Catherine Nimitz Volunteered to Support the US War Effort in World War II

Dr. Bamford co-edited, "Best Beloved: The Wartime Letters of Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz to His Wife, Catherine"

When Catherine F. Nimitz’s husband, Rear Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, was unexpectedly named Commander in Chief of the US Pacific Fleet in December 1941, she too began looking for ways to contribute to the American war effort. Although Catherine’s status as the wife of one of the Navy’s most well-known commanders brought her instant national fame, she politely rebuffed reporters’ inquiries about her and her family by explaining that there were far more important things in the world than an admiral’s family.[1] Instead, she looked for meaningful opportunities to use her talents to support the war effort. After moving from Washington, DC to Berkeley, California, Catherine achieved her objective by giving speeches that encouraged others to support the armed forces and by becoming a volunteer for the Navy Relief Society.

Like Nimitz, Catherine’s world was upended by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. On Sunday 7 December 1941, she was listening to a classical music broadcast in their apartment in Washington, DC together with her husband when an announcer interrupted the radio program to deliver news of the attack.[2] Nimitz immediately raced to his office in the Main Navy building near the Washington Monument on Constitution Avenue. Undoubtedly, Catherine realized that the outbreak of war would place many people that she loved in harm’s way. She had lost her brother to a submarine attack in World War I.[3] Now her only son was serving aboard the US Navy submarine Sturgeon (SS-187) in the Philippines, directly in the path of the advancing Japanese Navy. One week later, her husband returned home with news that he had been appointed the Commander in Chief of the US Pacific Fleet.[4]

 As Nimitz travelled by train to the West Coast, and then took a plane to Hawaii, he wrote letters to Catherine every day. She did not sit idly by and wait for his return, however. She began planning to move to California with her youngest daughter, ten-year-old Mary, in order to escape the rumor mill and intrusive reporters in Washington.[5] Catherine was unable to follow her husband to Hawaii as she had done when he was previously stationed there from 1920–1922 because the US Army ordered all military families to leave the islands shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.[6] Instead, Catherine decided to relocate to Berkeley, California where she still had a number of friends from her time living there between 1926–1928.

PUBLIC ADDRESSES
Newspaper columnist Hope Ridings Miller interviewed Catherine before she left Washington in December 1941 and characterized her as, “a firm believer that every individual should keep busy” and added that “she, herself, never stops a minute inside her home or out.”[7] True to this description, Catherine availed herself of opportunities to support the war effort once she arrived in Berkeley in late June 1942. When the Chief of the Bureau of Navigation, Rear Admiral Randall Jacobs, reached out to her and asked if she would broadcast a nation-wide appeal for women to join the newly created Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service (WAVES), Catherine readily agreed to make the requested radio broadcast. She did so even though her husband had told her before the war that he did not think women should serve in uniform in the Navy as they had during World War I.[8] When Catherine was later asked if she consulted her husband before making this broadcast, she stated matter-of-factly, “No, I didn’t consult him at all. Why do I have to consult him about this? The ladies had decided they wanted it [the creation of the WAVES], and it wasn’t any of his business.”[9] Catherine became an enthusiastic supporter of the WAVES and addressed members and potential volunteers on several occasions. On 6 August 1944, Catherine spoke to 450 prospective WAVES recruits on Treasure Island. She declared to the assembled women that, “The WAVES, in two years, have become an integral part of nearly every shore station and have rightly earned honors for their high degree of efficiency in doing their jobs.”[10]

Catherine soon began receiving regular invitations to deliver speeches and radio broadcasts in support of the war effort.[11] She spoke to promote recruiting, encourage volunteering with relief organizations, and urge the public to buy war bonds. In just a few examples, Catherine addressed the Naval Officers Wives’ Club of the Eastbay in January 1943, Berkeley Women’s City Club in June 1944, and the Alameda County Association of Social Workers in September 1944.[12] Radio stations broadcast her words across the country and in Allied nations as far away as Australia.[13] On 7 December 1944, Catherine addressed a crowd at a war bond rally in Pacific Grove California, while her husband did the same at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard in Hawaii.[14] Unlike Nimitz, however, Catherine did not have the benefit of a large staff with a dedicated professional speech writer, and she composed most of her remarks herself.[15]

