A Letter From The Publisher: Jul. 6, 1970

OVER the past 47 years, the flag of the U.S. has appeared 63 times on the cover of TIME. It embellished a portrait of General Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1942; it provided a backdrop for General Mark Clark in 1946; it rested in the hands of Astronaut Neil Armstrong as he stepped on the moon in July 1969. Only once before, however, has Old Glory pre-empted the entire cover. That was the issue of July 6, 1942, and it accompanied a story that analyzed the new significance of the freedom that the flag symbolized at a time when the U.S. was...

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