The 20th century has graced us with moments of joy, moments of sorrow and everything in-between, but most people weren’t there to see the greatest moments in history themselves. Luckily, photographers were there to capture the most powerful images in of the century for us – and often in the perfect shot.
Just imagine how easy it is to literally shape the face of history – being there in the right place and at the exact right time to catch an iconic athlete in his moment of triumph, or a pensive president in crisis. Read on to see some of the most powerful images of the last century.
1. Shirley Temple With a Turkey, 1949
We all know Shirley Temple as perhaps the most iconic child actress to ever grace our screens, but her career certainly didn’t end when she grew older. Here we see a 21-year-old Temple in a pretty unusual Thanksgiving-themed publicity photo, alongside a suspicious looking turkey.
Temple, who began her film career at the astonishing age of three, continued to act as a teen. Later in life, she made an impressive career change, venturing into the world of diplomacy. She served as U.S. ambassador to Ghana under Gerald Ford and to Czechoslovakia under George H.W. Bush. Truly a woman of many trades.
3 thoughts on “The Most Powerful 20 Photos of the 20th Century”
Veronica had a sultry iconic hair-do, that helped make her famous in addition to wonderful acting ability.. Woman had changed their hair-do to look like her, but the hair-do, with one lock of hair hanging over one eye interfered with their jobs at the factories making weapons for the war. Veronica agreed to change her hair style as a patriotic gesture for the war effort and from that point on her popularity declined. That’s probably why she drank.
The comment above is about Veronica Lake. signed, Kathleen Richter.
This is a great group of pictures. At my 87 years of age, I can remember a few of them. It is too bad we don’t have more things like this on the internet. Thanks for posting them. Kenneth Deming