American Strength at the FDR Library

A visit to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum in Hyde Park, NY, is rich with interesting exhibits and also more than a few surprises.   Above, we see a picture taken of bomber noses at a war plant; those are women workers working on the assemblies.

Here's another picture from the exhibit, advancing a similar theme--the wartime economy.

Okay, so those pictures are predictable enough--that's what America looked like on the homefront in World War Two.

But here's a picture that might be a little surprising--maybe even startling to contemporary audiences.

The image here shows a three-way handshake: A blue-collar hand (left, sorry the pic isn't so good, but the hand is in a heavy worker's glove) a white-collar hand (right), and Uncle Sam's hand (top).  

The caption underneath reads, "Together We Win: Get behind your labor-management committee."   In other words, for the purposes of the war, it was vital that workers and owners got together--and Uncle Sam was there to make sure that they did if they didn't.