Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs come back in a note from the department that intended to ban the exhibition at the VA (Department of Veterans Affairs), from the iconic photograph VJ day in Times Square of a Navy member kissing a woman he didn’t know on the streets of New York at the end of World War II.
Secretary Denis McDonough acted hours after receiving a copy of a memo from a VA deputy assistant secretary requesting it the removal of the photo from all VA health centers. The memo said that the photo “represents a non-consensual act” and is inconsistent with the department’s policy on sexual harassment.
McDonough tweeted a copy of the image that appeared Tuesday in Life magazine and added, “Let me be clear: This image is not banned in VA facilities — and we will keep it on the premises.”
The image was published by Life magazine in 1945. Photo: AFPTwo people familiar with the memo confirmed this it was authentic and they said McDonough had never approved it and canceled it once informed that it had been sent. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly.
“VA will not ban this photo,” White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said this on Tuesday. “I can definitely say that the note was not sanctioned and therefore is not something we were aware of.”
Copies of the memorandum They have accumulated millions of views on social networks, becoming rapidly a political lightning rod.
The photo “VJ Day in Times Square, New York, NY, 1945”, in an exhibition in Rome. Photo: AFP The photo was taken August 14, 1945known as VJ Day, the day Japan surrendered to the United States, as people poured into the streets of New York from restaurants, bars and movie theaters, celebrating the news. George Mendonsa saw Greta Friedman, turned her around and gave her a kiss. They didn’t know each other.
The photo, by Alfred Eisenstaedt, is titled VJ day in Times Squarebut most people know it simply as “The Kiss”.
Friedman told the Library of Congress in 2005 that it was “not a romantic event.”. It was just a “thank God the war is over” kind of event.And he added in an oral history of the photo: “It wasn’t my choice to be kissed. The guy just came over and kissed or grabbed me“.
Friedman died in 2016 at 92 years old. Mendonsa died in 2019 at the age of 95.
Source: Clarin
Mary Ortiz is a seasoned journalist with a passion for world events. As a writer for News Rebeat, she brings a fresh perspective to the latest global happenings and provides in-depth coverage that offers a deeper understanding of the world around us.