The Hello Girls, Elizabeth Cobbs
The Hello Girls, Elizabeth Cobbs
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The Hello Girls
America’s First Women Soldiers

Author: Elizabeth Cobbs

Narrator: Susan Ericksen

Unabridged: 12 hr 3 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 06/27/2017


Synopsis

This is the story of how America's first women soldiers helped win World War I, earned the vote, and fought the U.S. Army. In 1918, the U.S. Army Signal Corps sent 223 women to France. They were masters of the latest technology: the telephone switchboard. General John Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Forces, demanded female "wire experts" when he discovered that inexperienced doughboys were unable to keep him connected with troops under fire. Without communications for even an hour, the army would collapse.

While suffragettes picketed the White House and President Woodrow Wilson struggled to persuade a segregationist Congress to give women of all races the vote, these competent and courageous young women swore the Army oath. Elizabeth Cobbs reveals the challenges they faced in a war zone where male soldiers welcomed, resented, wooed, mocked, saluted, and ultimately celebrated them.

The army discharged the last Hello Girls in 1920. When the operators sailed home, the army unexpectedly dismissed them without veterans' benefits. They began a sixty-year battle that a handful of survivors carried to triumph in 1979. With the help of the National Organization for Women, Senator Barry Goldwater, and a crusading Seattle attorney, they triumphed over the U.S. Army.

About Elizabeth Cobbs

Elizabeth Cobbs is Melbern G. Glasscock Chair in American History at Texas A&M University and a research fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Joyce on November 02, 2017

Another intriguing look at women who made a contribution in an unexpected role--and weren't recognized for their work. That seems a familiar theme from our history. This documents the eponymous Hello Girls, women who kept the phone lines connected and the generals in touch with their troops in Franc......more

Goodreads review by Amy on June 04, 2018

I love, love, love this book! It tells the story of these remarkable women who ran the switchboards in France during WWI. It's well-researched and authoritative, but it also draws on letters and diaries written by the women themselves, which makes it such a treasure. I've already gone through the bi......more