Howard Hughes (wearing hat) receives congratulations from Mayor Fiorello La Guardia at Floyd Bennett Airport in Brooklyn. The gentleman wearing a polka dot bow tie, standing behind the mayor is Grover Whalen. Mr. Whalen was president of the 1939 New York World's Fair.
Description printed on photograph's accompanying strip of paper: "Howard Hughes speaking into a mike at Paris before leaving for Moscow on the second leg of his round the world flight 7-12-1938"