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AND ORAL HISTORY for WORLD WAR II FEMALE VETERANS By "WHEN FLAGS FLEW HIGH": PROPAGANDA, MEMORY; AND ORAL HISTORY FOR WORLD WAR II FEMALE VETERANS by KATHLEEN M. RYAN A DISSERTATION Presented to the School ofJournalism and Communication and the Graduate School ofthe University ofOregon in partial fulfillment ofthe requirements for the degree of Doctor ofPhilosophy June 2008 11 University of Oregon Graduate School Confirmation of Approval and Acceptance of Dissertation prepared by: Kathleen Ryan Title: ""When Flags Flew High": Propaganda, Memory and Oral History for World War II Female Veterans" This dissertation has been accepted and approved in partial fulfillment ofthe requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in the Department of Journalism and Communication by: Lauren Kessler, Chairperson, Journalism and Communication Biswarup Sen, Member, Journalism and Communication Julianne Newton, Member, Journalism and Communication Daniel Pope, Outside Member, History and Richard Linton, Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies/Dean ofthe Graduate School for the University of Oregon. June 14,2008 Original approval signatures are on file with the Graduate School and the University of Oregon Libraries. iii © 2008 Kathleen M. Ryan IV An Abstract ofthe Dissertation of Kathleen M. Ryan for the degree of Doctor ofPhilosophy in the School ofJournalism and Communication to be taken June 2008 Title: "WHEN FLAGS FLEW HIGH": PROPAGANDA, MEMORY, AND ORAL HISTORY FOR WORLD WAR II FEMALE VETERANS Approved: Dr. Lauren Kessler During World War II, U.S. women responded to a call: "Free a man to fight." It was the first time women were officially welcomed as members ofthe military reserves, serving for the duration ofthe war plus six months before returning to their civilian lives. This dissertation fuses oral history interviews with a cultural studies analysis ofmedia messages to understand the experiences and motivations ofthe women who served. It focuses on those who volunteered for the Navy (known as WAVES) and Coast Guard (referred to as SPARs). By investigating the women's memories alongside the government's intents, the dissertation, in effect, tests Stuart Hall's theory ofencoding and v decoding. The U.S. Navy and Coast Guard engaged in a conscious pattern of encoding using various media messages, both civilian and government-sponsored, to construct a specific identity for female recruits. The women were consistently positioned in the media as more elite and refined than their counterparts in other service branches. The foundation ofthis construction was the couture-designed uniform, which the women often saved and recall in great detail. For their part, the women decoded these messages in often surprising ways. On one hand they affirmed the importance oftheir jobs and the elite nature oftheir service branch; conversely, "I didn't do anything important" is a common refrain. By looking at specific media sources (newsreels, recruitment posters, feature films, magazine photo essays), one can reach an understanding ofthe consistent and coordinated message the women received. Oral history, meanwhile, offers not only a platform to interrogate the women's memories ofthe era, but also provides the women with a way to reevaluate and reconsider their past. As a result, this dissertation not only investigates the effects ofpropaganda in the mid-20th century, but also casts a spotlight on a facet ofthe war largely ignored by mainstream historians. vi CURRICULUM VITAE NAME OF AUTHOR: Kathleen M. Ryan GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED: University of Oregon, Eugene University of Southern California, Los Angeles Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts University of California, Santa Barbara DEGREES AWARDED: Doctor ofPhilosophy, Communication and Society, 2008, University of Oregon Master ofArts, Broadcast Journalism, 1987, University of Southern California Bachelor ofArts, Political Science, 1983, University of California, Santa Barbara AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST: Oral History Cultural Studies American History PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: Instructor ofRecord and Graduate Teaching Fellow, School ofJournalism and Communication, University of Oregon, 2005-2008 Freelance Producer/Reporter, TaylorCatProductions (privately owned company), 1997-2008 Senior Producer, Fox NewsChannel, New York, NY, 1996-1999 Producer, WNBC-TV, New York, NY 1995-1996 VI! Producer/Reporter, various medium/small market television stations, 1988-1995 GRANTS, AWARDS AND HONORS: Top Student Paper, Interpersonal Communication Division, International Communication Association Convention, 2008 Gerald E. and Corrine L. Parsons Fund Award, Library of Congress, 2007 Graduate Student Research Support Grant, Center for the Study ofWomen in Society, University ofOregon, 2007 Award ofExcellence (Documentary), Broadcast Education Association, 2007 Fellow, Columbia University Summer Institute on Oral History, 2006 Dan Kimble First Year Teaching Award, University of Oregon, 2006 PUBLICATIONS: Ryan, Kathleen M. "Transparent and mysterious: On collecting, the photograph, and Tomio Seike." Journalfor Cultural Research. (expected publication date April 2008). Ryan, Kathleen