WarCos Colorado Presents:
Ralph Morse: War Correspondent, LIFE Magazine
Ralph Morse was born October 23rd 1917 in Manhattan. He moved to the Bronx when he was one. Ralph’s father, died of the Flu shortly after Ralph was born. Growing up, he was described as a sall kid, not tall not athletic, but had an affinity for imagery. Attending Dewitt-Clinton High School, Ralph joined the school newspaper and was issued a camera, which was a big deal for him and the school at that time. At fifteen, he starting working in a drug store delivering orders every afternoon, and at a soda fountain every evening until 11:00 pm, making soda and sandwiches for the public. Around this time, Ralph bought his own camera and would walk around the neighborhood taking photos of neighbors. Aspiring to become a newsreel cameraman but lacking the requisite $1,000 to join the union, Morse instead entered the City College of New York for free and took every class offered in photography. Subsequently, Morse looked up photography in the business directory called the Manhattan Redbook. Starting with "A", he went door-to-door visiting all the listings until finally being hired at "P" by Paul Parker Studio. Paul Parker was a social photographer with such customers as the United Fund and the Red Cross, a type of photography of great interest to Morse. Paul Parker had a most fascinating capability of moving lights. Morse stayed with Parker for most of a year until hearing of a job of hanging lights for George Karger, a German banker turned photographer who was freelancing through Pix Publishing, an agency in New York that sold pictures around the world. Earning $6 a week, Morse worked with Karger for six months, at which time Morse realized that he had learned all that Karger had to offer. Then a job opened at Harper's Bazaar. Morse only stayed at Harper's for a day, as he could not understand taking pictures that meant nothing to anyone outside the fashion industry.
As one who delivered photos to Pix on a daily basis, Morse was readily hired by Pix to work in their darkroom. The first weekend as a printer, Morse spent a day with friends at Jones Beach on Long Island. Not owning a camera, Morse borrowed a 35mm Contax from his friend Cornell Capa, who was also a printer in the Pix publishing lab, as well as the brother of Life photographer Robert Capa. At the beach, Morse happened upon a father throwing his baby into the air and catching him.
Capturing the father and son on film, Morse immediately brought the pictures to Leon Daniel, the editor of Pix. Daniel proclaimed that Pix could sell the picture that very afternoon. Indeed, within an hour, Daniel had sold the photo to the Houston Chronicle and then sold it to about twenty other publications in the world over the following week. Morse continued working in the darkroom and continued taking pictures every weekend. Morse credits Leon Daniel as being the person who definitively encouraged him to become a professional photographer, as it was Daniel who urged Morse to just take pictures and let Pix sell them, noting that such an arrangement would be more lucrative both experientially and financially. Morse bought himself his first camera equipment and began buying The New York Times every day in order to select events to photograph, creating pictures which Daniel then sold instantly.
Of the three owners of Pix, one was a silent partner, Alfred Eisenstaedt, a photographer who had left the Associated Press in Germany to join the new Life magazine staff in New York City. Eisenstaedt closely observed Morse's photographing while encouraging Wilson Hicks, the picture editor of Life, to meet the young upstart at Pix. After weeks of Eisenstaedt's nagging, Hicks relented and asked to meet Morse. At their initial encounter, Hicks gave Morse his first assignment. Not at all sure how he would actually meet the demands of the most important picture editor in the United States, Morse covered up his fear with gratitude. Between his own and Capa's equipment, Morse was able to cover the author Thornton Wilder's acting on Broadway in his own show Our Town. The success of this assignment earned him a second—capturing on film women buying hats for their husbands in the basement of Gimbels department store—which turned out to be Morse's first photo story published by Life. As a result, Hicks offered Morse a contract to work for Life one day a week through Pix, which amounted to about ten days a month of working for Life until the start of World War II.
WWII
At 23 years old and offered a job with the US Navy, and he turned it down. Ralph didn’t want to become a soldier or sailor, he just wanted to take pictures. He was then hired on full time at LIFE Magazine. At 24 years old, he was the youngest WARCO hired at the time. LIEF Sent Ralph to Hawaii shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor. After several months in Hawaii, Admiral Halsey invited Ralph to come along an Aircraft Carrier in the Pacific. Two days after leaving
port, Halsey came over the loudspeaker to tell the crew that they were about to be a part of the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo, and Ralph was there to take pictures.
