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Construction workers take a lunch break on a steel beam atop the RCA Building at Rockefeller Center, New York, Sept. 29, 1932. In the background is the Chrysler Building. Associated Press
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A crowd cheers for aviatrix Amelia Earhart as she boards her single-engine Lockheed Vega airplane in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, for the trip back to London on May 22, 1932. Earhart became the first woman to fly solo nonstop across the Atlantic Ocean w Associated Press
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The German dirigible Hindenburg crashes to earth, tail first, in flaming ruins after exploding on May 6, 1937, at the U.S. Naval Station in Lakehurst, N.J. The 1920s and 1930s were the golden age of dirigibles which crossed the Atlantic Ocean in about thr Murray Becker, Associated Press
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A workman at New York World's Fair repaints the famed Perisphone at the Flushing, N.Y. site on June 6, 1939. Symbols of the 1939 Fair are the Trylon, Perisphere, and Helicline are the landmark monumental buildings of the "Theme Center." Trylon, over 700 Associated Press
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New York Yankees' Lou Gehrig, the "Iron Horse," wipes away a tear while speaking during a sold-out tribute at Yankee Stadium July 4, 1939. Gehrig's record breaking career was cut short by neuromuscular disease. Murray Becker, Associated Press
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Baseball Hall of Famer Babe Ruth warms up for photographers at New York's Yankee Stadium Aug. 21, 1942, preparing for an exhibition against pitching great Walter Johnson to raise money for the Army-Navy Relief Fund during World War II. Thomas Sande, Associated Press
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Charles Dunne swings and misses at a ball during a practice session of a P.A.L. team in Brooklyn, N.Y., June 9, 1943. The catcher is Frank Pesce and the umpire is Joe DiMaggio, not the Big League outfielder. Joe's the coach of the team. Ed Ford, Associated Press
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Fans surround crooner Frank Sinatra as he arrives in Pasadena, Calif., Aug. 11, 1943, for Hollywood film and singing engagements. John T. Burns, Associated Press
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In this image provided by the U.S. Army Signal Corps, U.S. Gen. Douglas MacArthur observes a military operation from a B-17 Flying Fortress gun port on Sept. 5, 1943 during World War II. In the exercise, 1,500 paratroopers landed in Markham Valley near Na U.S. Army Signal Corps
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U.S. soldiers of Pennsylvania's 28th Infantry Division march along the Champs Elysees, the Arc de Triomphe in the background, on Aug. 29, 1944, four days after the liberation of Paris, France. World War II began in September 1939 with Adolf Hitler's inva Peter J. Carroll, Associated Press
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U.S. Marines of the 28th Regiment, 5th Division, raise the American flag atop Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima, on Feb. 23, 1945. Strategically located only 660 miles from Tokyo, the Pacific island became the site of one of the bloodiest, most famous battles of Wo Joe Rosenthal, Associated Press
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U.S. troops returning from Europe fill every porthole as the HMS Queen Elizabeth pulls into a pier in New York Harbor Aug. 31, 1945. Associated Press
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Bespectacled Mahatma Gandhi, who eventually led India to its independence, laughs with the man who was to be the nation’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, at the All-India Congress committee meeting in Bombay, India, on July 6, 1946. Nehru took off Max Desfor, Associated Press
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A photographer uses his own backdrop to mask Poland's World War II ruins while shooting a portrait in Warsaw in November of 1946. Michael Nash, Associated Press
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A pretzel vendor displays his wares, well-salted and five cents each, on an approach to the Manhattan Bridge in New York City, April 29, 1948. Robert Kradin, Associated Press
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Home run king Babe Ruth, wearing his famed number 3 uniform, bows as he acknowledges the cheers of thousands of fans who saw the No. 3 retired permanently by the Yankees during the June 13, 1948 observance of the 25th anniversary of the opening of Yankee Harry harris, Associated Press
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Babe Didrikson Zaharias urges the ball into the cup on the 18th green of Chicago's Tam O'Shanter Country Club in the Women's All-American Golf Tournament on Aug. 4, 1950. Ed Maloney, Associated Press
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Lee Moates and Tonita Malau show their winning dance style during a Lindy contest on the block-long floor of Harlem's Savoy Ballroom in New York April 24, 1953. Hans Von Nolde, Associated Press
