100 Objects #17: M43 Field Jacket

99% Invisible

This episode of 'A History of the United States in 100 Objects' explores the evolution and cultural impact of the M43 Field Jacket, tracing its origins from World War I's flawed wool overcoats

Key takeaways

The U.S. military initially copied the fashion of dominant world powers, leading to impractical uniforms like wool overcoats in harsh conditions.
The M43 Field Jacket was developed using scientific testing and first principles, marking a shift from tradition to evidence-based design.

Main topics

Military uniform evolution
Design innovation through scientific testing

Notable quotes

"It's a jacket for the people. And then of course it's a great design. So I, I just think this is the best thing since sliced bread."

Conclusion

The M43 Field Jacket stands as a landmark in both military and civilian history—a product of

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:00) It's the fall of 1918. The Great War is raging. More than a million American men have found themselves in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive on the Western Front. It remains, to this day, the deadliest campaign in our military's history, and the conditions were horrendous. Speaker 2 (0:18) So it's rainy, it's muddy, it's freezing, and this is the beginning of trench warfare. These soldiers are hanging out in ditches in the mud. People are dying everywhere. It's miserable. Speaker 3 (0:33) Avery Truffleman is the host of Articles of Interest, a show about fashion and design. So when she thinks about this miserable, awful war, she thinks about what the soldiers are wearing. Speaker 2 (0:44) They are Speaker 3 (0:45) in wool Speaker 2 (0:46) overcoats, Speaker 1 (0:48) which, Speaker 2 (0:49) you Speaker 1 (0:50) know, Speaker 2 (0:50) if you're going on a walk and it's cold outside, wool can be a really great fabric. If you're a soldier fighting and running for your life, a giant wool overcoat is horrible because it gets really wet and it gets really heavy and then you want to take it off and then suddenly you're freezing. You just have one wool blanket that is usually... wet and dirty, and then they were trapped in these awful things. Speaker 3 (1:17) The very thing that was supposed to keep these soldiers safe and warm instead caused a lot of harm. Because back then, the military didn't consider fashion a technology. They were focused on weapons, artillery, supply lines, communication. They didn't think of clothing as something to help or hurt the war effort. It was just what soldiers wore. And beyond that, the American military went into World War I totally unprepared for the climate. Speaker 2 (1:45) We had fought a war abroad before the Spanish-American War, which was like a warm weather war. And that's when we started wearing khaki. But we had never fought in like the wilds of northern Europe before. This is like extremely cold, exotic climate for the United States. And we didn't really know what we were doing yet on a large scale. So a lot of soldiers suffered. Speaker 3 (2:09) Did the military realize they had made a mistake issuing these coats to soldiers? Speaker 2 (2:14) Absolutely. Once the war ended, they were like, we've got to find a better jacket. But after the Great War, they were like, let's not focus on war right now. We're never going to have a big war ever again. That was really bad. Yeah, Speaker 3 (2:24) it was the war to end all wars. The Speaker 2 (2:27) war to end all wars. Yeah. So like that was a weird experiment. They didn't think that they needed to revisit or redesign such a jacket for such an expansive war in Europe. Speaker 2 (2:39) But when it proved true that we did end up fighting another giant war in Europe, it was time to revisit this jacket problem. Speaker 3 (2:49) The jacket problem. How should the American military outfit its soldiers to make them as safe and effective as possible? And how should such a jacket be developed? And underneath that, what happens when a symbol of military might gets stripped of its connection to the military and hits the streets? Speaker 3 (3:09) From 99 % Invisible and BBC Studios, this is a history of the United States in 100 Objects. I'm Roman Mars. Today, the incredible origin and evolution of the M43 Army Field Jacket. Speaker 2 (3:23) The Field Jacket changed what it meant to be a soldier and to look like a soldier. And it changed what we all wear every day, not only Americans, but all around the world. Speaker 3 (3:42) The United States military did not put their soldiers in wool overcoats because they thought it was the best technology. They did it because other countries put their soldiers in wool overcoats. For more than a century, they just copied the current military superpower of the moment. Speaker 2 (3:57) You can see this very clearly in the Revolutionary War. We're basically dressing exactly like the British. It's just like they're wearing red. We're not. Then you see this in the Civil War, where we're actually dressing French. That was the superpower at the time. And it's funny because when you look at it, we do kind of look like the soldiers from the Nutcracker. It's very like jaunty little tin soldiers. But that's what we're imitating. We're imitating the French. And then we had this really weird period, which is my favorite in military history, where we were imitating the Prussians and we wore like plumed hats and the helmets with the little spike on top. Like we wore those. We just