LADY
DYNAMO
THE UNTOLD STORY OF ANNA ROSENBERG
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LADY DYNAMO is a documentary film in-progress that will uncover the extraordinary contributions of Anna Rosenberg, a Jewish immigrant who shattered barriers as a trusted advisor to presidents and generals in mid-20th century America. She defied McCarthyism to become Assistant Secretary of Defense in 1951 and helped integrate the U.S. military—championing equality for Black Americans and women. Today few people know her name. Why was she lost to history? How was she found again?
HER STORY
First recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Oct. 29, 1945
In 1952, LIFE magazine hailed Anna Rosenberg as “far and away the most important woman in the American government and perhaps the most important official female in the world.” The New York Times referred to her as Franklin Delano Roosevelt's "Trouble-Shooter," and FDR himself called her "Mrs. Fix-It."
This film is about a forgotten public hero, Anna Rosenberg who believed in the power of the vote, civic engagement, and her own exceptional ability to unite powerful men to solve problems.
During WWII Rosenberg defended democracy on the home front and on the frontlines—overcoming sexism, antisemitism, anti-immigrant sentiment, and fear of communism.
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She created employment opportunities for Black Americans and women in the defense industry. Grasping veterans’ hunger for education, she helped shape the transformative
G.I. Bill. Her arguments built the case for military desegregation. She did this all behind the scenes, bringing men together through negotiation, mediation, and the art of persuasion.
Despite being targeted by Sen. Joe McCarthy's red scare, she rose to become General George C. Marshall's Assistant Secretary of Defense, the highest ranking civilian woman in the Pentagon. Her contributions, like those of other talented women of her era, have been overlooked by history.
Meeting with American soldiers in Korea, 1950
President Harry Truman and Anna Rosenberg, 1947
When Gorham learned Anna Rosenberg's papers were in Harvard's archives, he brought his students there to do original research.
Gorham picked up where his students left off, and five years later he published the sole biography of Rosenberg:
The Confidante: The Untold Story of the Woman Who Helped Win World War II and Shape Modern America.
This is also the story of Anna Rosenberg’s rediscovery: when high school history teacher Christopher C. Gorham noticed a photo of President Truman with Mrs. Anna Rosenberg, his Assistant Secretary of Defense, standing beside him, and wondered why he’d never heard of her. He put her on a list of research topics for his students, who soon found out there were no books about her achievements.
Christopher C. Gorham
SAMPLE REEL AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST
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Fiorello LaGuardia, Anna Rosenberg, Eleanor Roosevelt, ca 1943
After German evacuation, September 1944
Recruiting women for the military, 1951
"One woman in America received more Valentines than even Marilyn Monroe. The desk of Anna Rosenberg, the former Assistant Secretary of Defense, was swamped with Valentine cards sent her by GIs in Korea and all the other bases she visited throughout the world."
Philadelphia Inquirer, 1953
"I remember the integration business. We were having lots of casualties. We had colored troops there. I said we have to use them. There was a great hue and cry. But it was necessary and timely. I said it should have been done long ago"
Anna Rosenberg, 1957 Interview
[“FDR] sent for me one day and said,
‘Anna I want you to go overseas, visit all the troops…see what they would like to do when they come home.’… what interested me most is that these men were worrying about education. … When I told him that he just lit up. He said… ‘Sit down with (budget director—Harold Smith) and Sam Rosenman, his counsel, and come up with something. We came up with what became the GI Bill of Rights.”
CBS Morning Interview with Diane Sawyer, 1982