'The Hands That Might Save Them': Gender, Race and the Politics of Nursing in the United States during the Second World War

Gender and History

Volumn 24, Issue 2, 2012, Pages 456-474

  Threat, Charissa J ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

GENDER ISSUE; POLITICAL CONFLICT; RACE; SOCIAL HISTORY;

UNITED STATES;

EID: 84864320605     PISSN: 09535233     EISSN: 14680424     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0424.2012.01691.x     Document Type: Article

References (94)

1. Janet Geister, 'Plain Talk', The Trained Nurse and Hospital Review, March 1945, pp. 206-8
2. Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, 'African-American Women's History and the Metalanguage of Race', Signs 17 (1992), pp. 251-74.
3. Ruth Milkman, Gender at Work: The Dynamics of Job Segregation by Sex During World War II (Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 1987)
4. Alice Kessler-Harris, Out to Work: A History of Wage-Earning Women in the United States (New York: Oxford University Press, 1982).
5. There is some disagreement over the long-term impact of the Second World War on the lives of American women. Leila Rupp and Ruth Milkman argue that permanent changes did not occur and that the Second World War acted as a continuous bridge between pre-war conservative values that maintained a strict division of labour and post-war stress on traditional gender roles. William Chafe argues that the Second World War was a watershed moment for American women, although his focus remained on white, middle-class women. See William Chafe, The American Woman: Her Changing Social, Economic, and Political Roles, 1920-1970 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1972); Leila Rupp, Mobilizing Women for War: German and American Propaganda, 1939-1945 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1978); Maureen Honey, Creating Rosie the Riveter: Class, Gender and Propaganda in World War II (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1984); Mary Dudziak, Cold War Civil Rights: Race and the Image of American Democracy (Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, ); Milkman, Gender at Work.2000
6. Hirsch's examination of the labour struggles at the Pullman Company over the course of a century reveals how work opportunities at the company and workers' struggles against discriminatory practices were stymied. Susan Hirsch, After the Strike: A Century of Labor Struggle at Pullman (Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 2003), p. 210.
7. Hirsch, After the Strike, p. 163.
8. Although Berube and Meyer's discussions about homosexuality suggest important lines of analysis for the study of men who challenged the gender-typing of jobs and offer gripping narratives about contests over sexuality in the US military, their work fails to include male nurses. Allen Berube, Coming Out Under Fire: The History of Gay Men and Women during World War II (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2010
9. Leisa D. Meyer, Creating GI Jane: Sexuality and Power in the Women's Army Corps during World War II (New York: Columbia University Press, 1998).
10. According to 1930 census records, there were only 147 African American male professional or student nurses; by 1940, this number went down to 127. American Nurses' Association, Facts about Nursing (Kansas City: American Nurses' Association, 1941), p. 18.
11. Darlene Clark Hine, Black Women in White: Racial Conflict and Cooperation in the Nursing Profession 1890-1950 (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 19893
12. Barbara Melosh, The Physician's Hand: Nurses and Nursing in the Twentieth Century (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1982
13. Susan Reverby, Ordered to Care: The Dilemma of American Nursing (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987).
14. According to historian Timothy Stewart-Winter, a large number of conscientious objectors were classified as I-A-O. This meant that they only objected to combat service and 'typically served as medics ... in the military'. My focus here is on graduate trained nurses, however, and for this reason I will not discuss the I-A-O. Timothy Stewart-Winter, 'Not a Soldier, Not a Slacker: Conscientious Objectors and Male Citizenship in the United States during the Second World War', Gender and History 19 (2007), pp. 519-42.
15. Reverby, Ordered to Care, p. 4.
16. Psychiatric nursing in the first half of the twentieth century was a job of neither higher status nor pay. Before 1940, many of the schools that trained men were connected to mental hospitals, and therefore the education that men received was much more limited than the broad general training women received in nursing school. Although the number of psychiatric patients increased during the Second World War and many Army officials were uncomfortable with the dangers to female nurses in these wards, the Army refused the idea of accepting male nurses. Instead, they assigned extra medical attendants to help the nurses. Mary Sarnecky, A History of the US Army Nurse Corps (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999), pp. 196-7,
