His figure consists of a lightbulb socket head, a wire torso, and a two-pronged power plug for his hips and legs.

[3][4] This program was part of Franklin D. Roosevelt's "New Deal", and later developed into the modern Rural Utilities Service in the United States Department of Agriculture.

[3][4] The NRECA was founded in 1942 as a trade organization to represent these rural co-ops and provide additional services which were too expensive individually.

[2] Freelance artist Andrew "Drew" McLay designed "Willie the Wired Hand", with the "birthday" of October 30, 1950.

[13] A political campaign, "Minutemen for Rural Electrification", included an image of Willie dressed as a Minuteman, which appeared on stage behind then-Senator John F. Kennedy at a 1959 NRECA event in Washington, D.C.[14] In the 1960s, a family group of musicians known as "The Willie Wiredhand Serenaders" hosted a local television show in Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri.

[19] A five-foot (1.5 m) animatronic mascot at the office of the Electric Power Associations of Mississippi could move its arms and speak.

[23] An animated neon sign of Willie in Sagle, Idaho, created in the 1950s and out of repair for decades, was restored in 2000 through a crowdfunding campaign.

[9][26][a] The NRCEA produces an annual Christmas ornament of Willie,[20] and other items have included bobbleheads[23] and handmade wooden pens.