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Robert F. Kennedy: The Man Who Changed My Life

June 4, 2023 By David Hume Kennerly

In 1966 I was a 19-year-old newbie staff photographer for the Oregon Journal, the state’s largest afternoon newspaper. One of my first big assignments was to photograph Sen. Robert Kennedy appearing in Portland. Kennedy was going to be the first national politician that I would lay eyes and my lens on. It was a visit that would change my life and the direction of my career.

I will never forget the infamous moment five years earlier, Nov. 22, 1963, when RFK’s brother President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. I was a high school sophomore at Roseburg High sitting in a class when the announcement was made. That feeling of shock and horror resonates to this day.

Getting the chance to photograph Robert Kennedy was particularly meaningful to me, and I didn’t want to blow it.

When I arrived at the Portland Labor Hall where Kennedy was appearing, the place was jammed. I couldn’t get in. Not good. My fledgling career could be over practically before it started.

Crowd trying to get into Kennedy rally, Portland, Oregon, 1966

I spotted a photographer standing outside the hall. The guy looked like a real pro and was apparently traveling with the senator. He was LIFE Magazine’s Bill Eppridge, as big-league a photographer as there ever was.

Kennerly and Bill Eppridge at the Eddie Adams Workshop, 2012

I summoned up my courage, introduced myself, and asked him how to get through the crowd. Rather than brushing me off, he offered a hand to this flustered young photog. He said, “Hold onto my coat, kid.” He then proceeded to thread his way through the throng and even guided me to the best position for a good photo. “This is where you’ll get your shot,” he said.

David Kennerly at Kennedy rally, Portland, 1966

The angle he showed me was perfect. When the senator took the stage I could see his notes on the podium and the crowd behind him. To this day it is among my favorite photos, a sentiment shared by one of Kennedy's daughters Kerry. Eppridge's unselfish act informed the rest of my career as an example of how to treat others.

Sen. Robert Kennedy at Portland Labor Hall, 1966

But the life changer came after the speech. I followed Sen. Kennedy, his staff, and press corps to Portland International Airport in a ragtag motorcade. I wanted one last photo of Kennedy before he left. A DC-3, its engines idling, waited on the tarmac. Senator Kennedy bound up the stairs, turned, waved, then entered the plane. But it was Eppridge who provided the decisive moment. The lanky photographer climbed the aircraft steps, looked at me, gave a thumbs-up, then ducked inside. The door closed, and the old DC-3 taxied out and took off. I felt like Rick watching Ilsa taking off into the fog in the final scene of Casablanca. It was an honest to God epiphany. I wanted to be on that plane, no, I needed to be on that plane. I wanted to document those who were making history, to be in the room with them. It was a profound life moment.

Final scene in Casablanca. Rick watches his love ilsa fly away

Two years later good fortune struck. I was now in Los Angeles working as a staff photographer for United Press International. Carlos Schiebeck, UPI’s photo bureau chief, was about to make my dream come true. “Meet up with Sen. Kennedy and his party in Albuquerque, get on his plane, and cover his trip in the Southwest,” Carlos told me. Yes sir!

I flew over to New Mexico and met up with Kennedy’s entourage. It was my first encounter with a politician's staff, and it was bad. They treated me with indifference simply because I wasn't “one of the boys from Washington." In addition, I looked eighteen, although I was twenty-one, not much better! No one took me seriously when I told them I was there to cover the senator and needed to get on his plane. They laughed. I didn’t. Failure was unthinkable. This was my first big-time political job, and if I didn’t succeed might be my last. So I got panicked-pissed and let his guys have it. “My name is David Kennerly, I am a UPI photographer sent from Los Angeles to cover the senator, and you better let me on the goddamn plane or I’m going to raise hell from here to Washington, DC!” And even more choice words as I recall. It did the trick. One of them said that anyone who talks like that has to be a legit newsman. They grudgingly allowed me to board the campaign plane. Once onboard none of the traveling press, and nobody on the senator's staff, talked to me.

