ABSTRACT Title of Document: CARRY ON: AMERICAN WOMEN AND THE VETERANIST-COMMEMORATION OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR, 1917-1945 Allison Sarah Finkelstein, Ph.D., 2015 Directed By: Associate Professor Saverio Giovacchini, Department of History The commemoration of the First World War deeply impacted American culture between 1917 and 1945, and incited a contentious debate about the best forms of military memorialization. All kinds of American women participated in commemorations alongside men, the government, veterans, and the military. Even more frequently, they took part in predominantly female memorialization projects, many of which aided veterans. Organizations composed of American women who believed they served or sacrificed during the First World War defined community service and veterans advocacy as forms of commemoration that they pursued in addition to, or sometimes instead of, more permanent forms of commemoration. In keeping with women’s contributions to the war effort and their Progressive era service and reform activities, many American women pursued service-based commemorative projects to serve the nation in ways normally prohibited to them because of gender-based restrictions on their citizenship. This dissertation investigates how American women who served during the First World War commemorated the conflict during the interwar period and through the end of World War Two. It employs the term “veteranist-commemorations” to describe the service-based memorialization projects these women advocated, and designates these women as female “veteranist-commemorators.” Rejecting traditional monuments, female veteranist-commemorators placed the plight of male and female veterans at the center of their memorialization efforts. Women’s veteranist- commemorations did not solely address veterans of strictly defined military service, but included anyone who sacrificed during the war. Female veteranist-commemorators pioneered a new form of commemoration that revolutionized American memorial practices. Their actions forced Americans to re- think their commemorative practices and provided a new way to conceptualize the definition of a memorial. Through their outspoken support of veteranist- commemorations, these women promoted a type of commemoration that included intangible actions, human bodies, and ephemeral activities as crucial, defined parts of the memorialization process. In doing so, female veteranist-commemorators changed the course of American military commemoration, even though their memorialization methods did not gain as widespread acceptance as they hoped. CARRY ON: AMERICAN WOMEN AND THE VETERANIST- COMMEMORATION OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR, 1917-1945 By Allison Sarah Finkelstein Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2015 Advisory Committee: Associate Professor Saverio Giovacchini, Chair Professor Donald Linebaugh Associate Professor Robyn Muncy Associate Professor Michael Ross Associate Professor Jennifer Wingate © Copyright by Allison Sarah Finkelstein 2015 Dedication In memory of Lewis Finkelstein: Seaman First Class, United States Navy, World War II. 1926-2012. ii Acknowledgements Many people and institutions supported me as I wrote this dissertation. It is a pleasure to finally thank them for their contributions. The Department of History at the University of Maryland, College Park, generously supported my work through teaching assistantships, a summer prospectus development grant, and a Fall 2014 History Department Dissertation Writing Fellowship. Along with the Graduate School and the College of Arts and Sciences, the Department of History provided me with several travel grants to present at scholarly conferences. An extraordinarily kind and intelligent group of professors at the University of Maryland, College Park, helped me complete this dissertation. They include: Dr. Richard Bell, Dr. Clare Lyons, Dr. Jon Sumida, Dr. Marsha Rozenblit, Dr. Bernard Cooperman, Dr. Sonya Michel, and Dr. Marion Moser Jones. Jodi Hall provided kind and practical advice through the entire process. I could not have written this dissertation without the support and wisdom of the wonderful members of my dissertation committee: Dr. Robyn Muncy, Dr. Michael Ross, Dr. Donald Linebaugh, and Dr. Jennifer Wingate. Thank you all for your dedication to this project and for making my defense such a rewarding experience. Thanks especially to Dr. Wingate for generously sharing her time and making the trip to College Park for the defense. For three years, my adviser, Dr. Saverio Giovacchini, has mentored me through the dissertation process. He believed in my project from the very beginning and devoted himself to my work with a