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The Guardians of Civilization: Neo-Republican Motherhood in Post-World War II America, 1945-1963

Kane, Eryn M.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1366640052

Abstract Details

2013, Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, History (Arts and Sciences).
During World War II, American women entered the labor force and fulfilled masculine roles in both industry and the military. Yet the majority of American women remained within the home and the completion of daily domestic tasks were elevated to acts of patriotism. For women with families, precisely 1/3 of women war workers by the end of 1943, their most important duty to fulfill was that of motherhood.1 The association between women and participation in the war effort was not unique to this era but harkened back to the American Revolution. According to historian Joan R. Gundersen, "the only distinctly female form of patriotism [or political identity] available when the War of Independence began, was that of a mother's influence over a child to shape morals and patriotism."2 This relationship between eighteenth century female citizenship and motherhood was most notably defined by historian Linda K. Kerber, under the term Republican Motherhood, and introduced to a broad readership in 1976. This thesis argues that J. Edgar Hoover revived Republican Motherhood--in a 1944 article for Woman's Home Companion entitled "Mothers...Our Only Hope"--to reinforce traditional gender roles during World War II. Hoover's articulation of mother as the only hope for the nation's future echoed the eighteenth century belief that a citizen's political socialization began in childhood and was derived from a mother's instruction. Yet it was Hoover's belief that a mother was the true guardian of the nation that created a new interpretation of Republican Motherhood ideology. What I have termed neo-Republican Motherhood relegated women to the domestic realm to maintain a sense of normalcy and subdue anxieties over unintentional female advancement in the postwar era. Neo-Republican Motherhood did not reach its pinnacle until the early years of the Cold War. Through adherence to the ideology and the indoctrination of children in American virtues, women became the guardians of civilization--the bulwark against Communist subversion. The association of motherhood with national security confined women to the domestic realm and fostered feelings of frustration; these feelings ultimately led to the emergence of the second-wave feminist movement.
Katherine Jellison (Advisor)
Brian Schoen (Committee Member)
Jessica Roney (Committee Member)
116 p.
History
Republican motherhood; defense decade; American women

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Kane, E. M. (2013). The Guardians of Civilization: Neo-Republican Motherhood in Post-World War II America, 1945-1963 [Master's thesis, Ohio University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1366640052

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Kane, Eryn. The Guardians of Civilization: Neo-Republican Motherhood in Post-World War II America, 1945-1963. 2013. Ohio University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1366640052.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Kane, Eryn. "The Guardians of Civilization: Neo-Republican Motherhood in Post-World War II America, 1945-1963." Master's thesis, Ohio University, 2013. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1366640052

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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This open access ETD is published by Ohio University and OhioLINK.