Power of Images, Personal and National

Cross-posted from the Washington Post
[By Maura Judkis]
The boy’s name was Tommy Paulhamus. The “was” should tell you that his story does not have a happy ending. But on the day my father captured the now-iconic image of him with Mister Rogers in 1978, which was widely shared after the Newtown shootings — when he was not yet five years old, living in what was then called the Home for Crippled Children — Tommy was quite happy, indeed.

He was always a happy child, his mother, Beverly Paulhamus, recalled fondly. She was weeks away from adopting him when the photo was taken, and the staff at the Pittsburgh care center, now called the Children’s Institute, had told her about the moment that her soon-to-be-son had met Mister Rogers.  Read More