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5. No Allies for the WASPs: Congress Responds to Male Public Interest Groups
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The powerful lobby assembled by the male civilian pilots focused its attentions on Congress as well as the media. The pilots initiated a letterwriting campaign to Congress that was backed by powerful male aviation associations and veterans groups, and they began to lobby individual members of Congress. When the group learned that House Committee on Military Affairs had recommended passage of a bill to militarize Women Airforce Service Pilots, the lobby began to attack the WASPs and pushed for the introduction of its own bill, supporting the contentions that positions be found for male pilots and that they not be relegated to the Army’s ground forces. The WASP Militarization Bills On September , , Representative John Costello of California introduced the WASP militarization bill, House Resolution . The complete text of the bill follows, with italicization and punctuation intact: A bill to provide for the appointment of female pilots in the Air Forces of the Army. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That hereafter during the present war and six months thereafter there shall be included in the Air Forces of the Army such licensed female pilots as the Secretary of War may consider necessary, whose quali fications, duties, and assignments shall be in accordance with regulations to be prescribed by the Secretary, and who shall be appointed and at his discretion removed by the Commanding General of the Air Forces of the Army, subject to the approval of the Secretary of War. Those appointed shall be commissioned in the Army of the United States, and shall receive the same pay and allowances and be entitled to the same rights, privileges and benefits as members of the Officers’ Reserve Corps of the Army with the same grade and length of service.1 No Allies for the WASPs Congress Responds to Male Public Interest Groups 5 Following congressional protocol, the bill was referred to the Committee on Military Affairs for approval or recommendations. In an October letter to WASP director Jacqueline Cochran, Costello encouraged her to ensure that the War Department would issue a favorable report to the committee, stating, “If we can get a favorable report from the War Department, I feel that I will have little difficulty in getting the Committee’s approval.”2 It was six months before the Committee on Military Affairs held hearings about WASP militarization . In the meantime, Costello had submitted a longer bill, House Resolution , “A bill to provide for the appointment of female pilots and aviation cadets in the Air Forces of the Army.” The bill was structured similarly to the first bill, except that it provided greater detail concerning the administration of the WASP program: Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representative of the United States of America in Congress assembled,That for the period of the present war and for six months thereafter or for such shorter period as the Congress by concurrent resolution or the President by proclamation shall prescribe, there may be included in the Air Forces of the Army such female commissioned and flight officer personnel and female aviation student personnel as the Secretary of War may consider necessary. The qualifications, duties, and assignments of such personnel shall be in accordance with regulations to be prescribed by the Secretary of War. No officer shall be appointed to a grade above that of colonel and not more than one officer to that grade, and the right of commissioned or flight officers to exercise command shall be specifically limited to personnel placed under their command. Sec. . The commissioned personnel selected directly from civil life, of which not less than per centum shall consist of qualified pilots, shall be appointed in the Army of the United States under the provisions of the joint resolution of September , ( Stat. ), and ordered into the active service of the United States. Sec. . Under such regulations as the Secretary of War shall prescribe, female aviation cadets may be appointed for pilot training in the Army of the United States and, upon successful completion of the prescribed course of training, may be commissioned as second lieutenants in the Army of the United States under the provisions of the joint resolution of September , , or appointed as flight officers of the Army of the United States under the provisions of the Act of July , ( Stat. ). Service as an aviation cadet which is terminated by...
