Nurse-The Girl with a Future." Later that evening the whole family talks about the possibility of Sally's becoming II nurse. Their conclusion is posit ive ; the Cadet Nurse Corp~ fills the bill. Smaillown "nd the Joneses. of course, are composites, drawn from the hundreds of communities and thousands of families that sent girls 10 nursing school from 194 3 to 1945. The story of their exposure 10 nursing via the Cadet Nurse Corps informational services offers valli;: . ble insight inlo how publicity nnd ndvertisemenl can foster a belleT image of nursi ng and improved pub­ lic relations fo r schools of nursing." Before the Cadet Corps, nursing received little attention from the general public. Like medicine and cerlain other profess ions, nursing had shied IIway from publicity, view­ ing it as unprofessional, undesirable, unethical, and undignified. In nddi· tion to this fear, nurses lacked Ihe skills necessary to present themselves and their cause effectively. But the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps, established by Congress on June 15, 1943 (the Bolton Act) as an emergency pro­ gram to provide an adequale supply _ THE GIRL WITH A FUTURE of nurses 31 home and for Ihe mili· tary, was to change all that. From July 194310 October 1945, some 132,000 girls were admiw:d In this documentary of the publicity campaign of the U.S. as Corps members to 1,125 of lhe 1,295 schools of nursing. Federal Cadet Nurse Corps, the Cadet Nurse was the "girl with a gra nts ..... ere made to schools of nurs· future" who was urged to "enlist in a proud profession." ing that mel the provisions of lhe act, which required that the school provide a 24- to 30-month accel· crated program and tbat students • PHILIP A. KAUSCH BEATRICE J. KALISCH admitt ed to the Corps pledge to "en· gagc in essential nursing, milila rr or civil ian, for the duration of the war." N IGHT fa~[s on Smalltown, About the same lime, the elder In return for this moral obligati on U.S.A. II IS 7:30 r.M., March daughter Sa ll y, a hi gh school se nior, on thc part of the student nurse, I, 1944, and the Jones fnmily has is viewing a short motion pi<:ture, thc government paid all reasonable sellled back to relax after their "Rewurd Unlimited," starring Dor­ evening meal. Their youngest daugh­ othy McGuire as Cadet Nurse Pegs}' • Docum~nta.ry uli<1ation 01 tbe (.CIlI In the article il derh' ~d Irom &everat prim»,. lQU!cei: ter Mary is in her room as the ndio Ada ms, at the Main Street movie ,he proa:dlnl!' of the rMetings of the! .cI~lrofY committee (0 the Dh"I,jon of !'une Edu~ " C!'" blares: "Do you want to be a girl theater. After the show the gang US PHS; pUblications 01 the F«Ier.1 $tNnlY with a future? Enroll in the Cadet stops at the drugstore to hash over A~nc)', USPHS. Division of Nut ... EcI~ C>II('/I, adminLs"l,t,-c memos and records of the U: S~ Nurse Corps of the United States the latest gossip under a compelling Caclet Num Corps; penonal intcrvle .... s ",-,t Funul Payne Bolton, Millnie Pobe CrfW.." Public Health Service and have a poster above the soda fountain and LucLIe Pel,), Leone:; and m;oc.Uanc SOUrcts. A detilled bibliography I. u.il.bIc war job with a future!" which proclaims: " He a Cadet from the lutllen \lpon request. 444 NURSING OUTLOOK tuition, fees, and other training costs within the shortest possible time by Until th is time the qual ity of and provided a distinctive uniform. utilizi ng all available media. nursing school catalogs had been al­ The Corps was administered through most un ive rsally poor and unappeal­ a new Division of Nurse Education POSTERS AND PAMPHLETS ing. But si nce one of the require­ within the U .S. Public Health Ser­ Some three mi ll ion posters we re ments for sc hool participation in the vice, headed by Lucile Petry (now distributed during the Corps' first Corps was the publication of an an­ Lucile Petry Leone), who was aided year. Tens of millions of Americans nual catalog, tremendous gains were by an advisory committee of repre­ were presented with a somewhat effected in this medium. Consultants sentative nursing and hospital lead­ glamorous image of nursing through from the Division of Nurse Educa_ ers. By the time the last stude nts illustrator Jon Whitcomb·s poster tion encouraged schools to incorpo­ were graduati ng from the Corps in depicti ng the so-ca ll ed "girl with a ra te ill ustrations of uniformed Ca­ June 1948, total federal expendi­ future." This and other posters (an­ dets into their publications and to IU rcs had amounted to more than other popular