This photograph shows Earhart’s arrival in New York City on June 20, 1932. Thousands waited to see her. Mayor James Walker greeted her with a large bouquet of red roses and rode with her up Broadway amid confetti and tickertape to City Hall. There, after several speeches, she was presented with a gold medal.

Ever modest in public, she described the reception as “overwhelming. It’s much too much for my exploit.” Asked by reporters about the significance of her flight, she explained, “I hope you understand that my flight added nothing to aviation. It was just a personal gesture on my part. . . . Of course, if it means something to women in aviation, that’s fine.”

In the months that followed, Earhart continued to be honored: Congress awarded her the Distinguished Flying Cross and President Herbert Hoover honored her with the Gold Medal of the National Geographic Society.