TWO weeks ago, TIME'S editors in New York decided that the cover for this week's issue should be a color photograph of John Fitzgerald Kennedy at the precise moment when he raised his right hand and took the oath as the nation's 35th President. What the cameramen captured is seen on this week's cover--the fastest-closing cover in TIME'S 38-year history.

Standing on a snow-laden platform some 180 ft. from the President, TIME photographers snapped 30 telephotolens pictures of the brief swearing-in ceremony. Minutes later, the color film was awash in the darkrooms at the Washington Bureau. When the developing process was finished three hours later, TIME Art Director Michael J. Phillips picked up the just-dry transparencies, caught a 4:45 p.m. Electra flight to Chicago, carried the films to TIME'S central printing plant near the lakefront. There he selected one of the prints for the cover and, consulting with the editors in New York, prepared a layout.

The color engraving was completed in a record 15 1/2 hours (usual time: 24 hours), and on the evening of Inauguration Day plus one, covers were on their way by air to TIME'S other domestic printing plants in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Washington and Albany. For TIME'S international editions (except the Canada edition), the cover picture was converted to black and white, and film was sent to plants in Paris, Tokyo, Melbourne and Atlanta (for the Latin American edition).

Meanwhile, 17 TIME correspondents in Washington were finishing their running, 50,000-word report of the pomp and panoply of the inaugural. In Manhattan, Associate Editor Jesse Birnbaum with the assistance of Researcher Joanne Funger distilled the essence, wrote the cover story, his 14th (among others: the fast-breaking cover story of Kennedy's election victory for the TIME Election Extra). As a result of long planning and fast footwork, TIME met all its many deadlines, delivered on schedule this week's word-and-picture account of a turning point in the 20th century.

IN the more than 2,500 college and high school classrooms in the U.S. and Canada where TIME is used regularly as a supplementary text, students this month are taking TIME'S latest Current Affairs Test. This 100-question quiz offers an entertaining way to review the eventful period from September through December. You may have a copy of the test booklet (and answer sheet) by sending 25-c- (or $1 for five) to TIME 1961 Current Affairs Test, P.O. Box 1961, Radio City Station, New York 19, N.Y.

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