- "The function of the war poster is to make coherent and acceptable a basically incoherent and irrational ordeal of killing, suffering, and destruction that violates every accepted principle of morality and decent living.”
--O.W. Riegal, propaganda analyst for the Office of War Information
Explaining the rosie propaganda
J. Howard Miller created the “we can do it” Rosie the Riveter, not Norman Rockwell, who created the Rosie the Riveter painting. Mary Doyle Keefe was the model used by Rockwell in his painting. Michelangelo’s “Prophet Isaiah,” as painted on the Sistine Chapel, is similar to Rockwell’s painting (Rosie the Riveter).
“Just as Isaiah was called by God to convert the wicked from their sinful ways and trample evildoers under foot,” wrote one Sothebys curator in a May 2002 review, “so Rockwell’s Rosie tramples Hitler under her all-American penny loafer.” (“Rosie the Riveter”)
In Norman Rockwell’s Saturday Evening Post illustration of “Rosie the Riveter,” Rosie is on her lunch break eating a sandwich, while her riveting gun lays in her lap. She appears gazing off in the distance and an American flag flies behind her. Rosie also has a lace handkerchief hanging out of her pocket. Rosie is stepping on Mein Kampf, portraying that she wants to take part in stomping out Hitler. Rockwell also created an image that was a woman doing many different jobs at once (Brothers).
“Rosie the Riveter” first came in song. It was published in 1942 and was written by Redd Evans and John Jacob Loeb. The “Rosie the Riveter” song was released in early 1943 and was played on the radio and broadcasted nationally (“Rosie the Riveter”). The Rosie the Riveter song wasn’t based on a real person. There were ten-minute films written by Eleanor Roosevelt which were called “Women in Defense.” Other propaganda included movies about Rosie the Riveter (Coleman).
During World War II, information was an important “weapon.” Women power, along with other themes such as careless talk, conservation, civil defense, war bonds, victory gardens, and anti-German and Japanese posters were the most popular (Propaganda Posters).