20. The Real Life Rosie the Riveter
As seen above, the We Can Do It! Poster had nothing to do with Rosie the Riveter. However, there was a real life woman, Rosalind P. Walter, nee Palmer (1924 – 2020), who inspired the Rosie the Riveter meme. Shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor thrust America into WWII, a teenaged Rosalind joined the war effort as an airplane factory riveter. Rosalind broke speed records on the production line, and advocated for equal pay for female factory workers. The New York Times ran an article about her that inspired a 1942 hit song, Rosie the Riveter, in honor of the working women who fueled America’s war effort.
The Rosie the Riveter meme took off, and became a stand-in for the millions of women who headed to the factories that supplied and supported the men in the field. In 1943, a Saturday Evening Post cover displayed a Norman Rockwell painting of a Rosie the Riveter, with a Mein Kampf beneath her feet. As to the original Rosie the Riveter, Rosalind P. Walter, already born into money, married into even more money, and became a renowned socialite and philanthropist. Among other things, she donated millions to help fund PBS, and became a trustee of both Long Island University and the American Museum of Natural History.
