Unknown Soldier in Vietnam, 1965

The photograph shows Unknown Soldier In Vietnam, 1965. It was taken in 1965, and like the best archival images it needs almost no explanation — the frame tells its own story.

The 1960s moved fast: the space race put satellites and then astronauts overhead, television replaced print as the main source of news, and social change swept through music, fashion, and politics. Photojournalism was at its peak, with picture magazines and newspapers employing armies of photographers.

News photographs from this period traveled by wire and print, and a single strong image could shape how millions of people understood an event. This picture is one of the frames that did that work.