The New Yorker’s Next Cover Features Lady Liberty with Her Light Snuffed Out

“It was the symbol of American values. Now it seems that we are turning off the light.”


The New Yorker has revealed the cover for its upcoming issue which will feature an image of Lady Liberty with her flame extinguished, a powerful illustration that comes amid the continued fallout from President Donald Trump’s executive order banning refugee resettlement and travel from seven Muslim-majority countries.

The image also marks a break with the magazine’s longstanding tradition of putting a version of its mascot Eustace Tilley on the cover of its anniversary issue. Françoise Mouly, the magazine’s art director, wrote in a blog post on Friday:

This year, as a response to the opening weeks of the Trump Administration, particularly the executive order on immigration, we feature John W. Tomac’s dark, unwelcoming image, “Liberty’s Flameout.”

“It used to be that the Statue of Liberty, and her shining torch, was the vision that welcomed new immigrants. And, at the same time, it was the symbol of American values,” Tomac says. “Now it seems that we are turning off the light.”

On Friday, the magazine also announced it was canceling its annual party for the White House Correspondent’s Dinner.

The truth needs defenders. Be one.

This week is our Spring Membership Drive, and we need to raise 1,000 new donations to fund the critical investigations our team is hard at work on. As of today, we’re only at 200 of that 1,000-donation goal.

Our nonprofit newsroom is funded by donors from every state in the union—blue, red, and purple, all part of a community of readers who care about the future of our democracy.

We’re independent from corporations and uninfluenced by those in power. Our commitment is solely to the truth. That’s only possible because of readers like you, who believe in the importance of independent, fearless journalism.

Be the reason these stories get told. Make a donation today.

The truth needs defenders. Be one.

This week is our Spring Membership Drive, and we need to raise 1,000 new donations to fund the critical investigations our team is hard at work on. As of today, we’re only at 200 of that 1,000-donation goal.

Our nonprofit newsroom is funded by donors from every state in the union—blue, red, and purple, all part of a community of readers who care about the future of our democracy.

We’re independent from corporations and uninfluenced by those in power. Our commitment is solely to the truth. That’s only possible because of readers like you, who believe in the importance of independent, fearless journalism.

Be the reason these stories get told. Make a donation today.

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate