Joe Rosenthal - Impact of Flag Raising Photo

Impact of Flag Raising Photo

The American people saw Rosenthal's photo as a potent victory symbol. Wire services flashed the iconic Pulitzer Prize winning photograph around the world in time to appear in the Sunday newspapers on February 25, 1945. Many magazines ran the photo on their covers. The photo was used in a 1945 War Bond drive which raised $26.3 billion.

Artists later used the photo as a model for the United States Marine Corps War Memorial, commonly referred to as "The Iwo Jima Memorial", at Arlington, and the U.S. Postal Service put the photo on a U.S. postage stamp. A version also stands on the parade ground at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina,

Reporters extensively interviewed Rosenthal after September 11, 2001, when Thomas E. Franklin shot a similar iconic photograph, Ground Zero Spirit, depicting the raising of the flag by three firefighters at the World Trade Center. Rosenthal and Franklin met several times after the event.

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