After we took off, Senator Kennedy came walking down the aisle of the plane. He glanced at me, walked by, then turned around. "I don't remember you," he said. I introduced myself, and he sat down and asked, "How's it going?" I told him. I even mentioned that his staff had tried to keep me off the flight. The senator, who seemed to be the only one who cared about who I was or how I was doing, was apologetic: "Don't worry," he said, "it won't happen again." And it didn't. After the next stop there was a remarkable change in attitude toward me, almost as if I had suddenly become one of the boys.

Kennerly (right) photographs Sen. Kennedy arrive Tucson, AZ

I watched the Senator deal with all sorts of people during his campaign and noticed that he related particularly well to kids. At an Indian reservation in Window Rock Arizona a little girl came up to him and he looked down at her, smiled, and she took his hand. She stayed with him during the rest of his visit there. A most natural gesture, not done for the cameras, but it made a good photo.

Sen. Robert Kennedy with Native American girl, Window Rock, AZ

A few weeks later, on the night of the California primary, I ran into Bill Eppridge again. This time it was in Kennedy's private suite at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. It was going to be a terrific evening. Kennedy was leading the race, and it seemed certain he was going to carry the state. My Oregon photographer friend Ron Bennett, now working in UPl's Los Angeles bureau took a picture of me and the senator (he didn’t look happy). He then gave a television interview and prepared to go downstairs to appear at the victory celebration being held in the ballroom.

RFK gives interview to ABC after winning California primary

Bennett and I flipped a coin to see who would go to the podium with Kennedy, that position being the best point for photographs. Ron won, and I found a spot in the back of the room on a riser where I could get a picture of the whole scene and his speech

Robert and Ethel Kennedy entered the ballroom and the place went wild. It was an important milestone in Kennedy's quest for the presidency. With a huge grin, he gave a quick "V" for victory sign that I captured.

Sen. Robert Kennedy declares victory in California Primary. Minutes later he is shot.

After a short speech, he started toward the kitchen, his escape route to an overflow rally in the hotel. I'd preceded him into the other reception room, where the crowd waited. Minutes passed, and Kennedy didn't show. I sensed that something had gone wrong, and, pushing my way through the crowd of Kennedy supporters, made it upstairs and tried to get into the kitchen area. The passage was blocked. By then reports were flying that there had been a shooting. Figuring that if someone had been hurt they'd take him out front, I hurried outside and saw Kennedy put into an ambulance. I jumped into my car and followed the ambulance to Central Receiving Hospital, a distance of a few blocks. My car was the last to clear the gates before the police sealed off the hotel. When I entered the hospital I found pandemonium. I photographed Bill Barry, a former FBI agent who was Kennedy's personal bodyguard, as he walked, head bowed, through the emergency room door. He was devastated.

Kennedy bodyguard Bill Barry at hospital after shooting

Kennedy wasn't kept at Central Receiving for long. He was soon moved to Good Samaritan Hospital just down the street. As white-uniformed attendants began to lift the comatose Senator into the ambulance again, his grief-stricken wife, Ethel, climbed into the back and I made a couple of pictures of her. If I had to do it all over again, I honestly don't know that I could. I am still haunted by the look on her face.

Ethel Kennedy in the back of ambulance after her husband was shot

The next few hours were a nightmare. The press stood in small groups on the street outside Good Samaritan, waiting for some word on the senator's condition. Early in the morning on June 6, his press secretary Frank Mankiewicz announced that Senator Kennedy had died. I took photos of him and was too exhausted to feel the impact.

Press secretary Frank Mankiewicz announces Sen. Kennedy’s death outside the Good Samaritan Hospital in L.A. June 6, 1968

Later that day Kennedy's body was put on an Air Force jet for the flight to Washington. I pleaded with UPI to let me follow the story eastward, but they refused, which was probably just as well. I was a physical and mental wreck. When I returned home, it hit me. I wept.

