William M. Gallagher

William M. Gallagher (February 26, 1923 – September 28, 1975)^[1] was an American photographer who won the 1953 Pulitzer Prize for Photography for his photograph of presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson II. Gallagher was a photographer for 27 years with the Flint Journal in Flint, Michigan.

Gallagher was born in Hiawatha, Kansas.^[1] In 1936 he moved to Flint and graduated from St. Matthew's High School in 1943.^[2] During World War II he served in the United States Army in the signal corps, medical corps, and air corps.^[2]

Gallagher earned his first camera while in high school by selling magazines.^[1] He began his professional photography career with the Sporting Digest in Flint in 1946. The following year he moved to the Flint Journal and within a few months became a staff photographer, a position he would hold until his death.^[2] Gallagher's colleagues described him as "a boisterous, flamboyant character" who had good relationships with local police and government officials. He was fond of pranks, once lighting a cherry bomb inside the police department and watching the officers scramble, while another time he commandeered a police helicopter while covering a story.^[3]

Gallagher snapped his Pulitzer-winning photo at a Labor Day rally in Flint Park. Democratic presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson was seated on a platform with Michigan Governor G. Mennen Williams. Gallagher, kneeling at the base of the platform, took a photo of Stevenson seated with his legs crossed, which revealed a hole in the bottom of his right shoe.^[4] Because of Gallagher's position, he had to take this photo without looking through the shutter first.^[5] Gallagher didn't take the photo seriously and didn't think the Journal would publish it since they endorsed Stevenson's Republican opponent Dwight D. Eisenhower,^[4] so he gave it to his editor saying "I just finished this for the hell of it. I don't suppose a Republican paper would want to use it."^[3] However, the Journal ran the photo on the front page.^[4] The New York Times wrote that Gallagher's photo was "one of the outstanding pictures of the campaign",^[5] perhaps because it contrasted with Stevenson's serious, patrician image.^[6] Stevenson was sent an "avalanche" of shoes by people who saw the image^[5] and when Gallagher won the Pulitzer Stevenson sent him a telegram reading "Glad to hear you won with a hole in one."^[2]

Gallagher died of meningitis at age 52.^[4]