About this episode Discover the captivating story behind the iconic 'V-J Day Kiss' photograph, exploring the circumstances of the shot, the identities of those involved, and the moment frozen in time. As a photojournalist unraveling each layer, this episode reveals the human emotions, societal impact, and historical significance behind the image. listeners will gain a deeper understanding of how one photograph captured a nation's joy and the complex stories behind the lens that often go untold.
0:00 What if the most romantic photograph of the twentieth century… isn’t romantic at all?0:06 Oh, I know this one.0:07 The sailor, the nurse, Times Square.0:10 V-J Day.0:11 It’s the definition of a showstopper.0:13 It is.0:14 And it’s a universe away from the kind of courage we talked about last week with the ‘Tank Man’ photo.0:21 That was one person’s clear, defiant act.0:24 This one… this one is a lot messier the closer you get.0:28 So you’re saying the story isn’t just boy meets girl, war ends, they kiss?0:34 I’m saying the photographer didn’t even know if he’d gotten the shot.0:39 And the two people in it?0:41 They were complete strangers.0:43 Okay, so set the scene for me.0:45 Who’s behind the camera?0:47 Alfred Eisenstaedt.0:48 He’s a German-Jewish photographer who fled the Nazis in the thirties, ends up working for LIFE magazine.0:56 He’s a legend.0:57 He’d photographed Hitler and Mussolini, he knew how to capture a personality.1:03 But on August fourteenth, 1945, he wasn’t looking for a portrait.1:08 He was just in the middle of the biggest street party in American history.1:13 Victory over Japan Day.1:15 The final end of World War Two.1:17 I can’t even imagine the energy in Times Square at that moment.1:22 Exactly.1:22 It was pure chaos and release.1:25 Eisenstaedt said he was just running around, grabbing moments.1:29 He saw a sailor in the crowd, a man in a dark uniform, who was just… electric.1:35 He was grabbing every woman he could find and kissing them.1:39 Young, old, it didn’t matter.1:42 Wait, every woman?1:43 Not just the one in the photo?1:45 Not just the one.1:46 Eisenstaedt saw this happening and started tracking him with his Leica camera.1:52 He said he saw the sailor grab something in white, and he instinctively swung his camera and took four shots.2:00 He never even saw their faces through the viewfinder.2:04 So he had no idea what he’d captured until he was back in the darkroom.2:09 Not a clue.2:10 And when LIFE published it a week later, it took up a full page.2:15 No caption with names, just this raw, joyful, anonymous moment of national celebration.2:21 The problem is… it wasn’t anonymous for long.2:25 Right, this is where it gets complicated.2:28 Because for decades, nobody knew who they were, and then suddenly, EVERYBODY knew who they were.2:35 Dozens of people came forward.2:37 Eleven different men, three different women.2:40 LIFE magazine tried to track them down in 1980 and it just… muddied the waters even more.2:47 But we have a good idea now, right?2:50 Through, like, forensic analysis and matching up other photos from the day?2:55 We do.2:56 The consensus has settled on two people.2:58 The sailor was a man named George Mendonsa.3:02 And the woman in white… she wasn’t actually a nurse.3:06 Oh.3:06 Her name was Greta Zimmer Friedman.3:08 She was a dental assistant.3:10 She’d fled Austria during the Holocaust.3:13 On V-J Day, she heard rumors the war was over and walked to Times Square on her lunch break to find out.3:21 And that’s when a total stranger, George Mendonsa, grabbed her.3:26 Grabbed her.3:27 That’s the word she used, isn’t it?3:29 It is.3:30 She said in interviews later that it wasn’t her choice to be kissed.3:35 She said, "The guy just came and grabbed!" and that he was very strong.3:40 She wasn’t consenting.3:42 It wasn’t a romantic moment for her at all.3:45 It was a moment of shock.3:47 Wow.3:47 So the most famous kiss in photography… was an assault.3:51 Well, that’s the conversation now, isn’t it?3:54 For George’s part, he said he was just so overjoyed, and he saw a uniform that reminded him of the nurses who’d cared for wounded sailors.4:04 His own girlfriend—soon to be his wife—was actually in the background of the photograph, smiling.4:12 He wasn’t being romantic; he was just… overcome.4:15 But that doesn’t change the experience for Greta.4:19 The frame leaves all of that out.4:21 It leaves out George’s girlfriend watching from the side, and it leaves out Greta’s complete and utter surprise.4:30 It captures the feeling of a nation, but it flattens the feelings of the people inside the picture.4:37 Eisenstaedt’s photo is a masterpiece of timing and composition.4:42 It tells a story of spontaneous joy.4:44 But it’s not THEIR story.4:46 So what do we do with an image like that now?4:49 It’s been on posters, it’s been turned into statues.4:53 It’s held up as this symbol of passionate romance.4:57 Can we still see it that way?4:59 I think… I think you see what you need to see.5:02 For decades, America needed to see a symbol of joyful reunion.5:07 A story where the war ends and everyone comes home and falls in love.5:12 It’s a powerful myth.5:14 But a photograph isn’t a myth.5:16 It’s a document.5:17 And this one documents a moment that was waaaay more complicated than it looks.5:23 It asks a question, really.5:25 Which is?5:26 Can a picture be true, and still not tell the truth?
