Lady Liberty’s torch makes a move

Plus: Louis Armstrong and Lorena Bobbitt |

Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. SUBSCRIBE to TIME Magazine February 21, 2019 We're changing our email address. To ensure delivery of future newsletters, please add time@newsletters.time.com to your address book. By Lily Rothman The Statue of Liberty can seem to be an unwavering American symbol, a steady presence in New York's harbor for more than a century. However, that impression doesn't quite match the statue's real history: in fact, both the physical monument and its meaning have evolved. The latest change involves the original torch held high by Lady Liberty, which was replaced in the 1980s during repairs and is now moving to a new museum home. TIME recently went behind the scenes of the delicate operation to move the structure across Liberty Island, and you can click here to watch a video on how it was done. Here's more of the history that made news this week: HISTORY ON TIME.COM Sailor Who Kissed Woman in Times Square V-J Day Photo Dies George Mendonsa had never met the woman he kissed on Aug. 14, 1945 The Case for Celebrating the First Ladies While Americans celebrate Presidents' Day, it's also worthwhile, as Abigail Adams once put it, to remember the First Ladies Lorena Bobbitt in the Changing Domestic Violence Conversation "We thought that Lorena's case might get domestic violence to the forefront," one advocate recalls. Behind Ilhan Omar's Clash With Venezuela Envoy Elliott Abrams At a committee hearing on the crisis in Venezuela, freshman Democrat Ilhan Omar spoke frankly about the diplomat's controversial record in Latin America. Here's the history behind her claims An Autograph Collection as a Window Into a Changing World A Caracas-based collector, who was featured in TIME in 1963, has about 1,500 issues of the magazine autographed by the cover subject FROM THE TIME VAULT 70 Years Ago: Louis Armstrong “This week few mortals were closer to heart's desire than Jazz Trumpeter Daniel Louis Armstrong. At 48, he was on his way back to the town where he was born, to be monarch for a day as King of the Zulus in New Orleans' boisterous Mardi Gras. For the first time in its 33-year history, the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club (founded primarily to assure dues-paying members a decent burial) had gone out of town for its carnival king. From its cross-section membership in the past had come Mardi Gras kings who were porters, shopkeepers and undertakers, but Trumpeter Armstrong was big-time royalty, even a world figure. Many jazz experts, who can be as snooty and esoteric as existentialists or the followers of a Bach cult, solemnly hail him as the greatest musical genius the U.S. has ever produced.” (Feb. 21, 1949) Read the full story Today in 2000: Leonardo DiCaprio “It took him an awfully long time to choose The Beach, the first movie he decided to do since Titanic was released. After starring in the biggest movie in history, DiCaprio had his pick of scripts. He read more than 100 and optioned six, but couldn't decide which one to do. ‘I could tell after reading the script with him that he'd do it, but it took more than a month for a definite yes,’ says Beach director Danny Boyle. ‘He does kind of hem and haw.’” (Feb. 21, 2000) Read the full story Today in 1955: Nikita Khrushchev’s Power “Foreign newsmen leaped out of their seats and headed for the Central Telegraph office in Gorky Street, where they broke the news to the world. The predictable had happened: the struggle for power among the Soviet Communist leaders, forecast in hundreds of recent headlines … had broken out. Once again the mess in the Kremlin was being laundered in full sight of the world.” (Feb. 21, 1955) Read the full story HIGHLIGHTS FROM AROUND THE WEB Behind the Scenes Michael Shaw’s New York Times examination of the real story behind a famous Vietnam War photo gets at deeper questions about journalism and truth. Complete with previously unpublished photos, it’s well worth a read. Heard Here Eighty years after a massive rally of Nazi supporters in New York City, NPR’s Sarah Kate Kramer draws on archival audio to tell the story of what happened. Q&A For The New Yorker, Isaac Chotiner has an incisive interview with military historian Victor Davis Hanson, whose new book frames President Donald Trump as a hero figure akin to those of Ancient Greece. Backlash A recent Washington Post op-ed by Max Boot, arguing in part that historians aren’t doing enough to spread the word about their field, set off a fierce reaction among the many historians who do make a point of speaking directly to the public. There were many passionate responses, especially on Twitter, but this thread from historian Tom Sugrue is a good place to start. Naming Rights For more behind the news that Detroit is set to rename its Cobo convention center, here’s Sven Gustafson at Daily Detroit speaking to historian Ken Coleman about why a building named after Mayor Albert Cobo is problematic. To Unsubscribe Unsubscribe here if you do not want to receive this newsletter. Update Email Click here to update your email address. Privacy Policy Please read our Privacy Policy. TIME may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice. 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