the freedom to paint whatever subject he wanted in a portion of the Old Main building located in the center of campus. Since this mural painting took place two years after his apprenticeship under Diego Rivera, DeGrazia chose to paint a politically based mural. The mural was titled, "Power of the Press." A writer for the Arizona Daily Wildcat newspaper wrote an article in regards to this mural. "Bottles of paint, turpentine and tequila surround an artist lying on his back atop scaffolding. It is the spring of 1944 and American GIs are overseas fighting the axis powers. The artist strokes his brush on the wall about two stories tall and 15 feet wide until a mural begins to emerge. Night after night, the painter pieces together his puzzle. The colors are dark, as are the images. Skeletons, mortarboards, books and the apocalypse fill the cinder block canvas." His mural depicted "skulls topped with mortarboards peer(ing) at an open hand holding the flame of knowledge reaching out of a pile of books. The skulls represent people searching for knowledge. A figure, half-machine half-skeleton, resides atop the four horses of the apocalypse, trampling over the mask of happiness. The mask of tragedy remains untouched. The figure holds the World in its right hand; from its shoulder hangs a long sheet simple titled "News." In the far-left corner stand six skeletons donning graduating robes ... starving professors hang by their necks from the fingertips of a skeletal hand as the four horseman gallop over snakes slithering through books." DeGrazia was rebelling against commercialism in education. He felt that universities were growing too political, greedy, and corporate minded. DeGrazia's mural was depicting the lives lost in World War II and how the interests of businesses were what really controlled the educational system – not the educators. The arts department at the University claimed they did not give permission for Witzeman and DeGrazia to paint the mural on campus property. "That summer, while the rest of us were in blissful ignorance, " Witzeman said, "someone came in with five gallons of whitewash and covered it up. It was terrible." The only evidence that the mural once existed is in the memories from family and friends and one oil on canvas DeGrazia painted for himself – a small excerpt from the original mural, and kept at the DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun. In 1945, DeGrazia