Cotton Coulson, as the newly appointed cover editor for US News & World Report, commissioned Stan to create a 'showy' cover to illustrate a featured story on America's evolving political spectrum.

With a tight window of eleven days, a crew of seven helpers etched the Liberty on the Land portrait out of one acre of ripe Kansas wheat. Jon Blumb's final photograph (left above) was snapped with minutes to spare to meet the deadline for the cover press run in Washington, DC.