A Glimpse Into Days Gone By: Iconic American Photos

Date Taken: February 23, 1945
Photographer: Joe Rosenthal

One of the most iconic photos of all time, military-related or otherwise, was snapped by by Joe Rosenthal back in 1945. The photo features six Marines hoisting the American flag atop Mount Suribachi on February 23 during World War II. Tragically, three of the Marines, Cpl. Block, Sgt. Strank, and Private Sousley, would be killed in action just a few days after the photo was taken.

Raising the Flag at Iwo Jima ©Joe Rosenthal /Wikimedia Commons

The photograph was so powerful that it was later turned into a sculpture by famed artist Felix de Weldon for the Marine Corps War Memorial, located in Arlington, Virginia. The photo is considered public domain, as the AP relinquished its photo rights.

Date Taken: March 1936
Photographer: Dorothea Lange

One of the most tragic photos taken during the Great Depression was this one, the Migrant Mother. It featured a woman named Florence Owens Thompson surrounded by her children on US Highway 101, and has endured as a powerful portrait of American destitution and despair during the Depression. 

Migrant Mother ©Dorothea Lange/Wikimedia Commons

The photographer, Dorothea Lange, worked for the Resettlement Administration and asked to take some pictures of Thompson and her kids, who had just spent a long day picking beets in Imperial Valley. Lange was able to catch Thompson because Thompson’s car broke down on the road and she set up camp to wait.

Date Taken: August 28, 1963
Photographer: AP

This classic and important photo was taken in 1963. The photographer, G. Marshall Wilson, started his day at six in the morning walking through the crowds that had gathered to hear Martin Luther King Jr. speak. When Wilson saw how spread out the crowd was, he climbed onto a cameraman stand to capture this now-iconic King photo.

“I Have a Dream” ©Rowland Scherman/Wikimedia Commons

To put this moment into context, the March on Washington was spurred after then-President JFK attempted to pass civil rights legislation and was blocked by pro-segregation representatives.

Date Taken: December 24, 1968
Photographer: Bill Anders

Earthrise has been called “the most influential” photo ever taken in the environmental genre. It was captured by astronaut William Anders while he was floating through space on Apollo 8 on Christmas Eve, 1968. It featured earth rising above the moon’s gray, rocky surface. The image is AS08-14-2383 in NASA’s archives.

“Earthrise” ©NASA/Bill Anders /Wikimedia Commons

The conversation between the astronauts was recorded when Anders decided to take this spur-of-the-moment shot. A fellow astronaut on Apollo 8 initially told Anders not to take the photo (as it it wasn’t scheduled on their itinerary). He snatched the camera back from Anders after Anders captured the photo.

Date Taken: February 22, 1980
Photographer: Heinz Kluetmeier

This famous snapshot is one of sports’ most iconic images. The photo featured the US men’s hockey team celebrating after their surprise victory over the Soviet Union at the 1980 Winter Olympics. At the time, the US and the USSR were steeped in the depths of the Cold War.

“Miracle On Ice” ©Focus On Sport/Getty Images

Leading up to the showdown, the Soviet Union was the four-time champion gold medalists. So when the US team pulled in a shock victory, the win was a boost to American morale. The tournament was attended by some 8,500 thrilled fans.

Date Taken: October 26, 1967
Photographer: Bernie Boston 

This powerful protest image was snapped by Bernie Boston, an American photographer for the now-defunct Washington Star newspaper. He captured the photo on October 21, 1967 during the height of the protests against the Vietnam War. The photograph featured a young, eighteen-year-old anti war protestor placing flowers into the barrel of riot police’s guns.

“Flower Power” ©By S.Sgt. Albert R. Simpson. Department of Defense/Wikimedia Commons

The flower-placer, George Harris, clad in a baggy sweater and holding a bouquet of daffodils, didn’t know at the time that he would go on to become one of the most definitive anti-war icons of all time. The photo received a Pulitzer Prize nomination.

Date Taken: 1955
Photographer: Matty Zimmerman

Marilyn Monroe was an iconic actress, model, and socialite who will always be an iconic part of our cultural history. But by far, one of the most enduring images of the starlet is this classic photo. In the image, she is attempting to hold down her white dress, which has flown up due to a breeze.

Marilyn Monroe’s Windy Dress ©Corpus Christi Caller-Times-photo from Associated Press/Wikimedia Commons

Famously, the breeze wasn’t from the wind. Monroe was actually standing on a grate in New York City. When a subway train (uptown 6) went by, it produced a gust of air. It was taken while she was filming The Seven Year Itch.

