Famous Photo That Was Actually Fake - February 23 1945

The most reproduced photograph in history shows six Marines raising the American flag on Iwo Jima but it wasn't the first flag raised that day. It was the second. Joe Rosenthal's Pulitzer Prize-winning image captured real heroism under fire, yet it was also carefully calculated propaganda. Three of the six men in the photo were dead within weeks. The Marine Corps misidentified soldiers in the image for over 70 years. In this episode, historian Richard Backus reveals why this photograph is both authentic and staged, genuine and manipulated and what that teaches us about truth in the age of "fake news." The battle cost nearly 7,000 American lives to capture an eight-square-mile volcanic rock, justified by claims later proven exaggerated. Discover the complex truth behind America's most famous war photograph and why it matters more than ever today.