| Artist J. Howard Miller (October 27, 1898 – September 2, 1985) produced this work-incentive “We Can Do It!” poster for the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company, intended for display from February 15 to February 28, 1943. Though displayed only briefly in Westinghouse factories, the poster later became 1 of the most famous icons of World War II. Miller would eventually create at least 40 posters in the series. However, only “We Can Do It!”—posted for 2 weeks at Westinghouse’s various locations in February 1943 and then forgotten for decades—was destined for fame. As women were encouraged to take wartime jobs in defense industries, they became a celebrated symbol of female patriotism. But when the war ended, many industries forced women to relinquish their skilled jobs to returning veterans. With manicured nails, painted lips, powdered cheeks, thick mascara, and evidence of a perm that peeks neatly from beneath a red and white headscarf, the figure depicts the patriotic white middle-class A female dressed temporarily in the blue “costume” of the factory worker during the war. Her presence fills most of the picture, both figuratively and literally. The posters of J. Howard Miller for the labor-management committee at Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company is a good example of how companies blended traditional themes of workplace discipline with imagery of sacrifice and patriotism. Many of the images implied a newly entrusted workforce; however, this empowerment was narrowly defined. While the now-famous poster of a woman with raised arm proclaimed “We Can Do It!,” other Westinghouse posters clarified what “It” meant. The committee primarily encouraged these women and their fellow workmen to follow orders and work harder. For employees who wondered about their role in production, another of Miller’s posters provided the answer. This time, a friendly manager counseled, “Any Questions About Your Work?… Ask Your Supervisor.” The moniker “Rosie the Riveter” 1st became associated with the “We Can Do It!” poster a few decades after the war, probably sometime in the 1980s. Several women claimed to be the model for the poster. The confusion over Rosie’s identity stems partly from the fact that the name Rosie the Riveter has been applied to more than 1 cultural artifact. The 1st was a wartime song of that name, by Redd Evans and John Jacob Loeb. It told of a munitions worker who “keeps a sharp lookout for sabotage / sitting up there on the fuselage.” Recorded by the bandleader Kay Kyser and others, it became a hit. The “Rosie” behind that song is well known: Rosalind P. Walter née Palmer (June 25, 1924 – March 4, 2020), a Long Island woman who was a riveter on Corsair fighter planes and is now a philanthropist, most notably a benefactor of public television. Another Rosie sprang from Norman Rockwell (February 3, 1894 – November 8, 1978), whose Saturday Evening Post cover of May 29, 1943, depicts a muscular woman in overalls (the name Rosie can be seen on her lunchbox), with a rivet gun on her lap and “Mein Kampf” crushed gleefully underfoot. Rockwell’s model was a Vermont woman, Mary Doyle Keefe (July 30, 1922 – April 21, 2015), who died in 2015. But in between those 2 Rosies lay the object of contention: a wartime industrial poster displayed briefly in Westinghouse Electric Corporation plants in 1943. Geraldine H. Doyle (July 31, 1924 – December 26, 2010) saw the poster in 1982. Remembering that she was photographed as a 17-year-old factory worker by United Press International, she genuinely believed she was the model for the poster. Her daughter thought it was her face on someone else’s arms – she didn’t have muscles. News media began identifying her as the model in the 1990s. However, academic research published in 2016 suggests the model was developed based on Naomi Parker Fraley (August 26, 1921 – January 20, 2018). After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Naomi and her sister, Ada “Wyn” Loy neé Parker (November 2, 1923 – August 16, 2022), went to work at the Naval Air Station in Alameda. They were assigned to the machine shop, where their duties included drilling, patching airplane wings, and riveting. It was there that an Acme photographer captured Naomi Parker, her hair tied in a bandanna for safety, at her lathe. She clipped the photo from the newspaper and kept it for decades. After the war, she worked as a waitress at the Doll House, a restaurant in Palm Springs, California, popular with Hollywood stars. She married and had a family; her 1st marriage ended in divorce, and her 2nd ended in her husband’s death. She married a 3rd time in 1979. In 2011, Mrs. Fraley and her sister attended a reunion of female war workers at the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park in Richmond, California. There, prominently displayed, was a photo of the woman at the lathe, captioned “Geraldine Doyle.” “I couldn’t believe it,” Fraley told The Oakland Tribune in 2016. “I knew it was actually me in the photo.” Seton Hall Professor James J. Kimble (born 1971) researched the claim that Doyle was the woman in the lathe photo. He located an old copy, with the caption intact, that identified Parker Fraley. An essential question remained: Did that photograph influence Mr. Miller’s poster? Most sources identify the poster’s completion in late 1942. The lathe photo was published in The Pittsburgh Press, Miller’s hometown newspaper, on July 5, 1942. So Miller could have easily seen it. “We can rule her in as a good candidate for having inspired the poster,” Kimble said. There is the telltale polka-dot head scarf, and Mrs. Fraley’s resemblance to the Rosie of the poster. Throughout the late 20th and early 21st century, the “We Can Do It!” poster, often titled the “Rosie the Riveter” poster, became a feminist icon. Remade countless times in parody for laughs and seriousness for political action, the poster has achieved legendary status. Lost in the American collective memory is that “We Can Do It!” was neither a government-issued poster nor was it particularly well known during the war. It was not issued for labor recruitment; rather, to encourage Westinghouse employees to greater production. The “We Can Do It!” poster has spawned many stories, many of them wildly inaccurate. The mythology of “We Can Do It!” has become more important than the actual content or wartime use of the poster itself. | |
| Image Filename | wwii1623.jpg |
| Image Size | 8.34 MB |
| Image Dimensions | 6730 x 8762 |
| Photographer | J. Howard Miller |
| Photographer Title | Office of Emergency Management |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | February 15, 1943 |
| Location | |
| City | New York |
| State or Province | New York |
| Country | United States |
| Archive | National Archives and Records Administration |
| Record Number | NWDNS-179-WP-1563 |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
Author of the World War II Multimedia Database