Background
Geraldine Hoff was born in Inkster, Michigan. Her father Cornelious was an electrical contractor who died of pneumonia when she was 10 years old. Her mother, Augusta, was a composer who had scoliosis.
Geraldine Hoff was born in Inkster, Michigan. Her father Cornelious was an electrical contractor who died of pneumonia when she was 10 years old. Her mother, Augusta, was a composer who had scoliosis.
However, the 1942 news wire service photograph actually depicts another young war worker, Naomi Parker. After graduating from high school in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1942 Hoff found work as a metal presser in the American Broach & Machine Company of Ann Arbor. As men started enlisting and being drafted into military service for World World War II, women began to support the war effort by taking on roles, including factory work, that were formerly considered "male-only."
Because she was a cellist, Hoff feared a hand injury from the metal pressing machines and so she left the factory after having worked for only a couple weeks.
During the brief time she worked there, according to Doyle, a United Press International photographer took a picture of her.
Because the "We Can Do lieutenant!" poster was created for an internal Westinghouse project, it did not become widely known until the 1980s, when it was rediscovered and used by advocates of women"s equality in the workplace. In 1984, Doyle came across an article in Modern Maturity magazine which linked a press photo of a young war worker at a turret lathe to the "We Can Do lieutenant!" poster, neither of which Doyle had seen before.
Doyle felt she recognized herself in both the photo and the poster and in the 1990s conducted an (unsuccessful) letter-writing campaign to convince historian and author Penny Colman of her connection to the photo and therefore to the poster. News media outlets, upon Doyle"s death, memorialized her as the model for the famous poster, without citing evidence beyond Doyle"s assertions.
Later evidence, however, reveals that the press photo actually shows California war worker Naomi Parker, the photo taken at Naval Air Station Alameda in March 1942.
Doyle did not claim to have met or sat for poster artist J. Howard Miller, but only to have been the woman depicted in this particular press photo. The news wire service photograph of Naomi Parker was used as the cover image for the Time-book The Patriotic Tide: 1940-1950 published in 1986. The "We Can Do lieutenant!" image remains an icon and appeared on a 1999 postage stamp as part of a World World War II series produced by the United States. Postal Service.
Geraldine Hoff Doyle died on December 26, 2010, in Lansing, Michigan, as a result of complications from severe arthritis.
