6 Iconic Photos That Fooled The Whole World

Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima — Joe Rosenthal (1945)

Probably the most reproduced photograph in history. Six Marines raising the American flag on Mount Suribachi. What’s less well known: it was the second flag raising. A smaller flag had gone up earlier, and a group of Marines decided to replace it with a bigger one so troops below could see it. Rosenthal was there for the second raising. He didn’t stage it—he almost missed it, and it was his second shot. But the moment was an arranged replacement, not the spontaneous victory it’s sold as.