It was a public relations nightmare for the Department of Veterans Affairs. An undersecretary of the department on Feb. 29 banned the historic photo, “The Kiss,” from all of its facilities across America. The memo ordering the removal of the photo said the photo “depicts a non-consensual act” that is inconsistent with VA policy on sexual harassment.
The memo was posted on X/Twitter and the criticism was relentless over the U.S. government going woke. Hours later, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough rescinded the order.
McDonough posted a copy of the Aug. 14, 1945 Life Magazine photograph on X/Twitter, with this message: “Let me be clear: This image is not banned from VA facilities — and we will keep it in VA facilities.”
The original memo said, “To foster a more trauma-informed environment that promotes the psychological safety of our employees and the veterans we serve, photographs depicting the ‘V-J Day in Times Square’ should be removed from all Veterans Health Administration facilities.”
RimaAnn O. Nelson, Assistant Under Secretary for Health for Operations, Veterans Health Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs since Jan. 2, 2022, penned the woke memo banning the iconic photo.
The photo was taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt, a German-born American photographer and photojournalist who worked for Life Magazine. It is formally called “V-J Day in Times Square” but is known to most people simply as “The Kiss.”
V-J Day is the day Japan surrendered to the United States. In New York City and other cities across the country, Americans poured into the streets and celebrated. Navy sailor George Mendonsa planted a kiss on fellow celebrant Greta Friedman, someone he had never met but was inspired to lock lips with on that historic day.
