Carl Fische / Muhammad Ali (1968)

In 1967, Muhammad Ali was stripped of his heavyweight boxing title and banned from boxing for refusing to be drafted into the Vietnam War, citing his religious beliefs as a member of the Nation of Islam and his opposition to the war.

He was widely vilified in the media, seen as unpatriotic, and faced a five-year prison sentence (later overturned by the Supreme Court in 1971).

Esquire wanted to capture his persecution in a symbolic, visceral way.