Date Taken: April 1906
Photographer: Louis P. Selby

Louis Selby was an amateur photographer when he grabbed his camera and hit the streets of San Francisco to capture chilling photographs of the sheer devastation left behind by the 1906 earthquake. The earthquake was a 7.8, making it a violent, destructive force of nature.

Aftermath of the San Francisco Earthquake ©Chadwick, H. D - This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work / Wikimedia Commons

Three thousand people perished from the devastating quake, and the aftermath left the majority of San Francisco’s residents homeless. Shockingly, Selby’s photos were not released until over 100 years after the tragic event took place.

Date Taken: Aguust 14, 1945
Photographer: Alfred Eisenstaedt

V-J Day in Times Square brought together soldiers returning from WWII with their wives and girlfriends. One iconic photo from this era, taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt, was that of the famous kiss between a man and a total stranger that occurred after the sailor returned home. It was taken on August 14, 1945.

“The Kiss” in Times Square ©Alfred Eisenstaedt/Wikimedia Commons

The photo was a total spur-of-the-moment. The sailor and the woman didn’t know one another, and he only grabbed her for the kiss when he saw Eisenstaedt walking around with a camera. The identity of the subjects remain anonymous to this day, as both of their faces are obscured in the image.

Date Taken: 1880
Photographer: Unknown

Billy the Kid’s portrait was taken around the year 1880 by a now-forgotten photographer. Over a century later, it wound up at a garage sale, where it was bought for $5. The man who purchased it realized he might have something valuable so he got it appraised. He was right: as one of the only remaining images of Billy the Kid, the photo was worth millions. 

Billy the Kid Portrait ©Ben Wittick /Wikimedia Commons

This one-of-a-kind picture of the outlaw was unique, as Billy the Kid wasn’t the type to pose for pictures unless he was getting a mugshot taken. The Kid remains an iconic symbol of Wild West outlaws, and legend says that he killed eight men before dying in a shootout.

Date Taken: September 4, 2005
Photographer: Robert Galbraith

Hurricane Katrina was one of the worst natural disasters in recent American history, and it took New Orleans and the surrounding areas years to recover from the devastation. There were a lot of reasons Hurricane Katrina was so devastating, though a good portion of them had little to do with the weather.

Hurricane Katrina ©NASA /Wikimedia Commons

The city’s levy broke unexpectedly and people were stranded for days. Robert Gailbraith, a photographer, took an aerial shot of a home where a desperate homeowner had scrawled the message, “Please help us” on his roof. He also listed the occupants: “People, dog, cat.” The heartbreaking photo showed just how horrific the desperation had become.

Date Taken: December 17, 1903
Photographer: John T. Daniels

The Wright Brothers’ first flight was lucky enough to be preserved forever in this iconic 1903 photograph snapped at Kitty Hawk. The photos were developed by the Wrights themselves, with this famous image showing their plane taking off for the very first time. The prints are housed in the National Air & Space Museum. 

The Wright Brothers Fly at Kitty Hawk ©John T. Daniels /Wikimedia Commons

This photo, however, was somewhat unplanned. Orville Wright had set up a tripod with a camera pointing where he thought the airplane would be. He stopped a nearby member of the US Lifesaving Service, John T. Daniels, and told him to squeeze the camera’s shutter if he saw something interesting. When Daniels saw the plane go up, he clicked.

Date Taken: November 22, 1963
Photographer: James William “Ike” Altgens

Ike Altgens worked as a wire operator, but he also doubled as a photographer for the Associated Press. One fateful day in 1963, Altgens was on the job waiting to snap a photo of the John F. Kennedy presidential motorcade as it passed through Dallas. Little did Altgens know that he was about to witness a devastating tragedy.

The JFK Assassination ©Bettmann / Contributor / gettyimages.com

JFK was infamously assassinated during the event. Altgens, stunned, managed to snap a photo just 1.6 seconds after the bullet struck Kennedy. The photograph showed JFK slumped against his terrified wife, reacting to the bullet that had struck him while he was on the South Knoll.

Date Taken: June 1995
Photographer: Vince Bucci

O.J. Simpson’s famous trial was, indeed, the trial of the century. One important piece of evidence was a glove recovered at the crime scene. When the prosecution asked Simpson to try on the glove, they justified that if the glove didn’t fit Simpson, he was obviously innocent.

If the Glove Doesn’t Fit” - The O.J. Simpson Trial ©Lee Celano/Getty Images

“If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit” became defense attorney Johnny Cochran’s famous phrase. And the glove did not, according to the defense, fit well. The photo that became iconic featured Simpson trying on the glove and finding a snug fit.