"Girls on the loose"? Women's wartime adventures in the nation's capital, 1941--1945

Washington, D.C. functioned as America's central military and political command post during World War II. Among the newcomers flooding into the city to support the war effort were tens of thousands of women eager to become Government Girls, Army WACs, Navy WAVES, Women Marines, and Coast Guard SPARS. These members of the "army on the Potomac" enjoyed newfound employment opportunities and social freedom but also faced an incredible housing shortage, gender and racial prejudice, and an urban infrastructure unfit to meet the demands of the city's frenetically expanding needs. This dissertation places women at the center of Washington, D.C.'s World War II story and allows the reader to appreciate the little known efforts of home front female government and military workers as well as to understand the complex social, cultural, and gender interplay occurring in the "first city of the world." It explores the experiences that Government Girls and servicewomen had, the opportunities presented to them, and the problems they encountered. It examines how and why a community of women developed in Washington during the war; it analyzes the social conflicts in which Government Girls were involved and the social and economic pressures their presence created on others. It explores how the women who relocated to Washington developed wartime identities that distinguished them from peacetime workers and helped create a vibrant, if short-lived, professional network of women.