soldiers some six million would answer
that call between 1940 and 1945 the
female demographic of the national
workforce increased from 27 percent to
nearly 37 percent half of these working
women took on tough jobs and defense
industries Rosie was first introduced to
the public in a popular song called
Rosie the Riveter released in early 1943
the song was made famous by swing
bandleader James Curran Kay Kyser Norman
Rockwell had undoubtedly heard the song
when he painted a female Riveter on her
lunch break for the Memorial Day issue
of The Saturday Evening Post that year
posed like the prophet Isaiah in
Michelangelo's famous fresco on the
Sistine Chapel ceiling she rests her
foot on a battered copy of Hitler's mind
come her riveting gun rests on her lap
while her lunchbox clearly reads Rosie
Rockwell's model was a dental hygienist
named Mary Keith but was there a real
Rosie the Riveter after Rockwell's cover
appeared on newsstands the press lost no
time in casting real-life Rosie's one of
the most well known was Rosewill monroe
who worked as a Riveter of be 24 and be
49 bomber airplanes at the Willow Run
aircraft Factory in Ypsilanti Michigan
monroe appeared in a promotional video
for war bonds after a chance run-in with
a Hollywood actor filming at the factory
but Rosie the Riveter was bigger than
just one woman she was a symbol of the
wartime work and sacrifice of millions
though Rockwell's painting was the
original depiction of Rosie she is most
widely identified with a different image
in 1942 the year before the Rosie song
was released the Westinghouse power
company commissioned J Howard
Miller to create a promotional poster
that would boost morale among its
employees the now-famous poster
featured a bandana clad woman flexing
her arm muscles under the slogan we can
do it due to copyright restrictions on
Rockwell's work Miller's we can do it
poster was adopted by the feminist
movement of the 1980s as a modern symbol
of female empowerment it is now the
image most commonly associated with
Rosie from wartime propaganda to
feminist symbol
Rosie has remained a riveting icon in
American history