On June 6, 2018, the 50^th anniversary of Robert Kennedy’s death, I was at RFK’s gravesite at Arlington National Cemetery at the request of Kerry Kennedy to take pictures for the family. My portrait of Ethel Kennedy that day brought everything full circle. Her face reflected the sadness of her life but also her resilience. And my thoughts were of him also. The inspiration for an unimaginable career photographing in the fields of history. Thank you Robert F. Kennedy.

Ethel Kennedy at RFK gravesite 50 years after her husband was assassinated

Robert Kennedy’s grave at Arlington National Cemetery

The Third Lift

February 20, 2023 By David Hume Kennerly

I recently received a nice note from Bill Garlinghouse, a retired Navy combat cameraman who wanted to share a story with me about how a passage that he read in my book Shooter in the early eighties helped him out on his first foray into combat.

I reprint this with his permission, and follow it up with the pertinent excerpt from my book.

V/r LT W.J. Garlinghouse, USN in Beirut (Photo by PH2 Randy Rezabek, USN)

“In the 80s, I was an enlisted Navy photographer with a specialty in motion picture. In '83 I was assigned to Navy Combat Camera. At that point, none of us were old enough to have seen combat. Our experience was documenting exercises.

During those early days in Combat Camera, someone brought a copy of your book "Shooter" to work. We'd often read paragraphs we liked out loud. I was struck by the paragraph in which you said to be in the third lift in during a helo assault. I read that out loud to my teammates.

That year I got a midnight call from my commanding officer to get into work, and to bring my gear. It turned out we were going to document the helo assault of the island country of Grenada in the Caribbean. (editor’s note: The U.S. attack came over concern that 600 American medical students living there might be taken hostage by the hostile government in power).

The morning of the assault, I took my team down to the helo deck on the USS Guam. I told the Marine LT running the show that we were there to cover the action. He said he'd put us on the last helo in. I looked him in the eye and said "No sir. We need to be in the third helo in." He asked why, and I explained that by the time that helo lands the perimeter is set, and we can point up and catch the rest of the helos coming in.

He said 'Roger that!'

UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters after dropping off troops in Granada (U.S. Dept of Defense photo)

My team landed in the soccer field. We followed the Marines out. I found a spot where I could see the ramps of all the helos on the ground, lined up and disgorging Marines. I aimed my Arriflex up at the next helo coming in, started rolling, and followed it down into that preplanned final composition in which marines ran off the ramps of the helos that had already landed, and still more ran right in front of me!

Troops run off U.S. helicopters during attack on Granada (U.S. Dept. of Defense photo)

All our film of that day was put on a helo to an aircraft carrier where an F14 took it to DC. I never saw any of it until a few years later when 60 Minutes did a piece on lessons learned from that action. I watched the show looking for something my team may have shot, and saw nothing.

Until they ran the show's closing credits over it!

There it was! The shot I considered to be my legacy shot if I ever had one. The one I had never seen except in my viewfinder and many times in my mind's eye.

The one I have you to thank for!

Your book sits in a place of honor on my bookshelf. The page with your guidance to me bookmarked!

Thank you for your service sir!

V/r LT W.J. Garlinghouse, USN (Ret)”

No, thank you Bill.

Here’s the piece from Shooter that he referred to. Just glad the advice that was passed along to me before I went on my first combat mission in Vietnam didn’t get Bill whacked!

Charlie Alpha. To anyone who's ever been to Vietnam those letters mean “combat assault” by helicopter. There are two kinds of CAs. The easy kind goes into a cold landing zone, or LZ; the other kind goes into a hot LZ. Neither has anything to do with temperature. A CA into a hot LZ means that the bad guys are shooting at your Huey as it lands. A company-sized CA usually involved four choppers per platoon, six soldier to a helo. To land a full company, sixteen helicopters transport one hundred men in four separate lifts. The advice given me by veteran newsmen was to always go in on the third lift. By that time fifty soldiers were already down, securing the LZ, and another twenty-five would be coming in right behind you . . . also better for picture taking as they jumped of the helos and scrambled for cover.