M. "Temporary Resistance: Strategies ofAmerican Television News Freelance Workers," Business ofEntertainment: Television, ed. Robert E. Sickel, New York: Praeger Press (expected publication date 2008) Ryan, Kathleen M. "Review: ABC & Bob Woodruff." Feedback 49-1. (January 2008). Ryan, Kathleen M. "Book review." Electronic News 1-2 (August 2007). viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Thank you to Professor Kessler for her advice and support through the research and writing ofthis manuscript. Thanks are also due to Professors Pope, Newton and Sen for their invaluable input and guidance. This research was supported in part by grants from the Center for Study in Women and Society at the University of Oregon and by the Library of Congress. Finally, thank you to all of the women who participated in this project, both by sharing their oral histories directly with me and by contributing their oral histories to archives around the country. ix For my husband (who knows why) and for my mother, for her inspiration. x TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page 1. INTRODUCTION: MY MOTHER'S WAR . Notes 12 II. HISTORICAL CONTEXT 13 The Notion of"Women's Work" 14 The Depression and World War II 20 The History ofWomen in the Navy................................................................. 29 Notes 35 lII. THEORY AND LITERATURE REVIEW 40 Cultural Studies 41 The Propaganda Model 47 Oral History 'fheory 52 Feminism and Oral History 58 Historiography, Cultural Studies and Oral History 63 Research Questions 70 Notes 74 xi Chapter Page IV. METHODOLOGY 81 Methodology ofthe Oral History Interview 82 Cultural Studies Analysis ofVisual Communication 94 Discourse and Textual Analysis of Interviews, Memoirs and Fiction 99 Limitations/Concerns ofMethodology 100 Notes 104 V. IDENTITY AND MOTIVATIONS 106 Growing Up 107 The Beginning ofthe War 121 The Rumor Mill 137 Notes 149 VI. UNIFORM IDENTITY 152 Unifonn Matters 153 PosterGirls 176 "Don't Miss Your Great Opportunity " 198 Notes 210 VII. FREEING A MAN TO FIGHT 214 Military LIFE 215 A Coordinated Effort 220 Navy Glamor 227 xu Chapter Page The Hollywood Way 235 Notes 248 VIII. IDENTITY AND MILITARY SERVICE 252 From Recruits to Boots 254 On the Job Training 269 Military Work 276 Leaving the Military for the Post-War World 298 Notes 303 IX. IDENTITY AND THE HISTORICAL RECORD 305 "I Didn't Do Anything Important" 306 Negotiating the Space of Memories 315 Vision and "Re-vision" 322 Fact versus Fiction 330 Memory, Place and Identity 340 Notes 346 X. CONCLUSION: SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS 348 Encoding/Decoding 349 The Search for Thick Conversation 351 My Mother's War, Redux 361 Notes 367 Xlll Chapter Page APPENDICES A. INTRODUCTORY LETTER TO POTENTIAL ORAL HISTORY NARRATORS 368 B. FOLLOW-UP LETTER WITH QUESTION TOPICS 370 C. WAVES NATIONAL ARTICLE 372 D. ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEW RELEASE FORM 373 E. TRANSCRIPT COVER LETTER 375 BIBLIOGRAPHY 377 XIV LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. Mary Marovich Ryan Notice of Separation from the United States Navy . 2. "What 'Telephone Family' Has the Most Men in Uniform?" . 5 3. WAVES AlU1iversary Celebration Program n .. n . 5 4. "Pat" 6 5. "Gin" 6 6. "Bette" 6 7. Fairmont Hotel 7 8. Hunter College 7 9. Mary Marovich WAVES Portrait 9 10. "Where Did You Get That Hat?" 164 11. Mildred McAfee Receives Her Promotion to Captain 165 12. Dorothy "Dot" Forbes with Two Friends 166 13. WAVES Recruitment Drive 168 14. "Will Your Name Be There?" " 183 15. "Wish I Could Join Too!" 184 16. "For Your Country's Sake Today: For Your Own Sake Tomorrow" 186 xv Figure Page 17. "To Make Men Free" 187 18. "Don't Miss Your Great Opportunity" 189 19. "Make a Date with Uncle Sam" 192 20. "The Girl ofthe Year is a SPAR" 196 21. "Join the WAVES or SPARs" 197 22. "Mrs. Wills and Pickens Sworn into the Navy" 224 23. "Lt. JG Pickens and Ens. Wills Packing" 225 24. "WAVE Flagging A Plane" 281 25. "Eleanor Roosevelt Visits Hunter College" 282 26. "Beaumont Salutes her WAVES" 283 27. Merilly Kurtz and Friend 296 28. Merrily Kurtz and Friends 296 29. "We WAVES ofNAS Barbers Point Extend Our Thanks to the 116th Battalion Sabees for our 'Blue Heaven'" 297 30. Doris Mansfield with Military Staff from her Civil Service Job 311 31. "V is for Victory" 333 32. "Dress Greys" 333 33. Yeoman Third Class Betty Martin Exiting the Rear Door of a 5"/38 Gun Mount While Touring the USS Missouri in an East Coast Port 336 34. WAVES Visiting USS Missouri 337 35. Women Wait to Toss Rose Petals Overboard 353 xvi Figure Page 36. Women Wait to Toss Rose Petals Overboard 353 37. WAVES National Convention Group Shot 354 38. Author Talking with Unidentified WAVES 355 39. Violet Kloth with Freddie McBride 355 40. Mickey Kalinauskas, Margaret Anderson, author, Virginia Gillmore 357 41. Unidentified WAVES at Dinner 357 42. Margaret Thorngate with Unidentified WAVE 358 43. Mel Kangleon, author, Anna Fogelman 358 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION: MY MOTHER'S WAR SEVEN UP! -- Her six brothers are serving in the armedforces, but Mary Marovich, 22 ... decided that wasn't enough. Enlisting in the WAVES she takes the oath from Lt. Margaret Harding Cecil. Chicago Times, (no date) 1943 FEMININE FIRSTS .
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