Old Glory Goes Up on Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima

JOE ROSENTHAL 

American, 1911 - 2006 

Old Glory Goes Up on Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima 

1945 

Gelatin silver print 

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston 

     On February 23, 1945, at the top of Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima, Joe Rosenthal took a photograph that changed everything. Rosenthal, an Associated Press photographer, had ascended the mountain earlier in the day along with two other photographers interested in photographing the flag-raising. The three arrived too late; the first flag had been raised earlier that morning. However, word spread that five marines and one navy corpsman would raise a larger flag. Rosenthal prepared to document the second flag-raising: "I put my Speed Graphic down and and quickly piled up some stones and a...sandbag to raise me about two feet...I picked up the camera and climbed onto the pile. I decided on a lens setting between f-8 and f-11, and set the speed at 1-400th of a second" (Landsberg). Rosenthal then proceeded to take what is arguably the most iconic photograph of World War II. When the photograph was printed in the subsequent Sunday paper, its image spread rapidly and made the Battle of Iwo Jima a significant event in the memories of Americans. 

     The instant success of the flag-raising has given the image iconic status for years to come. Lather that year, Rosenthal received the Pulitzer Prize for the photograph. Time-Life reporter Robert Sherrod caused a stir when he accused Rosenthal of staging the photo, a statement that he later took back.  Numerous reproductions, including its usage on a '40s postage stamp, in sculpture at the Marines War Memorial, as as the icon for the Seventh War Loan Drive, proliferate the image in American life.  The United States Navel Institute has complied a page dedicated to images inspired by the work (http://www.usni.org/iwo-jima-parody-photos). Why did this image achieve such recognizable success? Robert Hariman and John Louis Lucaites argue that the image was successful due to its embodiment of "egalitarianism, nationalism, and civic republicanism," which were the "social knowledge and dominant ideologies" of the time (363, 366). They write that "the daily stream of images in the public media...define the public through the act of common spectatorship" (365). This common spectatorship became a motivating force for the war efforts due to the inspiring nature of the work. 

      This photo was compelling to me, as it has been to generations of Americans, due to its juxtaposition of destruction and peace. In the center, we can see six figures, all in different positions, yet all attempting the same goal. The pole's dramatic diagonal in the air draws attention to the flag, the pinnacle of the photograph. The weight of the left side of the photo is counter-acted by the man lunging towards the ground to secure the pole. The background is nearly empty and the ground upon which the men stand is covered in war debris. To many, this photo could easily represent "U. S. exceptionalism and and idealized conception of national life that sanctions unreflective respect for institutions (especially militarism)...at its worst, it would seem to be a celebration of 'manifest destiny' and the Cold War notion of the United States as the 'policeman of the world'" (Hariman 368). However, I believe the predominant resonation with this image is one of "egalitarianism, nationalism, and civic republicanism" (Hariman 363). To Americans, this photograph brought a hope for peace amongst the chaos of WWII, particularly the chaos of Iwo Jima, which "accounted for nearly one-third of all Marine Corps losses in all of World War II" (Landsberg). In contrast to the tone of news photographs of other wars, such as Vietnam and Korea, it reinforces the notion of America as a necessary force in World War II. It changes everything because it shaped how Americans viewed the second World War. 

Bibliography: 

Hariman, Robert, and John Louis Lucaites. "Performing Civic Identity: The Iconic Photograph of the Flag Raising on Iwo Jima." Quarterly Journal of Speech 88.4 (2002): 363-92.

Landsberg, Mitchell. "Fifty Years Later, Iwo Jima Photographer Fights His Own Battle." The Associated Press. http://web.archive.org/web/20040412081346/http://www.ap.org/pages/about/pulitzer/rosenthal.html. Accessed 10 Apr. 2013. 

Naval History and Heritage Command. "Oral History- Iwo Jima Flag Raising." http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq87-3l.htm. Accessed 10 Apr. 2013.

Image from Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, http://www.mfah.org/art/detail/old-glory-goes-mt-suribachi-iwo-jima/.