Overview

"We Can Do It!" is an American wartime poster painted in 1943 by artist J. Howard Miller for Westinghouse Electric as part of an internal employee-morale campaign. The short, assertive slogan and the image of a woman rolling up her sleeve have made the design one of the most widely recognized American images connected to women and work in the mid-20th century. Although it is frequently invoked in discussions of World War II and gender, the poster's original function was corporate and internal rather than a national billboard-style recruitment piece.

Design and visual elements

The poster depicts a woman in a blue work shirt, red polka-dot bandana, and a rolled-up sleeve, flexing her arm toward the viewer. Bold primary colors, simplified forms, and a speech-bubble-like frame for the title emphasize clarity and immediacy. The confident pose and direct gaze convey competence and resolve; the image uses graphic economy to communicate morale and collective effort rather than detailed narrative. Because of these visual cues the piece later became associated with broader themes of female labor and empowerment.

Creation, purpose and wartime circulation

J. Howard Miller produced the poster for display inside Westinghouse factories and allied workplaces to encourage productivity, punctuality, and workplace conduct. It belonged to a series of posters with practical workplace messages. Contemporary evidence indicates it was not widely distributed on public billboards or national wartime campaigns, and many workers at the time never saw it. Its wartime audience was therefore limited relative to some other government-sponsored propaganda art.

Rediscovery and reinterpretation

The image remained relatively obscure until the early 1980s, when it was rediscovered and began to be reproduced in books, magazines, and posters. In that period the poster was rapidly adopted by feminists and others as a symbol of women's economic contribution and resilience. Reproduction and reinterpretation helped transform a company morale poster into a broader cultural icon, a process that illustrates how historical artifacts can acquire new meanings in later contexts.

The poster is often linked to the popular cultural figure "Rosie the Riveter," a name attached to several wartime images and to songs and stories about women who worked in factories. However, the Miller poster is distinct from Norman Rockwell's famous Saturday Evening Post cover and from other photographs and artworks that commemorated female wartime labor. Some commentators and researchers have compared photographic models and oral histories to explore possible inspirations; for discussions of that broader phenomenon see materials on Rosie the Riveter.

Models and identification

Various people have been suggested as photographic models or inspirations for the figure in the poster. One commonly cited name in later accounts is Naomi Parker, sometimes identified as a possible model in popular retellings; scholarly treatments note that definitive identification is uncertain and contested. For background on such claims and on individual testimonies, see discussions referencing Naomi Parker and related sources at Naomi Parker.

From the 1980s onward the image appeared on posters, T-shirts, advertisements, and political materials. It was featured on the cover of Smithsonian magazine in 1994 and was one of the visual inspirations for a U.S. commemorative first-class postage stamp issued in 1999. Its adaptability has led to numerous parodies, adaptations, and appropriations across political campaigns, educational initiatives, and commercial uses, where the basic pose and slogan are reapplied to a wide range of causes.

Scholarly interpretations and public memory

Historians and cultural scholars emphasize that the poster's present-day significance rests largely on its later rediscovery and reinterpretation rather than on a large wartime circulation. Scholars use the image to illustrate how memory is constructed, how visual symbols migrate between contexts, and how objects can be repurposed to serve new rhetorical functions. The poster is a case study in the dynamics of collective memory, media reproduction, and gender symbolism.

Common misconceptions

  • It is sometimes assumed the poster was a government poster widely distributed during the war; in fact it was produced for internal company use and saw limited public display in the 1940s.
  • The name "Rosie the Riveter" has been attached to multiple artworks and to real women who worked in munitions and shipyards; the Miller poster represents one thread in a larger cultural tapestry.
  • Attributions of a single photographic model are debated; some later reports propose specific individuals, but definitive proof is lacking and researchers treat such claims cautiously.

Why it matters today

Beyond its original role as a workplace morale poster, "We Can Do It!" now functions as a succinct visual statement about labor, gender, and civic participation. Its enduring presence in educational materials, political imagery, and popular culture highlights how a modest, company-directed image can be transformed into a versatile symbol. For information on wartime visual culture and propaganda more broadly, see further resources on propaganda and media history at relevant collections and on the wartime employer that commissioned it at Westinghouse Electric.

Timeline (brief)

  1. 1943: Poster created by J. Howard Miller for internal use at Westinghouse.
  2. 1940s: Limited distribution, mainly inside factories and plants.
  3. Early 1980s: Rediscovery and renewed reproduction.
  4. 1994–1999: Featured in major publications and referenced in commemorative postage and popular media.

Taken together, these elements explain how a modest piece of corporate wartime graphic design became an adaptable and widely recognized emblem of women's labor and collective endeavor in later decades.