[1] The painting was created for the cover of an edition of The Saturday Evening Post, published on 6 July 1946,[2] from sketches that Rockwell made in March 1946.

Five workmen are attached to the statue by ropes, including one who is a caricature of Rockwell himself, and one African-American in a red shirt.

The inclusion of a non-white figure working with whites, apparently only noticed in 2011,[3] contravened a Saturday Evening Post policy of only showing people of ethnicity in subservient roles.

[5][2] It was later moved by Obama to a position next to the fireplace, above a bust of Martin Luther King Jr.[6][4] In January 2017, shortly after the inauguration of Donald Trump, the painting was still in the Oval Office.

[8] In his Farewell Speech to the nation, Joe Biden referenced the image as part of his memories of his time in the White House.