17. Christine L. Williams, Gender Differences at Work: Women and Men in Nontraditional Occupations (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1991), pp. 91-5.
18. There was also a Navy Nurse Corps (founded in ), not discussed in this article.1908
19. As an auxiliary to the Army, not part of the regular permanent Army, nurses who wished to join the Nurse Corps were ultimately appointed by the Surgeon General. Sarnecky, A History of the US Army Nurse Corps, pp. 29-31
20. 'No Male Red Cross Nurses', American Journal of Nursing 35 (1935), p. 388.
21. Major Edna B. Groppe, 'Statement made at the public hearing before the House Military Affairs Committee on February 14, 1945', American Journal of Nursing 45 (1945), pp. 175-6
22. Sarnecky, A History of the US Army Nurse Corps, pp. 50-51
23. Sarnecky, A History of the US Army Nurse Corps, pp. 64-5.
24. Daisy D. Urch, 'Letters to the Editor American Journal of Nursing 20 (1919), pp. 246-8.
25. The ambiguous position of nurses often resulted in abuse and unfair treatment. This included lack of respect for their position from other medical personnel and soldiers as the more minor offences to being overworked as the more serious offences. Sarnecky, A History of the US Army Nurse Corps, chapters 1-3.
26. Sarnecky, A History of the US Army Nurse Corps, pp. 146-7.
27. The Selective Service Act of 1940 instituted the first peacetime draft in the history of the United States and called every able-bodied man to give one year of service to the nation's military.
28. Congress, House, Message from the President of the United States 79th Congress, 1st Session, 6 January 1945 7
29. Major General Norman Kirk as quoted in 'Nurses Face Draft as Casualties Rise', The Stars and Stripes, 7 January , Army Nurse Corps Archives, Office of the Surgeon General, Falls Church, VA [hereafter ANCA], Box 79.1945
30. Congress, House, Committee on Military Affairs, Procurement of Nurses hearings before the United States House Committee on Military Affairs, 79th Congress, 1st Session, 19 January 1945 and 6-9, 13-14 February 1945.
31. Walter Lippmann, 'American Women and our Wounded Men', Washington Post, 19 December 1944.
32. Various newspaper articles and a vigorous print and radio campaign by the American Nurses' Association, Red Cross and National Nursing Council for War Service, fed the public's belief that the nursing shortage and the need for nurses was getting greater by the end of See American Nurses' Association Collection, Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University.1944
33. Commenting on the 'Draft Nurse Bill', a number of nurses focused on the discriminatory nature of the bill in singling out women nurses. 'Notes on the Draft Nurses Bill', The Trained Nurse and Hospital Review, April 1945, pp. 258-9
34. 'Nurses' Draft', The Trained Nurse and Hospital Review, February 1945, pp. 114-15
35. According to the 1940 US Census and the American Nurses' Association, there were just over 8,000 male nurses, and just over 7,000 African American nurses in the United States. This number included those practicing and students. By January 1943, about 300 men nurses self-reported serving in a branch of the armed forces. American Nurses' Association, Facts about Nursing (1943), p. 12; American Nurses' Association, Facts about Nurses (1946), p. 18.
36. Agnes Waters was a far-right activist, anti-communist and anti-liberal agitator who made a name for herself during the 1930s and 1940s as an outspoken, antagonistic member of the 'Mother's Movement'. She often testified before Congress as a staunch maternalist who believed it was her moral duty to help protect the nation from any and all who would be its downfall. For more information on Agnes Waters and other right-wing women see Glen Jeansonne, Women of the Far-Right: The Mother's Movement and World War II (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996); June Melby Benowitz, Days of Discontent: American Women and Right Wing Politics, 1933-1945 (DeKalb: Northern Illinois Press, 2002).
37. Congress, House, Committee on Military Affairs, Procurement of Nurses hearings before the United States House Committee on Military Affairs, 79th Congress, 1st Session, 14 February 1945, pp. 257-62.
38. Congress, Procurement of Nurses hearings, 19 January 1945, pp. 3-4
39. About forty-seven schools of nursing admitted men by 1940. The 1940 census indicated that there were about 8,000 male nurses in the United States and according to Congressional Hearings about 2,000-3,000 were available for military service. Sandy F. Mannino to Franklin D. Roosevelt, 13 June 1940 and Nathaniel H. Wooding to Colonel G. Love, 5 July 1940, ANCA, Box 110.
