1960s: The John F. Kennedy Assassination rocked the world in 1963. Conspiracy theories be damned. Authorities quickly captured and arrested Lee Harvey Oswald as the man who killed the president. But in a twist of a true crime drama, Jack Ruby, a mobster, shot and killed Oswald less than two days later. Many journalists filmed the scene of Oswald getting his so-called justice.. Photojournalist Bob Jackson captured the brief, but frantic, scene almost by accident.
With no planning and sheer reflexes, Jackson caught the moment. This photo shows in great detail what unfolded. The grimace on Lee Harvey Oswald’s face. The face of one of the officers escorting Oswald shows a look of total shock and disbelief. Jackson caught the dramatic moment with exceptional clarity as Ruby shot Oswald in the abdomen. Just a few years after JFK’s assassination, a highly politicized war would threaten peace in the United States.
1970s: The Kent State shooting was an example of a very tempestuous time in history boiling over into tragedy. Hundreds of student demonstrators at Kent State University in Ohio were protesting the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War. The Ohio National Guard was responsible for controlling the crowd. It was attempting to disperse the demonstrators. Through tension-filled confusion, a guardsman open fired on some of the students. Then more and more guardsmen opened fire. Four students died. The event caught national attention and brought more questions about the government attempting to silence people who opposed the war in Vietnam. Buffalo Springfield wrote a song about the shooting, “For What It’s Worth.” It went on to be a huge hit. John Filo’s image of a student lying on the ground encapsulated the tragedy. It wasn’t malicious murder. But the shooting of fellow citizens felt like an act of terrorism to some.
1990s: The Oklahoma City Bombing in 1995 was a horrible act of Domestic Terrorism directed at the United States government. The act itself, however, affected a lot more. Anarchist Timothy McVeigh constructed a truck bomb that blew up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal building in downtown Oklahoma City. The building contained many innocent Americans. Some were government employees. Many were not.
The photo of a firefighter carrying a wounded infant captured the real victims of the act of terrorism. The federal building contained a nursery full of young children. The explosion killed six children, including the young girl the firefighter carried.
Charles Porter IV was an amateur photographer not affiliated with any newspaper. Porter was working in a nearby bank building. He grabbed his camera and captured the images that humanize and highlight the victims of this terrible tragedy. The picture shows both heroism on part of the firefighter and tragedy on part of the young child. Baylee Almon, who had just celebrated her first birthday the day before the bombing, died from her injuries. Domestic terrorism was a rather new concept. But it would only increase. Also, there was a newer threat on the minds of Americans: foreign terrorism.
2000s: It can go without saying how much the events of September 11, 2001, changed the world. After American Airlines Flight 11 hit the North Tower, it burned alone for 17 minutes. Photojournalist Kelly Guenther of the New York Times caught the moment that United Flight 175 approached the South Tower. This confirmed the fears of a terrorist attack on American soil.
The picture shows a wide shot of Manhattan’s skyline while black smoke billowed out of the North Tower. The photo portrays the airliner as a small speck, in between the Manhattan skyline buildings. It banks just milliseconds before slamming into the South Tower. This is truly the last instant that hundreds of passengers on the plane, and hundreds inside the South Tower, would be alive.