My first clue as to the kind of LZ we were approaching came when I noticed that the crackle of small arms fire was louder than the rotor blades of the chopper. It was a hot one. I soon found myself running at or half-crawling away from the LZ towards soldiers who were returning the enemy fire. (That “third lift” advice wasn’t making me feel particularly good). The very idea of being in the middle of a firefight had my heart beating faster than a hummingbird's. My breath was coming in quick, shallow gulps. In other words, I was scared shitless. The area was a twisted mass of mangled tree trunks, upended boulders, and smoking holes left by incoming artillery rounds. I noticed a young private wedged between two rocks. He had been hit in the face and was in a bad way. Everyone else was involved in keeping the enemy at bay, so I took a medical compress from the band of his helmet and tried to stop the bleeding.

My combat attire, which included a green medical cravat, camouflaged jungle fatigues, the small backpack that all GIs carried, and a brown fedora instead of a helmet, made it clear to him that I was not military. My attire, coupled with my beard and cameras, distinctly separated me from the regular GIs. "Just here taking a few snaps," I responded. "Do you have to be here?" he asked incredulously. "Not really," I replied. He looked at me and shook his head. "If I didn't have to, I wouldn't even be here."

A soldier on patrol in Vietnam near Da Nang. Many GIs questioned my sanity because I was there when I didn't have to be.

When I got back to Saigon I told a couple of colleagues about my first firefight, and about the wounded soldier. One of them asked if I'd taken any pictures of the poor guy. "After I fixed him up," I replied. "You asshole," he said. "Take the picture, then put on the compress."

So it goes in covering a war. I think the better advice is to avoid any lift into action if possible!

In a helicopter on the way to a hot LZ near Pleiku wearing my signature fedora (photo by Matt Franjola)

December 24, 2022 By David Hume Kennerly

Afghan Women Banned from Universities

Women students attend a university class in Afghanistan

Ten years ago, in 2012, I traveled around Afghanistan giving lectures on a free press and America’s First Amendment protections. Some of my best students were women at Afghanistan's major universities. I took this of some of them during one of my classes.

Teaching a class the majority who were women (photo by Esperanza Tilghman)

This week the Taliban issued a statement saying, "Female students have been banned from private and public universities in Afghanistan effective immediately and until further notice." This is the latest edict cracking down on women's rights and freedoms. The ban further restricts women's education because girls have been excluded from secondary schools since the return of the Taliban last year.

Higher education minister Nadim (courtesy Afghanistan News)

The Taliban minister of higher education Nida Mohammad Nadim said he issued the decree to avoid the mixing of genders in universities and because he believes some subjects being taught violated the principles of Islam. He pushed back against international condemnation, including from Muslim-majority countries such as Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar, saying “that foreigners should stop interfering in Afghanistan’s internal affairs.”

Women in art class

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned the Taliban that the United States will impose “costs” on the group if it does not reverse the ban. He said that the government in Kabul will not be able to improve relations with the rest of the world if it continued to deny Afghan women their fundamental rights.

Taliban security forces in the Afghan capital enforced the sanction by blocking young women’s access to the schools. Associated Press video showed women weeping and consoling one another outside a Kabul campus.

Women attending my lecture

A scene of the past, a female student in university class, 2012

So it’s back to the Stone Age in Afghanistan. If you wondered if the Taliban were going to become enlightened rulers, here's your answer.

Burqa-wearing women on the streets of Kabul

https://kennerly.com/blog/afghan-women-banned-from-universities/

The First Lady

August 27, 2022 By David Hume Kennerly

Showtime recently announced that The First Lady series is cancelled. Mercifully it only had one season. This will spare other former presidential wives from the historical malpractice visited upon the three women portrayed in the show by creator Aaron Cooley. It will, however, be a crushing disappointment for those waiting for the Jacqueline Kennedy and Melania Trump stories.

