Oveta Culp Hobby

This stamp in the Distinguished Americans series honors Oveta Culp Hobby (1905-1995), journalist, business leader, and public servant. During World War II, she answered the call to public service by forming and leading the Women’s Army Corps (WAC). In 1953, she became the first secretary of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, the second woman to hold a Cabinet post.

The stamp art, by illustrator and painter Sterling Hundley of Richmond, Virginia, is based on an undated black-and-white photograph of Hobby in her WAC uniform, with its legendary service cap, the “Hobby hat.”