The Hello Girls: America's First Women Soldiers by Elizabeth Cobbs

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Hello Girls: America's First Women Soldiers by Elizabeth Cobbs Jill Frahm (bio) The Hello Girls: America's First Women Soldiers. By Elizabeth Cobbs. (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2017. Pp. 370. $29.95 cloth) Elizabeth Cobbs's book, The Hello Girls: America's First Women Soldiers, is a welcome addition to the literature on women's overseas service during World War I. Although other books, including Susan Zeiger's In Uncle Sam's Service: Women Workers with the American Expeditionary Force, 1917–1919, Dorothy and Carl J. Schneider's Into the Breach: American Women Overseas in World War I, Lettie Gavin's Women in World War I: They Also Served and Lynn Dumenil's The Second Line of Defense: American Women and World War I include sections about the American telephone operators, The Hello Girls is the first book to devote a significant part of its narrative to their experiences. This is a very well-written, long overdue accounting of America's first women in combat. As Cobbs states in her introduction, "The Hello Girls explores how Americans mobilized for World War I, telephones transformed the United States, females joined the armed forces, suffragists fought for the vote, and women and men fought together for justice" (p. 7). In 1914, when the war began in Europe, the idea of women's suffrage was not widely accepted by political leaders in the United States, including President Woodrow Wilson. Among the objections to giving women the vote was their inability to serve their country in time of war. However, dependence on the telephone made the employment of American, bilingual female operators by the U.S. Army a necessity. Once in Europe, these women proved of immense value to Army operations; one group even served near the front at General Pershing's headquarters. At all levels, the operators impressed officers and men with their skill and professionalism. [End Page 552] Meanwhile, in the U.S., President Wilson shifted from being against woman suffrage to a supporter. Cobbs credits, in part, the heroic performance of American women in Europe for his transformation: "Wilson emphasize[d] two … reasons for his change of heart: international opinion and women's wartime service" (p. 119). Although the women's suffrage bill was defeated in 1918, with increasing support across the nation it finally made it through both houses of Congress and was ratified in 1920. Back in France, the operators received universal praise for their service, with many officers declaring them indispensable "uniformed women [who] performed beyond the call of duty" (p. 266). The operators began returning home shortly after the Armistice was signed in November 1918, with the last discharged on January 20, 1920. However, despite their excellent service, the operators were denied veteran's status and benefits. Led by Merle Egan Anderson and supported by almost all the officers with whom they had served, the operators fought for nearly 60 years until gaining recognition as veterans in 1977. Cobbs' very readable book draws on a variety of sources including previously unknown diaries that operators kept during their months overseas. Her use of the operators as a case study to illustrate how American women's wartime service influenced the suffrage movement is excellent. Although she might have used other American women to make her case, the operators are a great choice because they were the first women to serve in an official combat role with the U.S. Army. One point Cobbs might have been expanded upon is how the operators' role evolved during their time in France. When the operators first arrived, the Army envisioned them only handling routine calls, leaving higher-priority calls to men. As the women proved more efficient than the men, their responsibilities expanded until they connected all calls. This point would have bolstered Cobbs's argument of how the operators in France proved their value to both army operations and skeptical men. However, this criticism should not take away from my sincere [End Page 553] admiration for The Hello Girls. Cobbs's book is excellent and proves that fact can be far more interesting than fiction. The adventures of the Hello Girls and their connections to the...