This is Bob Myers from the Historical Society of Michigan with a Michigan history moment. She was a cultural icon of World War II, celebrated in a song, posters and even a motion picture. And she was a real person. Who was she? Rosie the Riveter. Millions of Rosie the Riveters entered the American workforce in World War II. They worked long hours in factories and shipyards all over the nation and turned the United States into the arsenal of democracy. When the United States entered World War II in December 1941, the armed forces began conscripting young men. Just as factories needed workers for war production, a labor shortage resulted. The federal government turned to the nation's women and launched an advertising campaign that encouraged them to take jobs in factories. The term Rosie the Riveter originated not with a person, but with a song. In 1942, Red Evans and John Loeb wrote a song entitled Rosie the Riveter that debuted in early 1943. One verse. All the day long Whether rain or shine she's part of the assembly line she's making history Working for victory Rosie the Riveter. Several artists recorded the song, including big band leader Kay Kaiser. But it was an African American group, the Four Vagabonds, that made it a hit. A 1944 movie, Rosie the Riveter, also celebrated the women factory workers. Rosie became so famous that officials at Ford Motor Company's massive Willow Run Bomber plant near Belleville, Michigan sought out a real Rosie the Riveter. Willow run built the B24 Liberator heavy bomber. Its Rosies were famous for turning out a bomber an hour. Ford officials wanted a worker at the plant named Rose to publicize the women workers. After a search, they found her in Rose Will Monroe, a Kentucky born woman who had moved to Michigan to work as a riveter at Willow Run. Rose Monroe came to personify the millions of women who worked in war production. Of the 19 million American women who worked as Rosies, only about 3 million were new to the workforce. The majority had already been working in lower paying jobs or re entered the workforce after layoffs during the Great Depression. As the war effort wound down in late 1944 and 1945, the government urged women to return to work in the home. Although many did so, Rosie the Riveter paved the way for women to work in previously male dominated occupations. This Michigan history moment is brought to you by michiganhistorymagazine.org.