First published in Life Magazine’s February 1937 issue, World’s Highest Standard of Living became instantly recognizable to many Americans during the Great Depression for its starkly ironic juxtaposition of an idealized America alongside the harsher aspects of everyday reality. Often thought to be an unemployment line, the photo was actually taken in Louisville after the flooding of the Ohio River, which killed almost 400 people and displaced about a million more across four states.
The photographer Margaret Bourke-White took World’s Highest Standard of Living along with many other iconic photos featured in The Best of Life, including images of Gandhi at his spinning wheel, families during the Dust Bowl, and prisoners of war. Bourke-White’s contributions to photography in the 20th century were considerable by any standard. As Life’s first female photojournalist, she created the cover photo on the first issue. She was also the first Western photographer allowed to take pictures of Soviet industry and the first female war correspondent in World War II.
Though many of Bourke-White’s photographs hold iconic status in our pictorial history of the 20th century, World’s Highest Standard of Living remains one of her most famous. I can think of few other photos that juxtapose prosperity and poverty in America in such black and white terms, literally and figuratively. Its implicit criticism of race and class divides surely held an enduring resonance in American culture. It was appropriated for the cover of Curtis Mayfield’s 1975 album, (There’s No Place Like) America Today.
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In light of what's happening all around us lately, you
might want to get one for your wife or daughter...
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