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J. Edgar Hoover, chief of the FBI, and Holly Spring of Ballerina, a boxer entered in a dog show, in Washington on April 7, 1954. The occasion was a visit to Hoover's office by a group seeking to publicize the show. William J. Smith, Associated Press
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U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson, responding to a question about whether he can milk a cow, samples milk directly from a Holstein while visiting Pennsylvania State University's farm in State College, Pa., in June of 1954. Paul Vathis, Associated Press
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Marilyn Monroe poses over the updraft of New York subway grating while in character for the filming of "The Seven Year Itch" in Manhattan on September 15, 1954. The former Norma Jean Baker modeled and starred in 28 movies grossing $200 million. Sensual a Matty Zimmerman, Associated Press
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The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. is welcomed with a kiss by his wife Coretta after leaving court in Montgomery, Ala., March 22, 1956. King was found guilty of conspiracy to boycott city buses in a campaign to desegregate the bus system, but a judge suspend Gene Herrick, Associated Press
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U.S. President John F. Kennedy, right, confers with his brother Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 1, 1962 during the buildup of military tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union that became Cuban miss Associated Press
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A Ringling Brothers Circus elephant walks out of a train car as young children watch in the Bronx railroad yard in New York City, April 1, 1963. The circus opens in Madison Square Garden April 3 for a 40-day engagement. Associated Press
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A 17-year-old civil rights demonstrator, defying an anti-parade ordinance of Birmingham, Ala., is attacked by a police dog on May 3, 1963. On the afternoon of May 4, 1963, during a meeting at the White House with members of a political group, President Ke Bill Hudson, Associated Press
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Firefighters turn their hoses full force on civil rights demonstrators July 15, 1963 in Birmingham, Ala. Bill Hudson, Associated Press
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. acknowledges the crowd at the Lincoln Memorial for his "I Have a Dream" speech during the March on Washington, D.C. Aug. 28, 1963. Associated Press
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Jacqueline Kennedy, widow of assassinated President John F. Kennedy, holds the American flag that covered the coffin of her husband. She is shown here at Arlington National Cemetery November 25, 1963, after the president was buried. Eddie Adams, Associated Press
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Ed Sullivan, center, stands with The Beatles during a rehearsal for the British group's first American appearance, on the "Ed Sullivan Show," in New York on Feb. 8, 1964. From left: Ringo Starr, George Harrison, Sullivan, John Lennon and Paul McCartney. T Associated Press
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The Beatles perform on the "Ed Sullivan Show" in New York on February 9, 1964. From left, front, are Paul McCartney, George Harrison and John Lennon. Ringo Starr plays drums. Associated Press
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World Heavyweight Boxing Champion, Muhammad Ali, right, is shown with Black Muslim Leader, Malcolm X, outside the Trans-Lux Newsreel Theater on Broadway at 49th Street, New York City, March 1, 1964. They had just watched a screening of films on Ali's titl Associated Press
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U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson holds his dog "Her" by the ears as White House visitors look on, April 27, 1964, on the White House lawn, Washington, D.C. At left is President Johnson's other dog, "Him." This picture raised criticism from dog lovers. Charles P. Gorry, Associated Press
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Heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali stands over fallen challenger Sonny Liston, shouting and gesturing shortly after dropping Liston with a short hard right to the jaw on May 25, 1965, in Lewiston, Maine. The bout lasted only one minute into the first roun John Rooney, Associated Press
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Extending gloved hands skyward in racial protest, U.S. athletes Tommie Smith, center, and John Carlos stare downward during the playing of the Star Spangled Banner after Smith received the gold and Carlos the bronze for the 200 meter run at the Summer Oly Associated Press
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Released prisoner of war Lt. Col. Robert L. Stirm is greeted by his family at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, Calif., as he returns home from the Vietnam War, March 17, 1973. In the lead is Stirm's daughter Lori, 15; followed by son Robert, 14; daught Sal Veder, Associated Press