VOLUNTEER WORK
In addition to Catherine’s advocacy of war-related causes, beginning in July 1943 she worked eight-hour days at the newly established US Naval Hospital at Oakland, California, as a volunteer special representative of the Navy Relief Society.[16] Founded in 1904, the private, non-profit Navy Relief Society provided emergency financial assistance to servicemembers’ dependents through its offices on all major naval stations.[17] Catherine was well-known within the Navy Relief Society, having served on its Board of Governors when she lived in Washington, DC.[18]

At the US Naval Hospital at Oakland, commonly referred to as Oak Knoll, Catherine generally helped “smooth the road for naval personnel and their families who needed hospitalization.”[19] She also supervised the disbursement of emergency relief loans and grants to servicemembers and their families. In a little more than two years working at the hospital, Catherine personally approved aid to 868 servicemen and their dependents facing financial hardship.[20] Catherine frequently described her work at the hospital in her letters to Admiral Nimitz, but regrettably he burned all her wartime letters, leaving us with few details about her daily activities. Admiral Nimitz, however, often extolled his wife’s contributions at Oak Knoll in his own surviving letters to her. “I can well understand your feeling of satisfaction in becoming an important integral part of the Hospital,” he told her. “Your work is very important to our enlisted men and young officers, and I doubt if anyone has given the job such sympathetic and intelligent service as you have. Don’t hesitate to stand out for what you think is right and for what you need to make the job 100% successful.”[21] Catherine also went out of her way to tour other nearby naval hospital facilities to understand the needs of patients and staff members and give what comfort she could.[22]

Following the end of the war, the staff of Oak Knoll organized a party for Catherine to show their appreciation for her commitment and tireless advocacy on behalf of the hospital.[23] One month later, when a reporter asked Catherine her reaction to the end of the war, her reply echoed her countless hours of volunteering with the wounded in Navy hospitals:
 
Catherine was far from the only prominent woman who used her position to support the war effort. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, one of the most famous women in the country, also spent a great deal of time visiting wounded service members in hospitals during the war. She described how upsetting it could be to observe so many young men disfigured by the war and wrote that seeing such men gave her a “horrible consciousness of waste and feeling of resentment” that wars could not be settled by diplomacy.[25] Eleanor’s unique position as an emissary of her husband, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, allowed her to traverse the globe from the Pacific to Europe and the Caribbean. On just one trip she visited Australia, New Zealand, and more than a dozen other islands in the western Pacific.[26] Similar to Catherine Nimitz, other spouses of high ranking naval and military officers supported the war effort through volunteer work as well. Mamie Eisenhower, the wife of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, volunteered with the Red Cross and the Soldiers, Sailors and Marines Club. Mamie also volunteered as a hostess at the Stage Door Canteen in Washington, D.C.[27] Most of the soldiers that Mamie met, however, never knew that they were speaking to the wife of the supreme allied commander in Europe since she preferred not to advertise her identity.[28] Like Catherine, Mamie generally cultivated a modest wartime public profile due to recurring bouts of poor health along with a desire to maintain her family’s privacy which led her to decline interview requests from reporters.[29] General Eisenhower applauded her discretion and wrote her in March 1943 that, “all through this publicity storm you’ve been tops – sensible, considerate, and modest.”[30]

One of a number of prominent women who used their talents to support the war effort, Catherine Nimitz willingly undertook a demanding schedule of volunteer work that often consisted of service with the Navy Relief Society during the day and delivering remarks to civic organizations and other audiences in the evenings. Although Catherine found herself in new and unfamiliar positions as part of her war work, she earned widespread accolades for her efforts.