Images Worth A Thousand Words

Pictures fill in the gaps where words fail. Since 1942, the Pulitzer Prize has awarded photographers whose keen eyes captured breathtaking moments in human history. Let's take a photographic walk through the 20th century.

Robert H. Jackson (29) on Wikimedia

1. Ford Strikers Riot

The inaugural Pulitzer Prize for Photography was awarded to Milton Brooks for his photo Ford Strikers Riot. The photo depicts a strikebreaker being beaten by striking United Auto Workers from the Ford Motor Company. The strike was the first in Ford's history, with this photo showing the tension between labor and capital.

Milton Brooks on Wikimedia

2. Water!

Associated Press photographer Frank Noel sick with malaria when his ship was struck by a Japanese torpedo. Adrift in the Indian Ocean for three days, Noel's lifeboat encountered another, the inhabitants of both were out of water. Noel's photo is aptly titled Water!

Frank Noel on Wikimedia

3. Homecoming

Homecoming by Earle Bunker depicts Lt. Col. Robert Moore reuniting with his family in Iowa. This touching photograph was actually Bunker's second attempt, as a failed flashbulb ruined the first. Taken in 1943, Homecoming showed a reunion that, while desired by all families with loved ones on the front, was not guaranteed.

Earle Bunker on Wikimedia

4. Raising The Flag On Iwo Jima

Joe Rosenthal deservedly won the Pulitzer for Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima in 1945. The photograph depicts a group of victorious Marines raising the US flag after the Battle of Iwo Jima. Fighting in the Pacific continued for six more months, and three of the Marines in the picture never made it home.

Joe Rosenthal on Wikimedia

5. Babe Ruth Bows Out

The player in baseball history, Babe Ruth Bows Out depicts Ruth at his jersey retirement ceremony. Ruth played for the New York Yankees from 1920 to 1934; nearly 50,000 fans attended his retirement ceremony. Sick with throat cancer, Ruth lost his final battle two months after Nathaniel Fein took this photo.

Nathaniel Fein on Wikimedia

6. Flight of Refugees Across Wrecked Bridge In Korea

Dubbed "the Forgotten War", this heart-breaking photo of the Korean War by Max Desfor won the Pulitzer in 1951. The image depicts refugees from Pyongyang fleeing over the wrecked Taedong Bridge in winter. The North Korean army had previously destroyed the bridge to halt American & South Korean forces after the Battle of Inchon.

Max Desfor on Wikimedia

7. The Johnny Bright Incident

1952 was the first year that the Pulitzer was shared between two photographers: John Robinson and Don Ultang. Stitched together from a series, this photo shows Wilbanks Smith breaking Johnny Bright's jaw in a college football game. The assault was racially motivated and was covered up for half a century.

Don Ultang, Des Moines Register on Wikimedia

8. Adlai Bares His Sole

This hole in one shot by William M. Gallagher shows a worn in Adlai E. Stevenson's shoe. Taken during his 1952 presidential campaign, this photo shows Stevenson not as a gifted orator or the scion of a political family, but a man who put others' needs above his own. While the photo won, Stevenson did not.

William M. Gallagher on Wikimedia

9. Rescue On Pit River Bridge

This heart-stopping photograph also happened to be the first winner taken by a woman, Virginia Schau! Schau was not a professional photographer, rather she was a housewife who managed to capture an unforgettable moment. The two truckers in the photo were safely rescued (Schau called for help before getting her camera).

Virginia Schau on Wikimedia

10. Faith And Confidence

1958 was not a good year for photography, at least not according to the Pulizer committee. Faith and Confidence, taken by William C. Beall, won after J. Edgar Hoover convinced the committee. However, the stirring  depiction of childhood innocence was a smash hit with readers.

William C. Beall on Wikimedia

11. Last Rites Of Jose Rodriguez

Another series of photos, Andrew Lopez captured the final moments before an execution. The condemned man pictured was a corporal in dictator Fulgencio Batista's army who was convicted of murder by Fidel Castro's rebel. His tribunal lasted just one minute.

Andrew Lopez, United Press International on Wikimedia

12. Serious Steps

Serious Steps, taken by Paul Vathis shows then-president John F. Kennedy engaged in deep conversation with former president Dwight D. Eisenhower. the two presidents met at Camp David where they discussed the aftermath of the Bay of Pigs Invasion. Like many photos on this list, Serious Steps depicts a moment as precarious as a high-wire act.

Paul Vathis on Wikimedia

13. Aid From The Padre

Venezuela's constitution was only a year old when this photo was taken in 1962, but there had already been attempts to overthrow it. Hector Rondón Lovera had to avoid getting shot himself, when he captured this image of a Navvy chaplain administering last rites amidst the field of battle. One thing viewers will miss by not viewing this photo in a series is that the action took place in front of a slaughterhouse.

Héctor Rondón on Wikimedia

14. Jack Ruby Shoots Lee Harvey Oswald

Bullets travel faster than shutters, as evidenced by this photograph Robert H. Jackson took of Jack Ruby shooting Lee Harvey Oswald. Jackson was part of the presidential motorcade in Dallas, but had no film to document President Kennedy's shooting. This picture was once in a lifetime, as Jackson's camera was almost seized by an officer in the ensuing scuffle.

Robert H. Jackson (29) on Wikimedia

15. Flee To Safety

Flee To Safety is just one of Kyōichi Sawada's devastating photos of the Vietnam War. This image depicts a mother and her children wading across a river to escape US bombing after their village was suspected of being a Viet Cong base camp. Sawada carried the children out of the river immediately after getting his picture.

Kyōichi Sawada on Wikimedia

16. The Kiss Of Life

In 1968, the Pulitzer Prize for Photography was divided into two categories: Breaking News Photography and Feature photography. The Kiss of Life by Rocco Morabito was the first photo to win for Breaking News. This photograph features a utility worker giving mouth-to-mouth to a fellow comrade who'd been electrocuted.

Rocco Morabito on Wikimedia

17. Lull In The Battle

When Jerry Gay arrived on the scene of a house fire in Burien, Washington, he expected to photograph the ruins, not win a Pulitzer. Instead, he captured four exhausted firefighters wth the same weary look seen in war veterans. Proceeds from a print run of Lull in the Battlewere donated to the Northwest Burn Foundation.

Jerry Gay on Wikimedia

18. The Funeral

Following her husband's tragic death, Coretta Scott King personally invited Moneta Sleet Jr. to photograph the funeral. The result was this photo of King along with her five-year-old daughter, Bernice. The vulnerability of Bernice's white dress against her mother's mourning black reminds the viewer that King was a husband and father in addition to a civil rights leader.

Moneta Sleet, Jr. on Wikimedia

19. Moment Of Life

Moment of Life, captured by Brian Lanker, was one of the first photographs of childbirth many Americans saw. Lanker did a series on childbirth in 1972, when most fathers waited out of the delivery room. This moment, the birth of Jacki Lynn Coburn, sees pain give way to joy.

Brian Lanker on Wikimedia

20. Burst Of Joy

Another photograph depicting a family reunion, Burst of Joy shows Lt. Col. Robert Stirm reuniting with his family after five years in a North Vietnamese prison camp. Stirm was one of the first American POWs to be returned home. Photographer Slava Veder developed the film in the air base's washrooms.

Slava