57 most powerful photos in US history

[mpcincal]

Got this off a Facebook link and found it fascinating:

The 57 Most Powerful Photos In United States History - The Roosevelts

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Two that were missing: the photo of Babe Ruth leaning on his bat, and the photo of the firefighter carrying the dead baby after the Oklahoma City bombing.

 

[Vombatus]

Without looking yet, I'm sure that photo of the VC being shot in the head will be there.

And Iwo Jima.

And I expect Kent State, and assassination scenes from JFK, MLK and RFK.

Ok, now I'm going to go look at the photos and see if I matched my guesses.

 

[Starman]

The Babe Ruth picture got bumped by Lou Gehrig. The OKC pic was bumped by 09/11. Some other gut reactions:

• Too much sports;
• Too many returning-soldier pictures;
• Too many street-demonstration pictures;
• Too many moonshot pics - should have just picked one.

 

[BTExpress]

Without looking yet, I'm sure that photo of the VC being shot in the head will be there.

Not really "United States" history. I think all of the photos are on U.S. soil or are American accomplishments. That's why you didn't see the "Napalm Girl" photo, Holocaust photos, Tiananmen Square or the one of the Soviet flag hanging over the Reichstag.

The World Trade Center "Peace on Earth" photo is truly nonsense, however, coming from a nation that has been involved in dozens of military conflicts in its short 239-year history and can't resist swinging its big **** around the world at every opportunity.

 

[MisterCreosote]

Wasn't "Lunch on a Skyscraper" staged? It's a nice photo, but staged shots shouldn't be considered "iconic," in my opinion.

 

[BTExpress]

"Earthrise" is also a little tainted. While orbiting the moon they saw this . . .

. . . and decided it was more dramatic if they just rotated it 135 degrees clockwise. Name is a misnomer, too. There is also no such thing as a true "Earthrise" on the moon, as the earth stays almost in the same place in the sky all the time.

 

[Riptide]

"Earthrise" is also a little tainted. While orbiting the moon they saw this . . .

. . . and decided it was more dramatic if they just rotated it 135 degrees clockwise. Name is a misnomer, too. There is also no such thing as a true "Earthrise" on the moon, as the earth stays almost in the same place in the sky all the time.

"YOU STOP RUINING OUR STORY!"

 

[Batman]

The World Trade Center "Peace on Earth" photo is truly nonsense, however, coming from a nation that has been involved in dozens of military conflicts in its short 239-year history and can't resist swinging its big **** around the world at every opportunity.

You missed the point of that one big time.
Juxtapose that 1995 image with what happened six years later -- and what that day has led to in the 14 years since -- and it's a very haunting photo.

On a side note, hasn't the United States reached the point where we're no longer considered a "young" country? We're 239 years old (or 226, if you want to go from when the Constitution was adopted). Out of 195 currently recognized countries, there's only about a half dozen that have gone that long or longer without being conquered and occupied, undergoing a revolution, or otherwise radically changing their form of government.
Hell, going back to the post-Roman Empire period I wonder how many countries made it that long?

 

[Bronco77]

Two presidential photos that aren't on the on the list but are still memorable, at least to me: Dewey beats Truman from 1948 (if not one of the best photos, certainly one of the most memorable headlines of all time for the wrong reason), and Nixon giving double-V signs as he's leaving Washington after resigning in 1974.

Quite a few memorable World War II photos are strictly international and not on the list. I'll always remember the crying Frenchman during World War II (although the origins of that one are hotly debated), St. Paul's Cathedral still standing during the London Blitz, and Winston Churchill walking through a demolished House of Commons.

 

[BTExpress]

Juxtapose that 1995 image with what happened six years later -- and what that day has led to in the 14 years since -- and it's a very haunting photo.

Only if you believe the nonsense that we are and always have been the white hats in the world. What happened on Sept. 11, 2001 was immensely influenced by what we were doing in Afghanistan in the early 1980s. What happened in Iran in 1979 was immensely influenced by what we did in Iran in 1953. Cold War? Blame the Truman Doctrine and the Greek civil war. And so on. And so on.