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Richard Nixon says goodbye with a victorious salute to his staff members outside the White House as he boards a helicopter after resigning the presidency on Aug. 9, 1974. Nixon was the first president in American history to resign the nation's highest off Bob Daugherty, Associated Press
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Mother Teresa, head of the Missionaries of Charity order, cradles an armless baby girl at her order's orphanage in Calcutta, India in 1978. A champion among the poor in India, Mother Teresa received the Nobel Peace Prize Oct. 17, 1979. An Albanian, she we Eddie Adams, Associated Press
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U.S. President Ronald Reagan looks to his left and holds up his left arm as a secret service agent places a hand on his shoulder and pushes the President into his limousine after he was shot leaving a Washington hotel, Monday, March 30, 1981. Ron Edmonds, Associated Press
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The pointed top of the Chrysler Building and the roof of the Pan Am Building, foreground, in Manhattan are seen above the fog on Feb. 13, 1984. Unseasonal warm weather in the northeast caused fog to roll into New York and closed airports throughout the Mi Dave Pickoff, Associated Press
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A Chinese man stands alone to block a line of tanks heading east on Beijing's Cangan Blvd. in Tiananmen Square on June 5, 1989. The man, calling for an end to the recent violence and bloodshed against pro-democracy demonstrators, was pulled away by bystan Jeff Widener, Associated Press
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Nelson Mandela and wife Winnie, walking hand in hand, raise clenched fists upon his release from Victor prison, Cape Town, Sunday, February 11, 1990. The African National Congress leader had served over 27 years in detention. Greg English, Associated Press
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Boris Yeltsin, president of the Russian Federation, makes a speech from atop a tank in front of the Russian parliament building in Moscow, U.S.S.R., Monday, Aug. 19, 1991. Yeltsin called on the Russian people to resist the communist hard liners in the Sov Associated Press
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Comet Hale-Bopp seen above the ancient stone circle of Stonehenge in south west England Friday, March 28, 1997. Stonehenge, a collection of Bronze Age monuments, was constructed, according to modern archeological research, around 2000 BC. Alistair Grant, Associated Press
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President Clinton walks to the podium to deliver a short statement on the impeachment inquiry in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington Friday, Dec. 11, 1998. Nearing a showdown over the fate of his presidency, President Clinton apologized to th J. Scott Applewhite, Associated Press
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Elian Gonzalez is held in a closet by Donato Dalrymple, one of the two men who rescued the boy from the ocean, right, as government officials search the home of Lazaro Gonzalez for the young boy, in the early morning, in this April 22, 2000 file photo, i Alan Diaz, Associated Press
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A jet airliner is lined up on one of the World Trade Center towers in New York Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001. In the most devastating terrorist onslaughts ever waged against the United States, knife-wielding hijackers crashed two airliners into the World Trade Carmen Taylor, Associated Press
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The twin towers of the World Trade Center burn behind the Empire State Building in New York, Sept. 11, 2001. In a horrific sequence of destruction, terrorists crashed two planes into the World Trade Center causing the twin 110-story towers to collapse. Marty Lederhandler, Associated Press
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Local girls look at U.N. workers unloading ballot kits from a U.N. helicopter in Ghumaipayan Mahnow village, some 410 kilometers (256 miles) northeast of Kabul, Afghanistan, Oct. 4, 2004. By air is the only way to deliver the electoral material in the ina Emilio Morenatti, Associated Press
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A Jewish settler struggles with an Israeli security officer during clashes that erupted as authorities evacuated the West Bank settlement outpost of Amona, east of the Palestinian town of Ramallah, Feb. 1, 2006. Thousands of troops in riot gear and on hor Oded Balilty, Associated Press
Jackie Hicken
By Jackie Hicken
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Photo gallery: This collection of highly recognizable images from the AP includes Pulitzer Prize-winning photography of some of the most iconic images from around the world. These iconic images span from 1932 to 2006. The AP Images collection, which dates back to the 19th century, is an unsurpassed wealth of iconic imagery from around the globe. For more than a century, AP photographers have captured the greatest moments in news, sports and entertainment. — Associated Press

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