I didn’t know that much about Eleanor Roosevelt, and even though I photographed Michelle Obama a few times, had no clue about the innerworkings of her world. Based on this show I’m sure I still don’t.

But I ‘m very well acquainted with Gerald R. Ford and his family thanks to a close friendship with the president, Mrs. Ford, and their children. I was the chief White House photographer with upstairs/downstairs access to the East and West Wings and everywhere in between. I probably spent more time with Mrs. Ford than anyone outside of her family. In this contorted version of Betty Ford’s life she was shown navigating their Alexandria home then later the White House in a cliche-infused-alcoholic haze. Nope, that’s not how it happened. If you want to know the real story read Mrs. Ford's book, "The Times of My Life." She didn't shy away from discussing her battle with pain killers and alcohol, quite the opposite, but she wasn't prancing around 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue plastered.

Betty Ford played by Michelle Pfeiffer (Photo by Murray Close/Showtime)

In their Hollywood imagination Cooley & Co. also drummed up a scenario where Mrs. Ford lectured her husband in their bedroom after he pardoned Richard Nixon. In a fiery and astonishing scene Mrs. Ford says, “You let him off without consequences for his actions. You know that makes us look complicit, that we are part of the coverup.” That was huge. You go strong woman! Give that presidential mate a piece of your first lady’s mind. Great stuff. Except it was 100% false. She in fact was sympathetic to the Nixons who were old family friends. Mrs. Ford was an empathetic human being who felt a deep sadness for former first wife Patricia Nixon. Betty Ford thought her husband had done the right thing, and wholeheartedly supported his decision. But hell, that’s not good television.

When The First Lady team was conjuring up this fantasy, neither creator Cooley nor any of his nine executive producers reached out to the Ford children or anyone else who knew them for input. They didn’t get in touch with me either and I was portrayed in an episode. One of the kids asked me why they didn’t call them for information. I said that they were going to make the show they had in mind and didn't want facts to get in the way of what turned out to be a subpar story badly and erroneously told.

I understand this wasn’t a documentary purporting to tell the real story and I didn’t expect that standard of accuracy. When Viola Davis, who played Michelle Obama in the series, was being interviewed by Leslie Stahl on CBS Sunday Morning she was questioned about the truth of a scene with White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel talking condescendingly to Mrs. Obama. Ms. Davis, who was also an executive producer of the project said, “With Rahm we took some liberties for dramatic purposes.” Indeed they did, and not only with Rahm. No White House chief of staff with half a brain would have done anything like that. Except for Ronald Reagan’s chief Donald Regan, who hung up the phone on First Lady Nancy and was fired shortly after. As Jim Baker who had been Reagan’s previous chief put it, “Hell, that wasn’t a firing offense, it was a hanging offense.”

Michelle Pfeiffer is Betty Ford, Viola Davis is Michelle Obama, Gillian Anderson is Eleanor Roosevelt (Showtime)

“Taking liberties” should not be grabbing history by the short hairs and tossing it kicking and screaming off the cliff. There is a professional responsibility in keeping historical drama within a realistic framework, unless of course you are Monty Python. It should have been designated a “fiction based on real characters” and a disclaimer at the beginning of each episode added that said:

The producers of The First Lady apparently had no idea what really went on with these ladies so they just made up the “facts.”

Another fabrication in this saga was portraying Don Rumsfeld, the president's White House chief of staff, and his deputy Dick Cheney as the requisite bad guys out to suppress the president’s “plucky wife” Betty Ford. Nope. Not the way it went down. In one overblown scene, Rumsfeld storms aboard Mrs. Ford's plane before she was about to take off to Atlanta for the funeral of Martin Luther King's mother. In a vaguely racist statement Rumsfeld told her what a bad idea it was for her to do that. Dammit, "I'm Jerry's chief of staff!" Nope. That scene never happened either. At the time, Mrs. Ford was the wife of Vice President Ford, and Rumsfeld was in Europe serving as Nixon’s U.S. Ambassador to NATO. Oops. Great alibi though. He didn't become chief until six weeks after Ford became president. Plus Rumsfeld didn’t call him Jerry after Ford became the chief executive. It was always "Mr. President." Same with Cheney. Same with me. Same with most people.

