Poster
- Description
-
Large poster with bold printed text that reads:
[in red text] ATTENTION | TERRORISTS: | [in black text] If you really | wanted to instill | fear in New | Yorkers you | should have done | something | before | Steinbrenner | came back. | [in red text] New York. Still standing tall. - Historical Notes
- The text on this poster alludes to the surprise rescinding of businessman and New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner’s suspension from active interchanges with the team, imposed in response to a gambling association scandal. That well-reported penalty—framed as a lifetime adjournment—had been shortened to a two-year period. When Steinbrenner was cleared to return to Yankee Stadium in March 1993, he anticipated vigorous press interest and considered a “gag” re-entrance to the Bronx ballpark. Ultimately, he called it off, opting for a more subdued entrance in deference to the City’s mood in the wake of the recent World Trade Center tragedy, which had killed six people and injured a thousand others on site.
Curator's Comment
On February 26, 1993, Bill Lynch was living in the West Village and working at 1 Rockefeller Center. At lunchtime on that snowy Friday, he telephoned his brother Pat to discuss a question about the financial markets. Pat Lynch, then a bond trader at Yamaichi Securities headquartered in 2 World Trade Center, suddenly terminated the conversation, exclaiming “something just happened” and that he had to go. Several minutes later, a news headline about an explosion at the World Trade Center came across the wire at Bill’s Rockefeller Center office. Bill repeatedly tried to call his brother back, but no one answered.
As afternoon turned to evening, Lynch was grateful to learn that brother was safe. More disturbingly, he also heard that the emergency was not an industrial mishap; a suspected bomb had been detonated in the underground parking garage of the World Trade Center.
Days after the attack, Lynch noticed the appearance of what seemed to be a coordinated series of ‘response’ posters while walking through Soho and his own West Village neighborhood. All carried the tagline "New York—Still standing tall." He decided to remove one from the side of a U.S. mailbox for safekeeping and later donated it to the Museum nearly 30 years after collecting it.
As afternoon turned to evening, Lynch was grateful to learn that brother was safe. More disturbingly, he also heard that the emergency was not an industrial mishap; a suspected bomb had been detonated in the underground parking garage of the World Trade Center.
Days after the attack, Lynch noticed the appearance of what seemed to be a coordinated series of ‘response’ posters while walking through Soho and his own West Village neighborhood. All carried the tagline "New York—Still standing tall." He decided to remove one from the side of a U.S. mailbox for safekeeping and later donated it to the Museum nearly 30 years after collecting it.
- Accession Number: C.2022.40.1
- Dimensions: 24 in X 18 in
- Dimensions (Metric): 60.96 cm X 45.72 cm
- Source: William Lynch
- Credit Line: Gift of William Lynch
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