slogan was '"Enlist in describe the advantages of nursing S 160,000,000. a Proud Profession!") were placed in some detail. After a new bro· throughout the country in such di­ chure featuring the Corps was de­ VALUES OF VISIBILITY verse locations as theater lobbies, veloped at one school of nursing, The Corps' pu blic relations sec­ women's shoe stores, beauty shops, the school's director wrote to the tion was headed by Jean Henderson, high schools, YWCA's, public li­ Division of Nurse Education: with five publicists in the Washing­ braries, and churches. Downtown ton office and sil( others attached to shoppers were confronted wi th Ca­ ... the results which we have obtained from sending Ihis publication to schools each of the regional US PHS offices. det Nu rse window dis plays, and and colleges, have been far beyond our Another significant segment of the bill boa rds greeted city and highway e)(pectations and ... it has done more publ ic relations work was contracted drivers-those who had gas enough to put nursing ... before the public than any other project of our school of to the National Nursing Council for to drive in tho~ days! Prominent nursing. War Service, which-in addition to local businesscs were usually the other coordinating actLvltles­ donors. KAlliO AND MOVIES served as the official clearing house Pamphlets and leaflets were From July 1943 to ea rly June ('·Wri te to Box 88") where inter· placed nationwide in high schools, 1944, one and a hal f million dollars ested candidates could write fo r in­ physici an's offices, schools of nurs­ worth of radio time representing formation about the Corps. The ing. and drugstores. Car cards with 700 mil1ion listener impressions was American Hospital Association also such proclamations as "Only 5,4 16 donated to the Corps. Network pro­ received fun ds 10 cover some of the more opportunities to enlist this gramming made it possible to pre­ cost of maintaining information cen­ month, join the Cade t Nu rse Corps," sent Cadct Corps messages on all ters about the Corps in all member and accompanied by a sheaf of types of national radio broadcasts, hospitals. t h r ow~away leaflets describing the including soap operas, variety shows, One of the greatest publicity opportunity in detail, were placed in symphony concerts, and documen­ boosts came from the War Adver­ streetcars and bu~s for ready grab­ tary programs. Radio appeals were ti sing Council, wo rking through the bing. In Los Angeles one week, usuall y very intense during the two­ fede ral Office of War Informa tion . 100,000 street car passengers gog­ and four-week period preceding class The Council, made up of all Ihe gled at the sight of a pretty Cadet major advertising companies, do­ Nur~ on their pass who invited nated its services to publicizing im­ them to "Be a Cadet Nurse-the 80rh aulhors arc faclllly members al pOrtant war causes, pla nning and girl with a future." lire Uni~ersily 01 SOl/them MilJissippi, organizi ng Ihe work, persuading Teenage girls pored over the four­ Hallielbllrg, whtre DR. BEATRICE KALISCH (8.S.N., University 0/ Ne­ thousa nds of fir ms and ind ividuals color recruitment publication, EII­ braska, Omaira; Ed.D., UniversilY 0/ to donate lime and space for pub· list ill II Proud Profession! This 1 6~ Maryland, College Park) is cusociate hcity, and getting solid governmen_ page brochure contained photos of professor of lII"sillg. alld DR. PHILIP tal backing. Through the framework Cadets in winter and summer uni­ KALISCH (B.5., Uni~crsity of Nebras­ ka, Omaha; Ph.D., Pennsylvania Slate of this voluntary organization, the fo rms, attractive portraits and mes­ University, University Park) is assiSlant services of the well·known J. Walter sages from USPHS Surgeon General pro/eslor 0/ Ilistory. This arlicle stems Thompson advertising agency we re Dr. Thomas Parran and Lucile Jrom Uil exploratory Itlldy 0/ Ihe im­ made available to the U.s. Cadet Petry, numerous pictu res and de­ pilCt oj tire U.s. Cadct Nurse CorpI on Nurse Corps. Thus nursing, wi th scriptions of nurses working in vari­ tire nllrsing pro/ession Ihat the all/hors, as co-investigators. arc currently con­ Madison Avenue's sk ills and some ous parts of the wo rld, qualities ducling witir the mpport 01 N IH re­ $13,00{),000 worth of donated ser­ needed fo r en tering a school, and, sea rch gram NU00443 lrom Ihe Divi_ vice, set out to att ract unprece­ fi nall y, the immediate and long­ sion 0/ N llrsing. dented numbers of new students range benefits of Corps membership. JULY, 1973. VOl.