University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Dissertations, Theses, & Student Research, Department of History History, Department of 8-2013 THE MILITARY-MASCULINITY COMPLEX: HEGEMONIC MASCULINITY AND THE UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES, 1940-1963 Brandon T. Locke University of Nebraska-Lincoln Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/historydiss Part of the Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, History of Gender Commons, Military History Commons, and the United States History Commons Locke, Brandon T., "THE MILITARY-MASCULINITY COMPLEX: HEGEMONIC MASCULINITY AND THE UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES, 1940-1963" (2013). Dissertations, Theses, & Student Research, Department of History. 65. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/historydiss/65 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the History, Department of at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses, & Student Research, Department of History by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. THE MILITARY-MASCULINITY COMPLEX: HEGEMONIC MASCULINITY AND THE UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES, 1940-1963 by Brandon Thomas Locke A THESIS Presented to the Faculty of The Graduate College at the University of Nebraska In Partial Fulfillment of Requirements For the Degree of Master of Arts Major: History Under the Supervision of Professor Patrick D. Jones Lincoln, Nebraska August 2013 THE MILITARY-MASCULINITY COMPLEX: HEGEMONIC MASCULINITY AND THE UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES, 1940-1963 Brandon Thomas Locke, M.A. University of Nebraska, 2013 Adviser: Patrick D. Jones The military-industrial complex grew rapidly in the build up to the Second World War and continued to expand in the decades that followed. The military was not only much larger, but had also changed their relationship with American citizens, impacting their lives in new and complex ways. The defensive needs of World War Two and the Cold War made the military an imperative and prestigious institution in the United States, and the Selective Service Draft, beginning in 1940 and running continuously until 1973, gave the military unfettered access to the young men of the nation. During the same time, government propaganda spread to new forms of media, and created more in-depth narratives than ever before. A deep analysis of these deeper texts, created and distributed for mass audiences, provides a glimpse into the ways the military represented itself, and the expectations it had for the nation. The military consistently depicted its men as white, straight, cissexual, physically well-built, and emblematic of white, middle class norms and values. This corpus of propaganda drew heavily upon hegemonic masculinity, and illustrated all four of the dimensions of masculinity as outlined by Deborah S. David and Robert Brannon, in The Forty-Nine Percent Majority: The Male Sex Role. By drawing so heavily and completely upon these dimensions, the US military created an unproblematized image of the military, and also solidified and reified the existing masculine power dynamics. This thesis is also available in its original digital form in DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska-Lincoln and elsewhere on the web. i Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................................................ III CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 1 MILITARY MASCULINITY .................................................................................................................................. 3 HEGEMONIC MASCULINITY AND THE SELECTIVE SERVICE ................................................................................ 6 ABOUT THE MATERIALS ........................................................................................................................................... 7 CHAPTER 2: HEGEMONIC MASCULINITY ..................................................................................... 10 MASCULINITY .......................................................................................................................................................... 10 HEGEMONIC MASCULINITY ................................................................................................................................... 10 IDEALS OF HEGEMONIC MASCULINITY ............................................................................................................... 13 HEGEMONIC MASCULINITY AND THE UNITED STATES MILITARY ................................................................ 14 CHAPTER 3: AMERICAN MANHOOD .............................................................................................. 18 AMERICAN MANHOOD IN POLITICS .................................................................................................................... 27 AMERICAN MANHOOD AND THE BREADWINNER ............................................................................................. 35 AMERICAN MANHOOD AND MILITARY MASCULINITY ..................................................................................... 44 CHAPTER 4: ADVENTUROUSNESS AND AGGRESSIVENESS .................................................... 51 GOOD AGGRESSION ................................................................................................................................................ 52 BAD AGGRESSION ................................................................................................................................................... 58 CHAPTER 5: ANTIFEMININITY ........................................................................................................ 78 WOMEN IN THE MILITARY-MASCULINITY COMPLEX ...................................................................................... 81 EMASCULATED MEN .............................................................................................................................................. 85 CHAPTER 6: BE A BIG WHEEL ....................................................................................................... 103 ii STATUS ACHIEVEMENT ....................................................................................................................................... 104 VARYING AND INTERSECTING AVENUES OF BIGWHEEL STATUS ................................................................. 105 CHAPTER 6A. BE A BIG WHEEL - SPORTS .................................................................................. 106 THE BODY OF A WARRIOR .................................................................................................................................. 106 ATHLETES AND THE INDIVIDUAL'S CLAIM TO MASCULINITY ...................................................................... 108 CHAPTER 6B. BE A BIG WHEEL - BREADWINNER .................................................................. 124 THE SELF-MADE MAN ........................................................................................................................................ 124 FATHERHOOD AND THE FAMILY ........................................................................................................................ 126 BREADWINNING IN THE MILITARY-MASCULINITY COMPLEX ...................................................................... 128 CHAPTER 6C. BE A BIG WHEEL - MILITARY APPEAL ............................................................. 142 CHAPTER 7: INEXPRESSIVENESS AND INDEPENDENCE ....................................................... 155 BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................................. 172 iii Acknowledgements I would like to extend my gratitude to my advisor, Patrick D. Jones, my committee members, William G. Thomas III and Jeannette Eileen Jones, and Douglas Seefeldt, for their guidance, advice, expertise, support, and their willingness to allow me to explore new methods of scholarship. The completion of this thesis would not have been possible without their contributions, suggestions, and patience. To my family and friends, thank you for your support throughout the writing of this thesis, and for helping me relax when the project seemed too daunting. I also want to specifically thank Jason Heppler, Jacob Friefeld, Rebecca Wingo, Brian Sarnacki, and Andy Wilson for their willingness to provide feedback; Dustin Lipskey and Dylan Baumann for helping me with HTML and Javascript issues; and Jordan Mapes for helping me with grammar and writing style. I would also like to thank Richard Graham at University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries. This project would not have been possible without his work on the Government Comics collection and his willingness to share his knowledge and his resources with me. 1 Chapter 1: Introduction The military builds men. The linkage between manhood and military service has existed for centuries, and has been present across cultures. In the United States, military and defense propaganda have expressed this concept for more than a century. This notion is not always explicitly described, but is nearly always present as a package of imagery and narration that clues the reader in to what the federal government and the military have in mind when they say they will "build" a man. Taking a more critical view of