 Contrary to Whitaker's original vision, the band chose the butcher photo as the cover image for "Yesterday and Today", and Lennon and Paul McCartney insisted that it was the Beatles' statement against war, particularly the Vietnam War.Capitol president Alan Livingston was immediately against using the image, but Epstein told him that the Beatles were adamant.In a 2002 interview published in "Mojo" magazine, Livingston recalled that his principal contact was with McCartney, who pushed strongly for the photo to be used as the album cover and described it as "our comment on the [Vietnam] war".