rare intensity and passion. Dr. Giovacchini constantly pushed me and helped me become iii the scholar I am today. I will always be grateful for his mentorship, friendship, encouragement, and expectations of excellence. Outside of the University of Maryland, many other scholars supported this dissertation. Thank you to: Dr. Pearl James, Dr. Steven Trout, Dr. Michal Neiberg, Dr. Christopher Capozzola, Dr. Mark Levtich, Dr. Mitch Yockelson, Dr. Michael Matheny, Dr. Stephen Carney, and the Department of History at the United States Military Academy, West Point. Margaret Vining and. Dr. Barton C. Hacker at the National Museum of American History took me into their office and research files and encouraged me to build on own scholarship. Dr. Richard Palmer and Dr. James Whittenburg at The College of William & Mary inspired me to apply to graduate school and prepared me for this process far better than I realized as an undergraduate. Numerous archivists and institutions guided my work and enriched my research. I would especially like to thank: Jonathan Casey and Stacie Peterson at the National World War I Museum; Britta Granrud at the Women’s Memorial Foundation; and Whitney Hopkins, Susan Watson, Jean Shulman, and Shane MacDonald at the American Red Cross Headquarters. I also appreciate the help of the National Archives, College Park; The National Archives, Washington D.C.; The Library of Congress; the Margaret Herrick Library; the Indiana Historical Society; The University of Texas, San Antonio Special Collections; and the Archives of American Art. Holly S. Fenelon provided key advice about the Gold Star Pilgrimages. Captain Jenna Grassbaugh generously shared her personal story with a stranger over the phone and helped me connect my argument to the present day. iv Peter Booth, Ian Kerr, Tom Shedden, and Simon Matthews, my former colleagues in the History Department at Lord Wandsworth College, are responsible for my interest in World War One. I am thankful for their friendship and for the incredible opportunities they gave me to explore British commemorative culture. I have been fortunate to work in several internships and part time jobs during graduate school that provided valuable opportunities to gain public history skills. Along the way, each group of colleagues I met encouraged me as I worked on my dissertation. Thank you to: Dr. Bruce Ragsdale, Dr. Jake Kobrick, and Dr. Daniel Holt at the Federal Judicial History Office; and to Colonel Deborah Grays (Ret.), Lieutenant General Claude M. Kicklighter (Ret.), Mark Franklin, Mose McWhoter, Larry Brom, Devon Hardy, Dr. James Wainwright, Trina Chisholm, Victor Lopez, Richard Williams, Colonel Gary Szabo, Deborah Cox, Eric Marr, Lieutenant Commander John Supple, SSGT James Hartman, Sandra O’Dea, and Alicia Jones at the Department of Defense Vietnam War Commemoration Program. The staff of the American Battle Monuments Commission played a huge role in this dissertation. They gave me the opportunity to intern for their agency, an experience which led directly to this dissertation. They supported me throughout the entire process and I am extremely grateful to all of them. I especially want to thank: Senator Max Cleland, Mike Conley, Tim Nosal, John Marshall, General John S. Brown, Alec Bennett, Alan Amelinckx, Sarah Herrmann, Martha Sell, John Brennan, David and Bibiane Bedford, Jay and Amy Blount, Craig and Lorna Rahanian, Tom Sole, Edwin Fountain, Bud Schaster, Pat Harris, Samuel Thompson, Roberto Dominguez, Angelo Munsel, Mike Coonce, Geoffrey Fournier, and Annelle Ferrand. v Mike Shipman provided generous help with photographs. Colonel Robert J. Dalessandro (RET), Michael G. Knapp, and Monique Ceruti provided crucial support and encouragement during the critical last phase of this process; I appreciate their unwavering belief in my abilities and potential. I am so grateful to my friends for their advice and constant cheerleading. Thank you to: Reid Gustafson, Nate Reul, Rachel Spitz-Leiberman, Ayah Nuridden, Alda Benjamen, Robert Bland, Lane Wyndham, Vince Houghton, Jake Couch, Scott Moore, Tyler Stump, Derek Leininger, Joshua Furman, Brandi Townsend, Shawn Moura, Cynthia Thaxton, Bettina Hilliard, Mitra Shultz, Oliva Novak, Shayna Daghigh, Haessly Frantz, Katie Lantner, Nina Rosenberg, Caitlin Doyle, Lisa Braverman, Alexandra Pomeroy, Varnika Roy, Rohan Fernandes, Melissa Gray, Juliana Glassco, Joshua Clayton, Imogen and Mark Woods, Norma Rudat, Marta Enriquez Chica, Ian and Lynn Power, and Kristen Long. Some friends have gone above and beyond to help me complete this dissertation. They each know their contributions and I cannot thank them enough: Harrison Guthorn, Meghan Ryan Guthorn, Joshua Walker, Sara Black, Lauren Gauthier, Laura