We can't keep our noses --- and our guns --- out of other people's business. And then we feign shock when it comes back to bite us.

 

[old_tony]

Without looking yet, I'm sure that photo of the VC being shot in the head will be there.

And Iwo Jima.

And I expect Kent State, and assassination scenes from JFK, MLK and RFK.

Ok, now I'm going to go look at the photos and see if I matched my guesses.

Yeah, there were a couple of iconic Vietnam photos that were not in there.

 

[old_tony]

The Babe Ruth picture got bumped by Lou Gehrig. The OKC pic was bumped by 09/11. Some other gut reactions:

• Too much sports;
• Too many returning-soldier pictures;
• Too many street-demonstration pictures;
• Too many moonshot pics - should have just picked one.

I don't consider the Smith-Carlos picture to be a sports pic. Of the other three, which ones would you take out?

 

[Guy_Incognito]

I don't consider the Smith-Carlos picture to be a sports pic. Of the other three, which ones would you take out?

Jordan

 

[Della9250]

Agreed. The Jordan one doesn't really fit. If you wanted another sports one, I'd go with either Brandi Chastain or the tip before UTEP-Kentucky.

 

[BTExpress]

Maybe Jesse Owens with the gold medal (was there any one single famous photo from those Olympics?).

 

[Batman]

Only if you believe the nonsense that we are and always have been the white hats in the world. What happened on Sept. 11, 2001 was immensely influenced by what we were doing in Afghanistan in the early 1980s. What happened in Iran in 1979 was immensely influenced by what we did in Iran in 1953. Cold War? Blame the Truman Doctrine and the Greek civil war. And so on. And so on.

We can't keep our noses --- and our guns --- out of other people's business. And then we feign shock when it comes back to bite us.

To be fair, I think there's just as many people around the world who are glad we've stuck our noses and our guns into their business, as ones who curse us. Probably far more of the former than the latter.
Plus, show me one major world power that hasn't exerted its influence beyond its borders. I firmly believe the U.S. has done more good in that realm than perhaps any other power in the last 2,000 years. We've made mistakes, sure. Meddled where we shouldn't have. We're still on the right side of the scales in that debate.

And you're still missing the point of that photo's inclusion.
Whatever we were doing behind the scenes, so to speak, before then, the mid-1990s were generally a time of peace and prosperity. We'd kicked ass in the Gulf War to get our swagger back and to become the "white hats" again, settled into a decent economic run, and things were calm. They were looking up. And then on Sept. 11, 2001, the world changed forever. The World Trade Center became a symbol of the loss of American innocence in much the same way Pearl Harbor did. We've done some unsavory, if necessary, things since then, been shaken out of our comfort zone and seen our country more divided than its been perhaps since the Civil War.
In 1995, that photo of the World Trade Center was nothing special. Twenty years later, with everything that happened in the interim, seeing the words "Peace on Earth" alongside an object that signifies a major turning point in American history is incredibly powerful.

 

[expendable]

I don't get the Jordan one, either. Cool shot, but I can't put it on the same level as Iwo Jima or the First Flight, just to name a few. How about Reagan being shot? "Or Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall"? Or the park scene in Chicago the night Obama was elected President in 2008? Maybe the Time Magazine "haystack" photo of Monica Lewinsky hugging Clinton?

 

[Starman]

I don't consider the Smith-Carlos picture to be a sports pic. Of the other three, which ones would you take out?

Jordan and the hockey team. I'd add a picture of Jackie Robinson.

The cultural impact of the hockey team is wildly, massively overrated. The economy was still tanking, the Tehran hostages wouldn't be released for another year, and the attempted rescue mission would end in disaster two months later.

The hockey team made us feel good for a couple of weeks. That was it.

 

[expendable]

I'd keep the hockey team, but good call on Jackie Robinson.