I read in a local paper recently, link below http://www.nzherald.co.nz/rotorua-daily-post/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503438&objectid=11118613 about a visit by the US First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to New Zealand in 1943 as part of her role in encouraging the troops and visiting allies. It got me thinking just who were the most influential women during world war 2? I'd love to hear your opinions and it might open up some new people to read about.
First thing that comes to mind are these: http://lanceunemode.wordpress.com/2009/08/24/wwii-nose-art/ (avoiding references to a more carnal class of influential women of WW2..) (on a serious note; the nurses of course were pretty important and thus influential if it was you taken care of in hospital.)
W/219966, Private Patricia Webb ATS Signals, Southern Command and War Office, Sept 1942- March 1946..
Couldn't have fought the war without the kit made by the women in the factories. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosie_the_Riveter some brilliant colour photos on that webpage.
I'm guessing from the Burma theatre viewpoint that Vera Lynn and Edwina Mountbatten would receive a Mention. Of course we must not forget our own dear departed Queen Mum either: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFbKaLDI9ro
Lale Andersen (1905 - 1972) should probably merit a mention in any list of "WW2's most influential women". Think of the Axis and Allied soldiers listening to her interpretation of "Lile Marleen" underneath the starry sky of the North African desert.
good day bamboo.very senior member.yesterday.05:28pm.re:ww2 most influential women,(p.5.)thank you for posting the video with the king & queen looking at bomb sites and the music with vera lynn singing there allways be an England.its an oldy but a goody,have a good day regards bernard85
this site shows female heroins (not really (politically)influential women, but still interesting to read) http://mentalfloss.com/article/29219/11-women-warriors-world-war-ii and http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/09/world-war-ii-women-at-war/100145/ Which brings to light : Leni Riefenstahl ! Yep, she holds the "most influential woman of WW2" award as in having been able to change people's opinion on a grand scale...(be it politically, culturally, ideologically, etc..).
One of our lecturers one John Isaacs (Supermarine WW2 and of Isaacs Fury and Spitfire design) during the 1960s at Tec college would, with a wry smile suggest that if we had not had Beatrice Shillings orifice we may have lost the war (known to engineers): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatrice_Shilling Her idea of relaxation was to drive a fast car at full throttle, and if the car was not fast enough, her workbench was there in the back room to machine new parts to make them faster. Negative Gravity Beatrice Shilling.
Thanks to all those that have responded and opened up some new and interesting areas to look at. Beatrice Shillings sounds like a real character. I noted in the Wikipedia entry... "Shilling married George Naylor, in September 1938.[6] He also worked at the RAE. According to anecdote, she refused to marry him until he also had been awarded the Brooklands Gold Star for lapping the circuit at over 100 mph.[2] During World War 2 he was a bomber pilot with No. 625 Squadron RAF and reached the rank of Wing Commander." I have just started reading about Nancy Wake which is so far rather good!
My own personal favourite and returning to Medical Staff/Nurses, is Matron Agnes McGeary: http://ww2talk.com/forums/topic/19723-matron-agnes-mcgearychindits/
I have had the gremlins in my computer which has kept me away for a while but have just made it back. Your entry had me puzzled for a while as I couldn't find any information until I spotted your thread lower down and realized it was your Mum. I am sure there can be no one more influential to someone then their own parents. It gave me pause to stop and consider the children who not only lost a parent but those that grew up with parents absent for long times. I note that your mum passed earlier in the year and just wanted to pass on my condolences. I appreciated all the posts in this thread and am taking my time to follow all the leads. Thank you for yours.
Don't forget Madame Chiang Kai Chek-- by any standards, one of the most influential women of the period.
Actually, in strict terms of being closest to the mostest, the woman whose influence had the most effect on the course of the war....was.....Eva Braun. Now, I can hear you laughing already, but think for a moment. Eva (and her sister Gretel) tried as hard as any good woman could to domesticate and 'normalize' the goings on at Berschtegarden. Hitler kept her right away from all the military men and politicians. And Eva's intuition as to the relative merits and demerits of the different power brokers that came to hitler's montain retreat, was as sound as any other couple's spouse, (she found himmler, "creepy", was not fooled for a second by the 'charms' of Heydrich, she found goering to be 'affable and gregarious", and Albert Speer was the man she talked to most, simply because he was there all the time. She disliked goebbels intencely, and goebbels for his part resented Eva's attempts to 'normalize' anything in hitler's house. Once it became common knowlege that Hitler's domestic arrangements were "a little strange", people also started to ask questions about the Leader himself. This is the chief reason why eva was closetted away for so much time. It is also the proof the Braun family needed to say of her that her participation in the Persecution of Jews was zero. No recorded anti-semitic statements have ever been seen. Her father, herr Braun, objected to eva's relationship with a much older man. They were won over, of a sorts, eventually, but Eva's parents never really sanctioned the relationship between their daughter and Germany's 'Great Man". Eva's suicide was nothing more than Eva proving to the world that she was, in fact, a good spouse, a fine 'hausfrau' and a faithful companion. Gretel's husband, Hermann Fegelien, (a dashing and aristocratic SS Cavalry officer) was murdered on the direct orders of Adolf for desertion. He was also found with another woman, which must have offended Adolf's sensabilities, particularly as he had been a witness at their wedding. Eva did al she could to portray adolf as a normal person... When that failed, and when the public realised that all was not right in the house of Adolf Hitler, people began to stop making jokes about Eva Braun, and to begin to question whether Adolf Hitler was fit to rule..... Doubts creep in to every corner of a very conservative society that Germany was , and still is. In her own manner and way, Eva Braun probably did more on a psychological level to bring down Adolf Hitler's reputation than any other single person on the planet.
BTW....that comment about "Betrice Shilling's orifice" would have gotten me a lecture from von Poop, or Dbf, etc etc...
How about Grace Hopper, who was one of the first programmers on the Mark 1 at Harvard and was used on the Manhattan project. http://www.amazingwomeninhistory.com/amazing-grace-hopper-computer-programmer/