Updated: May 24, 2016 at 11:55 AM

In pictures: UPI's most iconic pictures of the 20th century (50 images)

There are more than 3 billion cameras in use across the world, but over the course of the 20th century, as the medium was coming into its own, the documenting of world events rest in the hands of a few. One of those trusted organizations was UPI Newspictures. Formed in 1952 with the absorption of Scripps' ACME Newspictures, and then expanded on May 24, 1958, when United Press merged with Hearst's International News Service, UPI Newspictures produced many of the most important images of the century and continues to do so to this day.

(Original Caption) With Jimmy Carter applauding, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat embrace in the East Room of the White House, where the Camp David Summit was concluded Sept. 17, 1978, with the signing of a 'Framework for Peace' in the Middle East. Photo by Darryl Heikes/UPI

License photo | Permalink

Chairman of the Japanese Socialist Party, Inejiro Asanuma, attempts to deflect a second strike from his attacker, 17-year-old Otoya Yamagucha, a Japanese ultranationalist, on Oct. 12, 1960. Asanuma died on the way to the hospital. Yasushi Nagao won the 1961 Pulitzer Prize for Photography for this image, which he captured on his camera's final shot of 4x5 film, becoming the first non-American photographer to be awarded the prestigious prize. Photo by Yasushi Nagao/UPI

(Original Caption) Pres. [Jimmy] Carter slips and almost falls on the ice as he approaches his limousine on the White House grounds 1/26 [Jan. 26, 1977] for a drive to the Justice Department to watch Griffin Bell take his oath as attorney general. Behind Carter is Lt. Comdr. J. Ball Reason, his naval aide. Photo by Dennis Cook/UPI

Two Vietnamese women struggle to keep their children afloat as they cross a river, fleeing a U.S. bombing raid on Qui Nhon on Sept. 7, 1965. Winner of the 1966 Pulitzer Prize for Photography. After receiving his award, Sawada sought out the women in the photograph, giving each a copy of it as well as half of his Pulitzer Prize cash award. Sawada and UPI Phnom Penh bureau manager Frank Frosch were killed four years later after being ambushed by Viet Cong. Photo by Kyoichi Sawada/UPI