Oveta Culp Hobby and the Women’s Army Corps

Colonel Oveta Culp Hobby (right), first director of the Women’s Army Corps, pictured while discussing with Auxiliary Margaret Peterson and Captain Elizabeth Gilbert at Mitchel Field in New York, sometime during 1943.

The Women’s Army Corps was the women’s branch of the US Army, modeled after similar British troops. Initially created as an auxiliary regiment on May 15th, 1942, the Women’s Army Corps was converted to active duty status on July 1st, 1943, and was eventually integrated with male units in 1978.

The WAC received massive backlash, as many civilians and soldiers considered it sexual and immoral. Slander campaigns were launched to discourage women from joining, calling members of the unit prostitutes or lesbians. These campaigns were largely successful, but lost momentum in 1945, when shortage of soldiers required any available able body to serve.

General Douglas MacArthur famously praised the WACs to be “my best soldiers”, insisting that they worked harder, complained less and showed more discipline than their male counterparts. Many generals and officers proposed drafting more women.

Oveta Culp Hobby, pictured on the right of the image, was the first director of the unit and also the second woman ever to serve in a presidential cabinet. She was Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare from 1953 to 1955. Dwight D. Eisenhower encouraged her to run for president in 1960, making her the first woman to be considered for such a candidacy, but eventually she did not run.

Book suggestions ⤵️

📖 Wacs: Women’s Army Corps (Vera S. Williams, 1997)

📖 Oveta Culp Hobby: Colonel, Cabinet Member, Philanthropist (Debra L. Winegarten, 2014)