Scanned negatives from 35mm photos I took on May 25, 1986 during the Hands Across America event. I was attending the University of Wisconsin - Madison at the time. My roommates and I drove to the nearest link in the chain - some rural area outside Chicago that I now forget. I wonder whether an event of this scale could ever be pulled off today.

From Wikipedia: Hands Across America was a public fundraising event held on Sunday, May 25, 1986, Memorial Day weekend, which attempted to create a continuous human chain of people held hands across the contiguous United States. The event was promoted and organized by Ken Kragen, a co-founder of USA for Africa, the charity organization which produced "We Are the World" in early 1985 to raise money to fight famine in Africa. President Reagan had previously said he would not join the chain. However, in the days leading up to the event, the president made a controversial remark that "where there is hunger ... you have to determine that that is probably because of a lack of knowledge on the part of the people as to what things are available". Shortly after his comments were criticized in the press, Reagan announced that he and his family had decided at the last minute to join Hands Across America, although press secretary Larry Speakes denied that there was any connection between the two events. Reagan's participation was itself criticized by activists, who said that the president's cuts to social programs had dramatically worsened hunger in America. Rev. Jesse Jackson stated, "He should not be in the line. His policies created the line." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hands_Across_America

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