On Tuesday afternoon, August 14, 1945, Americans could practically taste the victory over the Japanese Empire. But that wasn’t enough. They wanted to see it and never forget what it looked like. They needed a picture—one so sensational that those yet to be born could experience the same exhilaration and always remember what the end of World War II felt like.
While many newspapers and magazines hunted for such an image, the expectation of one publication far exceeded the others. Subscribers of that leading photo journal had come to expect captivating photographs, especially during World War II. Now, with victory in their grasp, the magazine’s subscribers looked for a one-in-a-million photo to mark the occasion.
In pursuit of this image, the photo journal’s most prominent photographer searched the streets of Times Square. He understood his charge. The magazine that employed him had earned a reputation for always getting the picture. So had he—and today his reputation was once again on the line. On this day, he looked for a picture that would epitomize the American victory.
Finding such an image grew increasingly challenging. As the early afternoon progressed, the nation’s most famous square filled with celebrants. The photographer’s field of vision narrowed. Keeping track of people’s movements bordered on the impossible. Focusing on any one person proved especially futile. The noise of clacking feet, laughing voices, and escalating commotion added multiple layers of distraction. Despite the mounting obstacles, the photographer persisted in his search for the photo.
Suddenly, at the extremity of his peripheral vision, he noticed a tall sailor swooping in on a shorter woman dressed in white. Without conscious thought, he acted quickly. Spinning around, he raised his Leica camera and took a photo of what appeared to be a sailor and nurse kissing. He had taken thousands of pictures during his celebrated career. Many commanded the world’s attention. None looked like this one. Ultimately, that photo came to epitomize the victorious end of World War II.
While in the future many would marvel at the sailor’s and nurse’s captured pose, in truth the shoot required no posing or fussing. In fact, the photographer exercised no role in bringing the moment about. However, his contribution proved enormous. He acted impulsively, aimed accurately, and commanded that the camera’s shutter close at the most poignant moment. The image he captured allows one to see the exhilaration, taste the kiss, smell the perfume and cologne, hear the bustling streets, and feel victory.
V-J Day, 1945, Times Square struck a powerful chord in 1945 and continued to play well with future onlookers years and even decades later. The photo grabs the viewer’s attention and, like the pictured sailor, never seems to let go. All the photo’s features compete for the eye’s focus. The sailor’s massive right hand cups the woman’s waist and holds on tightly. She sways her left hip out lazily. His left arm supports her upper torso, which might otherwise collapse toward Times Square’s pavement. Her right leg bends slightly upward, propped by a downward, pointed high-heeled white shoe. With their lips pressed tightly together and his nose compressing her left cheek, she closes her eyes, ostensibly content to remain unaware of her pursuer’s identity. Their uniforms’ colors, dark navy blue and bleached white, offer the only contrast between their two melded bodies. Those gathered around the victory celebrants focus attention on the captured moment. Grins and smiles indicate they approve. At last the conquering hero and his obliging maiden are together, safe and sound.
Over the ensuing years millions stared at or studied the anonymous sailor and nurse. Each viewing ignited their imagination. They devised story lines to complement what they saw, but they never knew the truth. Instead, like a 1940s movie, surmised plots glossed over the war’s miseries and romanticized life in general. Predictably, the stories climaxed either with the couple parting and never speaking to each another again, but wondering what ever happened to each other, or the photo’s principals married, and hung Eisenstaedt’s famous photograph in the living room of the Cape they bought after the war. And, of course, they spawned a boatload of children. While corny and clichéd, such scenarios sit well with a sentimental public.
Often people’s fictional plots surrendered to fantasy. And who can blame them? The photograph brims with perceived unbridled passion and sexual tension. V-J Day, 1945, Times Square invites viewers to participate in the frolic. Many cannot resist the temptation.
Even without such enticement, other less readily observable considerations give people cause to stare at the photo longer. One might argue that Times Square’s suspended instance marks the pinnacle of America’s narrative. America defeated its demons, Adolph Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Emperor Hirohito and the Japanese military. A victor nation celebrates gleefully. Prosperity, security, and confidence await the entwined couple. There will be marriages and a baby boom, creating a common experience that continues to characterize America’s preferred vision of itself. V-J Day, 1945, Times Square marks the starting line of a sprint toward a more prosperous standard of living and an inventive ideal family life. One can assume the sailor and nurse will go on to purchase a split-level home, live in suburbia, drive big cars, watch television shows, and produce children—lots of children. Life will be good. No one foresees the Korean or Vietnam conflicts, the civil rights struggles, Watergate, terrorist attacks, or today’s concerns of “America’s decline.” Nothing distracts us from the bliss. In fact, in that moment, everybody longs to be an American. And on this glorious day, at that precious moment, regardless of their birth nation, everyone waves the Red, White, and Blue.
Though most photographs fade with the passing years, the black-and-white photo of a sailor and nurse kissing on V-J Day sharpens and raises its voice. Taken in the planet’s most popular meeting place and printed in the magazine known around the world for its captivating photographs, the image reminds us of a time when we felt better as a nation and as individuals than we ever had before and we ever have since. Like a fond memory, no one wants to turn away. And for more than sixty-five years, almost no one did.