40. LeRoy Craig, 'Opportunities for Male Nurses', American Journal of Nursing 40 (1940), pp. 666-70.
41. Mitchell Blake to Senator Henry C. Lodge, 7 December 1940, ANCA, Box 110.
42. Italics added for emphasis by the author.
43. Congress, Procurement of Nurses hearings, 19 January 1945 and 6-9, 13-14 February 1945.
44. According to the Surgeon General, more than 13,000 men were commissioned as 'Medical Administrative Corpsmen' after attending Officer's Training School. There is no sense however, how many of these men held civilian nursing degrees. Further, as medical administrators, these men were not practicing nursing. Congress, Procurement of Nurses hearings, 19 January 1945, p. 10
45. LeRoy Craig to Albert G. Love, 6 July , ANCA, Box 110.1940
46. American Nurses' Association, [memorandum] 13 January , 'Re status of male nurses in the Army and Navy', from 'Resumé of Action Taken by American Nurses' Association with Regard to Securing Recognition of Male Nurses Serving in the Armed Forces', 9 January 1943, ANCA, Box 110.1942
47. Love rarely defined what he meant by 'administrative problems' but did allude to it in a memo he typed on behalf of the Surgeon General. Here, he suggested that managing the Nurse Corps, including basic efforts like housing, would be impossible with the inclusion of male nurses. Furthermore, unlike female nurses who were appointed to one job, male service members were expected to be flexible and able to perform whatever duties were needed of them to support the mission of the Army. Memo located with Joseph P. D. O'Connell to President Roosevelt, [typed report] 18 December , ANCA, Box 110.1940
48. 'Nurse or Soldier', American Journal of Nursing 4 (1941), p. 1449.
49. Kenneth T. Crummer, 'A School of Nursing for Men', American Journal of Nursing 24 (1924), p. 458.
50. American Nurses' Association, 'Service of Male Nurses during War', 1942, ANCA, Box 110, pp. 1-12
51. 'Male Nurses', [1943], ANCA, Box 110.
52. 'Men Nurses and the Armed Forces', American Journal of Nursing 43 (1943), p. 1066; American Nurses' Association, [memorandum] 13 January 1942, 'Re Status of male nurses in the Army and Navy', 9 January 1943
53. 'Male Nurses', Col. Florence A. Blanchfield to John K. Welch, 6 August 1943, ANCA, Box 110.1943
54. 'Male Nurses', [1943]; Col. Florence A. Blanchfield to John K. Welch, 6 August 1943, ANCA, Box 110.
55. Female nurses''relative rank' ended only in June 1944, when the president signed a law that provided nurses with commissions in the regular Army for the duration of the war plus six months. Captain C. J. Leslie to John Livingstone, 1 April , 'ref. to men joining the ANC', ANCA, Box 110.1943
56. 'Nursing in Democracy', American Journal of Nursing 40 (1940), pp. 671-2.
57. National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses, 'A Statement from the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses in Relation to the Extension of the Selective Service Act to Include the Drafting of Nurses', Mabel K. Staupers Papers, Moorland-Spingarn Center, Howard University, Washington, DC, Box 96-2; Ethel Clyde, [telegram] 30 January 1945, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Records (Frederick, MD: University Publications of America, ), Part 15, Series B, Reel #9, Frame 380.1989
58. National Association for Colored Graduate Nurses and the National Nursing Council for War Service, Facts About Negro Nurses and the War (New York: NACGN and NNCWS Headquarters, 1945), 21 February 1945, ANCA, Box 108.
59. Nursing census estimates suggested that there were about 8,000 male nurses practicing during the war; however, only about 2,000 of them were qualified for military service. Further, the 320 male nurses serving with the Armed Forces in 1943 worked in a variety of areas, not all of which were medical departments. 'Men nurses and the Armed Services', p. 1067.
60. Sarnecky, A History of the US Army Nurse Corps, p. 271.
61. Every few months between 1943 and 1945, procurement numbers change from 40,000 to 50,000, back to 40,000 and by late 1944, 60,000. Major Edna B. Groppe, 'Statement made at the public hearing before the House Military Affairs Committee on February 14, 1945', American Journal of Nursing 45 (1945), p. 175.
62. 'Seek 8,500 More Nurses', New York Times, 18 July 1944
63. Mabel K. Staupers, 'Negro Nurses would serve', New York Times, 15 December 1944; 'Suggests Negro Nurses', New York Times, 12 January 1945; 'Would Use Negro Nurses', New York Times, 21 January 1945; and 'Army Lifts Ban on Negro Nurses', PM, 12 July .1944
64. Groppe, 'Statement made at the public hearing before the House Military Affairs Committee', p. 175.
65. Sarnecky, A History of the US Army Nurse Corps, pp. 268-9.