Morse knew that there was a big action coming up which would end up being the battle of midway. He said of Midway “I didn’t see anything at the battle of midway. I was on a ship 70 miles away, and listened to the battle over the radio.” He never saw an American airplane or Japanese airplane, but he was there.
On Guadalcanal, he was assigned to take pictures of the marines landing on the beaches. He took hundreds of pictures of this event. Ralph was assigned to a combat patrol with a squad of 12 marines through the jungle. They were giving him tips on how not to get killed in combat. The squad came to a cleared out area, and he saw this Japanese tank with a Japanese skull on the tank. Ralph asked the 2nd LT if he could go out and get the picture. The LT told him he could do it by himself and no one would go with him. Everyone thought it was a booby trap. Ralph ran out to the head, took the photo and ran back in 20 seconds, according to him. The moment he returned to the group, mortar fire dropped in right where he had taken the photo from. This picture is considered the first war time horror photo.
Ralph was not allowed to be on the Island unless he had a special team with him. At night he was required to sleep on the USS Vincennes. On the night of August 8th, during the battle of Savo Island, the USS Vincennes is sunk with Ralph on the ship. He had to jump over the side and live in the water for 5 hours until he was picked up. Luckily the sounds of battle scared away the sharks and other water creatures. He was treading water thinking about all his photographs still in the captains locker, now lost to the sea. He managed to save one small roll of film from Guadalcanal. He contracts malaria, and is sent back stateside.
After he recovers from Malaria, Ralph is sent to the ETO. He captures Patton’s drive across France, as well as the destruction of war.
Ralph became incredibly famous for the Picture Expose about George Lott. Ralph was inspired by letters from families back home thanking him for his work that caused him to come up with the idea to follow a soldier from wounding until he comes back to the states to recuperate. He wanted to show the mothers back home the exact amount of care their sons were receiving if they were wounded. The whole story took 3-4 months to tell in LIFE Magazine start to finish.
He went on to take more pictures through the end of the war, including the famous picture of General Eisenhower holding the two pens used in the German surrender in the shape of a V, and Mugshots of Nazi Criminals at Nuremburg, and the destruction of Europe.
After the war he and his wife lived in Paris for 10 years documenting the rebuilding of Europe.
In 1948, Babe Ruth made his last appearance as a Yankee, and Ralph was there and got these photos in color.
Ralph got a job with NASA in 1953. Four years before the space race started. He followed the training of astronauts, the testing of gear, and rockets. By participating in some of the training, he gained the trust of the astronauts and was able to get in with them closer than most others could. While at Nasa, he developed all sorts of special camera devices to be able to capture the specific photos he wanted. Apollo 11 taking off for the moon was something he was able to capture with a special foot switch operated camera and device to be on top of the 37 story tall rocket taking off. He went through a mile of film to get the photos that now are so famous.
Ralph had become friends with Jackie Robinson, as they connected over Morse’s Jewish heritage and Jackie’s own background, being a part of two groups discriminated against allowed their bond to blossom. Ralph was at the 1955 world series and captured images of Jackie stealing home, assisted by a NASA missile tracking camera. The night before this steal, Jackie told Morse “If I get on third base, I’m gonna do something special” so Morse was prepared to capture this moment.
Morse and the late Ruth Zizmor Morse lived in Paris after World War II while he photographed the post-war reconstruction of Europe. Later, they settled in northern New Jersey, where they raised their three sons, Alan, Bob, and Don, as Morse's work was based out of the Time-Life Building in New York City. When schedules permitted, the family joined Morse on his photographic assignments, including journeys to Cape Canaveral, Florida, to watch missiles being launched. Morse retired to south Florida
where he enjoyed sailing and boating, spending time with his companion Barbara Ohlstein, his six grandchildren, and his four great-grandchildren. He died on December 7, 2014, in Delray Beach, Florida.
Morse won thirty awards for his photography. He received the 1995 Joseph A. Sprague Memorial Award. According to the National Press Photographers Association, this award is the highest honor in the field of photojournalism. Morse was the recipient of the 2010 Briton Hadden Life-Time Achievement Award for his World War II photographs.
