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Rosie the Riveter

Rosie the Riveter

Rosie the Riveter

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Photo Galleries (2)

  • Women Factory Workers of World War II
    Women Factory Workers of World War II

    10 Photos

    During World War II, American women entered the workforce in unprecedented numbers. The munitions industry heavily recruited women workers, as represented by the U.S. government's "Rosie the Riveter" propaganda campaign.

    (10 Photos)
  • World War II Posters
    World War II Posters

    16 Photos

    View photos of famous posters from the World War II era.

    (16 Photos)

Videos (3)

  • Women in the Cockpit
    Women in the Cockpit

    Video Clip (3:52)

    Dawn Letson befriended a World War II veteran who was a member of the Women's Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) program, and shares her films from WASP training camp.

    Video Clip (3:52)
  • Women of War
    Women of War

    Video Clip (1:38)

    Find out the surprising stories of the unexpected ways women have served their countries in times of war.

    Video Clip (1:38)
  • Women's Army Auxiliary Corps
    Women's Army Auxiliary Corps

    Video Clip (3:13)

    May 14, 1943, marked the first anniversary of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC). The Women's Army Corps, a U.S. army organization created during World War II to enlist women as auxiliaries for noncombatant duty in the U.S. army. Before 1943 it was known as the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps. Its first director was Oveta Culp Hobby. During World War II, WACs served as medical technicians, cartography clerks, secretaries, and the like in the United States and in all the theaters of war. Almost 100,000 had joined the WAC by 1945. Enlistment ended with the war's end, and rapid demobilization followed. But by 1946 the War Department asked for reenlistments to meet shortages in army hospitals and personnel centers. In 1948 a bill was passed by Congress formally establishing the WAC within the regular army. The WAC was dissolved in 1978.

    Video Clip (3:13)

Speeches & Audio (6)

  • Franklin D. Roosevelt Establishes United States as Arsenal of Democracy
    Franklin D. Roosevelt Establishes United States as Arsenal of Democracy

    Audio Clip (1:08)

    President Franklin D. Roosevelt heralds the defense program of the United States and urges Americans to support an increase in aid to Great Britain to help defeat the Axis powers.

    Audio Clip (1:08)
  • U.S. Goals in World War II
    U.S. Goals in World War II

    Audio Clip (0:31)

    In his speech delivered July 23, 1942, Secretary of State Cordell Hull explains the aims of the United States in World War II.

    Audio Clip (0:31)
  • Franklin D. Roosevelt on American Progress in World War II
    Franklin D. Roosevelt on American Progress in World War II

    Audio Clip (1:00)

    With the United States now entered into World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt uses the occasion of Washington’s birthday to broadcast to the nation on February 23, 1942, an outline of America’s progress in the war.

    Audio Clip (1:00)
  • Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1941 Labor Day Speech
    Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1941 Labor Day Speech

    Audio Clip (1:37)

    In his Labor Day radio broadcast in 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt reminds his fellow citizens of the need to devote America’s industrial effort to building weaponry in order to "crush Hitler and his Nazi forces."

    Audio Clip (1:37)
  • Franklin D. Roosevelt's Fourth of July Address
    Franklin D. Roosevelt's Fourth of July Address

    Audio Clip (2:07)

    In a broadcast from his home in Hyde Park, New York, on July 4, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt warns Americans who wish not to get involved in the war that "the United States will never survive as a happy and fertile oasis of liberty surrounded by a cruel desert of dictatorship."

    Audio Clip (2:07)
  • Douglas MacArthur Receives the Japanese Surrender
    Douglas MacArthur Receives the Japanese Surrender

    Audio Clip (1:21)

    On September 2, 1945, aboard the U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Bay, World War II comes to a close when Japanese officials sign the unconditional surrender. Gen. Douglas MacArthur presides over the signing and delivers a short speech on the momentous occasion.

    Audio Clip (1:21)

Interactives (1)

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Read More about Rosie the Riveter

During World War II, the U.S. government recruited women to join the munitions industry with the "Rosie the Riveter" propaganda campaign.

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