66. Frances P. Bolton to Joseph R. Guerra, 17 May , and Victor Neu to Congressman Hadwen C. Fuller, 15 January 1945, Francis P. Bolton Papers, Western Reserve Historical Society [WRHS], Cleveland, OH, Folder #140.1944
67. HR 4760 was superseded by HR 68 and HR 483. Victor Neu to Congressman Hadwen C. Fuller, 15 January 1945, Francis P. Bolton Papers, WRHS, Folder #140.
68. It is almost impossible to gain a true understanding of the nature of the nursing shortage during the Second World War. Recruitment campaigns since before the beginning of the war desperately called for female nurses to join the Nurse Corps. Yet, the military continued to adjust the quantity of nurses (reducing and increasing the number) from month to month. The requests became more numerous after 1943 and most citizens understood that as the fighting increased, the need for nurses escalated exponentially. See for example, Julia Flikke, 'The Army Calls All Eligible Nurses', American Journal of Nursing 43 (1943), p. 25.
69. Dozens of letters flooded into Congresswoman Frances P. Bolton's office asking that she do something to get the law banning male nurses from the Nurse Corps changed. See Frances P. Bolton Papers, WRHS, Folders #140 and 141. According to the memoir of a female nurse officer, women did not have to undergo weapons training in the Army until 1964. Clara Adams-Ender, My Rise to the Stars: How a Sharecropper's Daughter Became an Army General (Lake Ridge: CAPE Associates, Inc., 2001), p. 94.
70. Robert Cincotta to Frances P. Bolton, 24 January , Frances P. Bolton Papers, WRHS, Folder #140.1945
71. John W. Martyn (Office of the Surgeon General) to Hon. J. Hardin Peterson, 17 January 1945
72. W. J. C. Agnew to Frances P. Bolton, 13 February , Frances P. Bolton Papers, WRHS, Folder #140.1945
73. 'Army Still is Balky on Using Negro Nurses: Surgeon General Admits Drafting May Be Necessary', PM, 5 January 1945.
74. Hine, Black Women in White, pp. 178-81.
75. Even the first lady, while supportive of an 'overall draft of nurses, blasted the Jim-Crow-quota of black nurses'. 'First Lady Urges End of Ban on Negro Nurses', Chicago Defender, 20 January 1945
76. Hine, Black Women in White, pp. 178-81.
77. In an advertisement, Ethel Clyde asks mothers and fathers of American soldiers to telegraph their senators to demand Negro nurses be allowed into the Army before it was too late to help their sons. Ethel Clyde, [telegram] 30 January , National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Records, Part 15, Series B, Reel 9, Frame 380.1945
78. Hine, Black Women in White, pp. 180-81.
79. National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses, 'A Statement from the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses'.
80. Alfred Reetz to Frances Bolton, 28 January 1945, Francis P. Bolton Papers, WRHS, Cleveland, OH, Folder #140; Katherine J. Densford, 'Statement made by Katherine J. Densford before the Senate Military Affairs Committee, March 23, 1945', American Journal of Nursing 45 (1945), pp. 383-5
81. Private James L. Ortasic to Frances P. Bolton, 19 January , Francis P. Bolton Papers, WRHS, Folder #140.1945
82. Minnie Goodnow to Frances P. Bolton, 6 December , Francis P. Bolton Papers, WRHS, Folder #140.1944
83. Frances P. Bolton to Dan Wacks, 17 February 1945, France P. Bolton Papers, WRHS, Folder #140.
84. Congress, Procurement of Nurses hearings, 19 January1945 and 6-9, 13-14 February 1945.
85. The 20 January declaration by the Surgeon General is a little misleading as it pertained to African American nurses. Officially, the Army lifted the quotas or 'Jim Crow' ban of black nurses in early July 1944, but getting African American nurses appointed was still difficult; disheartened by continued racist treatment, many black nurses stopped trying to join the ANC. The 20 January declaration took the July 1944 end to quotas a step further, ensuring that all qualified female nurses would be accepted. Ramona Lowe, 'Army Lifts Quota Ban on Nurses', The Chicago Defender (15 July 1944), pp. 1, 4; Hine, Black Women in 181.1945
86. The poll focused on the nursing care provided by women, no mention was made of the use or commissioning of male nurses in the Army Nurse Corps. 'Army Opposes Anti-Bias Clause in Nurse Draft', Chicago Defender, 24 February 1945.
87. Congressional Record, 5 March 1945, p. 1729
88. Beatrice and Philip Kalisch, 'The Women's Draft', Nursing Research 22 (September-October 1973), pp. 402-13
89. Edith M. Beattie, 'Nurse Draft Legislation and the ANA - A Summary', American Journal of Nursing 45 (1945), pp. 546-8
90. 'Nurse Draft: Pro/Con', The Trained Nurse and Hospital Review, February 1945, p. 114-15.
91. Hine, Black Women in White, pp. 182-3
92. Sarnecky, A History of the US Army Nurse Corps, p. 271
93. Densford, 'Statement made by Katherine J. Densford before the Senate Military Affairs Committee, 23 March 1945', p. 384
94. Beattie, 'Nurse Draft Legislation', pp. 547-8.