copied. whoever was the global superpower at the time. And that was the way military fashion worked. It was like, we want to look like the powerful ones. And that decision was sort of made top down. So Speaker 3 (4:47) by 1941, it's clear that the U.S. is going to join World War II. And the military knows it needs a better jacket. So how does it approach this problem? Speaker 2 (4:55) So there were a few kind of improvised... solutions that were made. This one general, General Parsons, was like, my boys need something a little lighter just to wear when they're going out, when it's just a little windy and they don't want a full wool coat. And so what he did was he ordered like 300 golf jackets, like members only jackets, and he picked the parts he liked and he was like, sew these all together. And then they made this golf jacket, which was like... So cool. So it's like a zip-up jacket, basically. It's like a windbreaker. Comes in like a khaki-ish color. Little slip pockets on the side. It looks very modern. And this cool windbreaker became known colloquially as the Parsons jacket after General Parsons. All the soldiers wanted one, although they were terrible for soldiers. If you raised your arm, your belly would get exposed. Really didn't work if it was... a little cold outside. It was not a very pragmatic, Speaker 1 (5:57) practical, like soldier looking jacket. And Speaker 2 (6:01) so eventually all these battalions one by one were like, well, we want our version of the Parsons jacket. Like, can we make one for... parachuting? Can we make one for tankers? Can we make one that's lined for cold environments? And then the government is like issuing all these limited edition drops of this jacket for all these different battalions. And it is so impractical. It's like jacket chaos. Yeah. Speaker 3 (6:24) So there's an effort to streamline this to make the one perfect jacket. So talk to me about how you take on that monumental task. And Speaker 2 (6:35) this grand task was taken on by a professor named Georges Doriot. He was a business professor at Harvard. He was an immigrant. He was French. And he was a high-ranking official in the French military. And he was like, I can feel this war coming. I'm probably going to be put in charge of some big thing because I'm a business professor and a veteran. And so he kind of decided to work in the logistics arm. He was like, I'll do this. And he sort of volunteered himself. He was like, they need someone who knows how to. Organize things. The funny thing is, George Adorio is not famous for his work in jacket organizing. He is famous for being the inventor of venture capital. This whole thing is a giant footnote in his life, Speaker 1 (7:18) which is, I mean, it's very funny that this whole story Speaker 2 (7:22) is just like a fun fact. Speaker 1 (7:24) about this guy. Speaker 2 (7:25) Anyway, so he takes on whatever projects the military needs help doing. And this big project that they present to him is like, okay, we need a jacket. We need one superior jacket that will look great, work in every environment for every job that a soldier has to do. Speaker 1 (7:40) Huge task. And Speaker 2 (7:42) Dorio does this amazing thing. He starts working from first principles. Speaker 2 (7:50) Again, this sounds so obvious now, but before this, the military was just being like, who's the most powerful military or what does some general want? This guy is like, well, what does keep people warm? You know, like what does repel the rain? And even though the field of physiology was budding and yeah, there were all these labs at Harvard that were putting students on treadmills and testing how much they could sweat and Speaker 3 (8:12) body Speaker 2 (8:13) heat retention. No one had done this to clothing yet. He was like, well, let's spray water at this jacket. You know, let's blow wind at this jacket. Let's use laboratories. Let's really figure out objectively what the best jacket is. And George Doria was so invested in finding the objectively greatest jacket that he was like, human test subjects aren't even enough anymore because what's cold to you? What's warm to you? So he ordered a copper dummy that was fitted out with sensors. And then they put the dummy in the cold and in the heat and overnight and put different jackets on the dummy and tested, okay, which jacket keeps the dummy the warmest. I mean, rigorous, rigorous, repeated tests. Speaker 3 (8:55) Yeah. And the copper mannequin had a name. Speaker 2 (8:58) Yes. The mannequin's name was Speaker 3 (8:59) Chauncey. Speaker 2 (9:02) Very important point. Speaker 2 (9:06) And this is what makes me lib out. You know, he was like, what will make the boys the most comfortable? Like, how beautiful is that? It wasn't about emulating some other army. It wasn't about what some high-ranking general wanted. It was about the people, the army of the people, and, like, making sure they were comfortable and they were safe and they were protected. And it just makes me want to, like... Tear up a little. I'm like, this is what we were supposed to be doing the whole time. It's so cool. And this was wild at the time to be like, we're going to treat clothes like a technology. This is as important as developing a tank or a bomb or anything else. This is military technology. Speaker 3 (9:50) Okay. So after putting Chauncey through, you know, rigorous testing, what did they find? Speaker 2 (9:56) They found that there is no one perfect jacket. They found. that the best way