(1905-1995)
First director of the U.S. Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) and its successor, the Women’s Army Corps (WAC). Born on January 19, 1905, in Killeen, Texas, the daughter of lawyer and state legislator Ike W. Culp, she showed an interest in law, parliamentary procedure, and journalism. She served as parliamentarian for the Texas House of Representatives, assisted in codifying Texas banking laws, served as assistant city attorney of Houston, and wrote a textbook on parliamentary procedure, Mr. Chairman (1937).
Oveta Culp Hobby.
As chief of the Women’s Interests Section of the War Department’s Bureau of Public Relations (1941-1942), Oveta Culp Hobby was instrumental in planning a women’s corps. On May 14, 1942, Congress established the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps, and on May 16, Hobby took the oath of office as its director, holding the relative rank of colonel.
Director Hobby prepared WAAC regulations to govern enlistment, training, uniforms, pay, promotion, and a code of conduct for the non-combatant women’s service. WAAC recruiting surpassed initial goals, and by March 1943, five WAAC training centers were in operation. Hobby had to confront a slanderous campaign against the reputation of the WAAC in the spring of 1943, however, which slowed women’s enlistment. Most likely begun by men in the army who were hostile toward the WAAC, the slander spread unfounded scurrilous jokes and gossip about the women’s moral character and behavior. Another problem she encountered was that because Congress did not grant WAAC members military status as an integral part of the U.S. Army, the auxiliaries were not eligible to receive veterans’ benefits, which especially affected auxiliaries stationed overseas. After much congressional debate, on July 1, 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the bill to establish the Women’s Army Corps in the U.S. Army. Colonel Hobby retained responsibility for preparing WAC plans and policies and overseeing training and discipline.
When Congress dropped auxiliary status and created the Women’s Army Corps on July 1, 1943, Director Hobby took the oath of office on July 5 as a colonel in the U.S. Army. Having completed her mission to organize and administer a women’s corps, Colonel Hobby resigned as director of the Women’s Army Corps in July 1945. On July 12, 1945, Westray Battle Boyce, Hobby’s deputy since May, assumed directorship of the WAC.
In January 1945, Hobby was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal. The citation praising her contributions to the war effort stated, "Without the guidance of precedents in United States military history to assist her, Colonel Hobby established sound initial policies, planned and supervised the selection of officers and the preparation of regulations. The soundness of basic plans and policies promulgated is evidenced by the outstanding success of the Women’s Army Corps, composed of nearly 100,000 women and comprising an essential and integral part of the Army" (Treadwell 1954, 721).
Oveta Culp Hobby returned to Houston to resume her career at the Post, interrupted only when she returned to Washington to serve as the first secretary of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare from 1953 to 1955. She died on August 16, 1995, in Houston.
