Geraldine Hoff Doyle

Geraldine Hoff Doyle, the woman who became the poster girl for American working women during World War II, has died at age 86 in Lansing, Mich.

"We Can Do It!" the iconic poster proclaimed. "Rosie the Riveter" was a clarion call for women to aid the war effort by entering the workforce, while the men in their communities went to fight the war abroad.

Although the poster, designed by graphic artist J. Howard Miller, was only displayed for a couple of weeks in a single factory in the Midwest, it was rediscovered during the 1970s and 1980s and became popularized as a symbol of what working women can accomplish.

Dressed in overalls and sporting a bandanna, Rosie the Riveter was inspired by a photograph of Doyle taken while she worked at a factory as a metal presser in Inkster, Mich. Incidentally, Doyle ended up quitting that job shortly after the photo was taken because of its potential dangers.

Doyle only recognized herself as the inspiration for the poster after seeing it in a magazine in 1982. The face was hers, but the muscles weren't, her daughter, Stephanie Gregg, told the New York Times.

"She was a glamor girl," Gregg said. "The arched eyebrows, the beautiful lips, the shape of the face -- that's her."

Thanks, Peter