Public Service Role Models

Abstract

For a wide variety of social reasons, few women were attracted to military service during the Korean War era. In 1951, the Department of Defense (DOD) created the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services to help the armed services recruit women. DOD carefully selected a wide-ranging and diverse group of women to sit on the committee. Hailing from all areas of the country, they ranged from spinsters and divorcees to mothers and grandmothers and from educators and clubwomen to retailers and actresses. They did, however, have one important characteristic in common—each had devoted a large portion of her life to volunteer work and public service. This was not coincidental. In making its selections, DOD was deliberately telling young women of the 1950s that volunteerism and public service were the duty of every citizen and that such service was compatible with every life goal.