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Bush Hand-Picked Controversial 9/11 Stamp
NewsMax.com ^
| 3/17/02
| Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff
Posted on 03/18/2002 3:28:50 AM PST by kattracks
President Bush personally selected a controversial photo of three white firefighters raising the American flag at Ground Zero for a U.S. postage stamp commemorating the 9/11 attacks, according to the congressman who introduced legislation proposing a stamp to memorialize the attacks last fall.
"The interesting thing here is [the Postal Service] sent about four or five designs over to the White House," revealed Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-N.Y., during an interview Sunday with WABC Radio's Steve Malzberg.
"And the president, I think, picked this one. He picked the actual photograph - which is unusual, because we don't put live people on stamps," Ackerman said.
The much-celebrated photograph of firemen George Johnson, Dan McWilliams and Billy Eisengrein raising Old Glory amidst the rubble just hours after the attacks became embroiled in controversy in January after NewsMax.com revealed rampant discontent within the New York City Fire Department over an earlier plan to portray the event with a racially altered statue of the three men.
The ensuing firestorm of public protest forced cancellation of the planned statue, with the Postal Service's selection two months later of the actual flag-raising photo widely viewed as a victory for historical accuracy over political correctness.
But it was not known until Sunday that Bush himself, and not the Postal Service, made the final decision on the stamp. Its unveiling took place Monday at the White House, with the president posing for pictures next to Eisengrein, McWilliams and Johnson inside the Oval Office.
The photographer who snapped the now world-famous shot, Thomas Franklin of The Record of North Jersey newspaper, was also on hand for the unveiling.
Playing off the brouhaha surrounding the canceled statue, Ackerman joked, "[The ceremony] was wonderful. Nobody showed up in blackface or turned into somebody else. They were who they started out that morning [as]."
The price of the 9/11 stamp will be 45 cents - 11 extra cents over normal cost - with most of the additional cost going directly to help the widows and children of the first firefighters lost in the 9/11 attacks, Ackerman said.
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Bush Administration
War on Terrorism
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To: mewzilla
However, it is true that there has been a policy that living Americans are not portrayed on postage stamps. Whether this is a matter of law or policy I don't know, but I think the purpose of the rule is to prevent politicians and presidents from using the postal service to promote themselves, as is often done in dictatorships. There is obviously no such intent here, but this stamp still might not be allowable under long-standing postal service policy.
To: Sabertooth
"the Iwo Jima stamp"
Were any of the people in that stamp still alive when it was issued? It was issued decades after the event.
To: Sabertooth
"First Man on the Moon"
Good point - I'd forgotten about that one. The main point of the prohibition of portraying living Americans on stamps is to prevent a president from issuing stamps of himself and thereby establishing a personal cult which would threaten democracy. Stamps which portray unnamed Americans engaging in patriotic or notable actions do not violate the spirit of that rule.
Comment #44 Removed by Moderator
To: 7SonOfRN
" . . .a bottle nose dolphin, a giant redwood . . ."
LOL
To: VA Advogado
I too wish it were 34 cents, as a result, I'll not be using it, no way is the red cross or any of the government dole out folks getting anymore of my money.At least not voluntarily.
Mark
46
posted on
03/18/2002 6:37:29 AM PST
by
Alas
To: Steve_Seattle
I'd forgotten that there were two Iwo Jima stamps, one issued in the forties, one recently. So now we have at at least two examples of stamps that featured living Americans.
To: Sabertooth
What about Elvis? {;~)
48
posted on
03/18/2002 6:39:27 AM PST
by
d14truth
To: Steve_Seattle
Were any of the people in that stamp still alive when it was issued? It was issued decades after the event.
In 1945 the post office issued a stamp titled "Iwo Jima" commemorating the Marine Corps and depicting the flag raising on Mount Suribachi. The stamp was issued on July 11, 1945 in Washington, DC. [Scott 929]. Mellone's catalog of cachets list 61 known covers for the Iwo Jima stamp.
LINK.
To:
CheneyChick; vikingchick; Victoria Delsoul; WIMom; one_particular_harbour; kmiller1k...
(((ping))))
To: Steve_Seattle
I'd forgotten that there were two Iwo Jima stamps, one issued in the forties, one recently. So now we have at at least two examples of stamps that featured living Americans.
Aren't a few of the Iwo Jima guys still around?
To: aardvark1
What we really should have done is called Hollywood to audition the perfect mix of people and races and then we could have had them pose for several photos. Besides, if Hollywood had done it, it would have been much more real.
Yeah! Or something like what they did with Betty Crocker!
52
posted on
03/18/2002 6:54:35 AM PST
by
jwalburg
To: WIladyconservative; vrwinger; OldFriend
What a treat for the honored individuals to be able to hand down a living treasure (the stamp) to their children and grandchildren. Too bad they didn't imortalize the famous Iwo Jima vets the same way!
See posts #34, #40, and #50 on this thread.
To: Sabertooth
ST, those are depictions of "live" people, not the actual photograph. There is a difference. Not that it matters very much, but it is a milestone.
54
posted on
03/18/2002 7:07:02 AM PST
by
kylaka
To: Sabertooth
55
posted on
03/18/2002 7:09:00 AM PST
by
RonDog
To: Sabertooth;kattracks
Thanks for the post, kattracks, and the ping, Saber.
56
posted on
03/18/2002 7:20:30 AM PST
by
bwteim
To: kylaka
ST, those are depictions of "live" people, not the actual photograph. There is a difference. Not that it matters very much, but it is a milestone.
Agreed. I wouldn't have had a problem with an accurate painting or engraving of the WTC Flagraising. Not sure I see a need to back down from the photograph now, though, in favor of an accurate artist's impression..
I'm open to thoughts either way.
To: RonDog
Thanks for the
Iwo Jima link, RonDog. It seems that Mike Bradley was the last of the Iwo Jima Flagraisers, and he passed away in 1994.
The 32 cent Iwo Jima stamp depicted at #40 was issued in 1995, so only the 3 cent Iwo Jima stamp at #34 was issued while any of those men were still alive.
To: Sabertooth
I think the painting vs. photo distinction is a non-issue. Painting or not, everyone knew who the first man on the moon was, and at least one of the Iwo Jima soldiers - Ira Hayes - became well-known, albeit for negative reasons (a Native American, he died prematurely, an impoverished alcoholic). The prohibition against living Americans on stamps is primarily intended to prevent a megalomaniacal president from issuing stamps of himself, as is rampant in third-world dictatorships, or in European countries-gone-bad such as Nazi Germany.
To: Steve_Seattle
" . . .a bottle nose dolphin, a giant redwood . . ."Yes, and we must remember the squirrels. How do you think they feel about being left out?
60
posted on
03/18/2002 7:44:34 AM PST
by
ClancyJ
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