ABSTRACT
When nearly forty years old, Minor White returned from World War II with a Bronze Star and a new mission in life. As a self-taught photographer, during the Depression he earned critical attention photographing buildings and landscapes for the WPA, but in 1947 he assembled an exhibition that focused on the soldiers he had photographed, coupled with haiku-like poems. On the eve of its opening at San Francisco’s Palace of the Legion of Honor, the show was canceled for being “too personal” and “not patriotic,” at least not patriotic enough for an America just entering the McCarthy era.
