Blizzard of Confetti

Midtown Manhattan turned white with confetti when 52,000 members of the American Legion marched along Fifth Avenue. About two million spectators gathered to watch the parade, which lasted more than 12 hours. The ticker-tape that blanketed the city afterward? The Times called it an “August snowfall.”

The parade, a “stirring panorama of color and music,” capped off the four-day American Legion National Convention, which The Times covered extensively that year. Patriotic music from 400 bands “tingled the spines” of those who watched World War I veterans – “graying, portly men” – march. As darkness fell, three huge searchlights were turned on the who passed by, and more than 200,000 people crowded into Times Square.

The Times called it “one of the finest, most colorful parades” that New York City had ever seen. This picture was one of eight published with a single article alone.