"A Unanimous 'Ja' for the Leader"
Times Wide World Photos
United States, active 1919–1941
August 19, 1934
A gelatin silver print photograph that records a vast urban crowd giving a synchronized salute to a solitary leader framed in a window, meant to document the spectacle and apparent unanimity of mass political support.
The image strikes you with an almost abstract sea of upraised hands—a dense, rhythmic pattern of palms and sleeves—suddenly broken by the small, isolated figure in the open window above.
Made in 1934, the photograph shows how documentary photography captured and circulated the theatrical power of mass political movements, revealing both collective fervor and the performative mechanics of public consent.
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
9 1/2 × 7 1/8" (24.1 × 18.1 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
The New York Times Collection
Accession
2170.2001
Palette
Exhibitions
