In 1942 the town of Arlington, Vermont, held a town meeting on plans for a new school. Jim Edgerton was the lone dissenter. He stood and stated his objections. Norman Rockwell lived nearby. He watched the others listen to Edgerton with respect.
Rockwell painted the scene as Freedom of Speech. It appeared in The Saturday Evening Post on February 20, 1943. In the painting a young workman stands to speak. Rockwell’s neighbor Carl Hess posed for him.