Marilyn Monroe Sure Gave the Troops a Treat During her USO Performance, 1954

Captured here: Ms. Monroe: Marilyn Monroe sure gave the troops a treat during her USO performance in Korea, February 1954. The scene dates to 1954, a detail that changes how you read every face and object in the frame.

The 1950s brought a wave of postwar prosperity, especially in North America. Suburbs, television sets, big chrome-trimmed cars, and rock and roll defined the decade, and a booming picture-magazine industry sent photographers to document all of it.

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.