A Letter From the Publisher

By Richard B. Thomas

Question: How do you photograph a story that happens in 15 minutes, covers about 4,152 miles of terrain and involves an estimated 5.4 million people, including newborn babies, Navajo Indians and the President of the U.S. ? Answer: with a lot of planning and a great deal of professional help.

"It was a matter of basic journalism, of being good reporters and getting to our sources," says TIME's Picture Editor Arnold Drapkin. "Only in this case, instead of gathering words, we were gathering images." The assignment was to photograph Hands Across America, the Memorial Day-weekend megaevent that brought together volunteers who paid at least $10 apiece to aid the needy, hungry and homeless in the U.S. Explains Drapkin: "We assigned our own photographers to key spots, such as the White House and Disneyland, and to supplement them, we brought in people who were already going to be on the scene."

TIME's picture researchers in bureaus around the country invited wire services, local newspapers and free-lancers to submit film -- color only, please -- to the New York City office for possible publication. In the days following the event, approximately 100 packages containing 150 rolls of film and more than 500 negatives were reviewed by Picture Researcher Paula Hornak Kellner, who had prepared for her task by watching TV coverage of the occasion. Said she: "Editing was difficult. The photos revealed sweetness that hadn't come across on television."

TIME Photographer Stephen Northup, stationed at an Indian pow-wow outside Gallup, N. Mex., had a bit longer than most to capture the spirit of the event. "It was a nice crowd," he reported. "They all put on their best feathers. The line wandered along a highway and lasted at least 30 minutes." At about the same time, Los Angeles-based Picture Researcher Martha Bardach, who had spent ten hours on the telephone assigning Northup and other photographers in New Mexico, California and Arizona to cover the extravaganza, took the hands of Husband Shelly and Son Noah, 11, and joined the line herself. Noted Bardach: "It was such an American event. No other country would do something like this, and being there meant something to me. I wore my Hands Across America T shirt to a picnic the next day because it was such a coup. It showed that we had committed to the event far in advance." So, it happens, did many of her colleagues at TIME. We hope you will enjoy the result of their efforts.