In another four-Pinocchio moment, the downer boys, Rumsfeld and Cheney, showed up in the Family Residence of the White House on Christmas Eve, 1975. In this depiction the Fords were in the middle of a nice, quiet, private holiday dinner. The downer duo’s mission was to admonish Mrs. Ford for another outspoken moment that they felt was going to hurt “Jerry’s” presidential campaign. Kind of unimaginable that anyone would do something like that on Christmas. They didn't. The Fords weren't even in the White House that night, they were in Vail. I was with them having dinner. Guess what? Neither Cheney nor Rumsfeld interrupted them there either. Another reason why not? Donald Rumsfeld had become Secretary of Defense, was no longer chief of staff, and was running the Pentagon, not trying to screw with Betty Ford's life. Details, details.

The requisite bad guys. Rhys Wakefield as Dick Cheney and Derek Cecil as Donald Rumsfeld (Showtime)

A fine young actor Cody Pressley played my character. His scene was based on what happened the day before the Fords left office on January 19, 1977. In real life Mrs. Ford was in the West Wing saying her goodbyes to the staff. We passed the empty Cabinet Room. She peeked in, looked at me with her trademark mischievous grin and said, "You know, I've always wanted to dance on the Cabinet Room table." The former Martha Graham dancer kicked off her shoes, jumped up on the table, and struck a pose that captured her irrepressible personality. She was also symbolically planting the feminist flag right in the middle of a predominantly white male domain. Nothing against Cody, but they had him carrying one of his cameras bandolier-style in a way you couldn’t quickly take a picture. It might work for tourists from Omaha, but not pros in the White House. He was also dressed in a light-colored turtleneck and not wearing a coat and tie. A photo of me and Mrs. Ford from that day by Eddie Adams would have helped the wardrobe department get it right.

Cody Pressley plays me in "The First Lady" (Showtime)

Mrs. Ford had given up dancing professionally long ago, but the producers of The First Lady took care of that. Michelle Pfeiffer, who portrayed Mrs. Ford, (Ms. Pfeiffer is the one thing Mrs. Ford would have liked about this series), started dancing around the table. Cody (as me) is taking pictures. President Ford walks into the Room and is “shocked” by the scene but thinks it’s funny. He exits. Two problems. The president didn’t find out about it until 15 years later when I showed him the picture. He exclaimed to his wife, “Betty, you never told me you did that!” She jokingly said, “There a lot of things I never told you, Jerry.”

Aaron Eckhart plays President Ford (Showtime)

The second problem is that their version played out in the Roosevelt Room. Another unforced error. All they had to do was look at my relatively well-known photograph of the moment to at least get that right, but hey, that would have involved paying a researcher.

Michelle Pfeiffer on The Roosevelt Room table (Showtime)

Betty Ford on The Cabinet Room Table (Kennerly)

The danger here is that many people who saw this thing will believe that this was how things happened and that they now know the real Betty Ford. They will not. My advice to those who really care about history is to read about the people who made it in their own words or in the words of trusted historians.

The First Lady wasn’t picked up for another season because it was fatally flawed historically, but for the ultimate sin in the entertainment world. It sucked, and toward the end people quit watching it. If you’re making shit up, at least make it interesting. And don’t pretend it’s based on real life.

Mrs. Ford and I in The Cabinet Room right after the shoot. Unlike the actor in the scene I'm wearing a coat and tie! (Eddie Adams)

The Real Betty Ford on The Cabinet Room Table (Kennerly)

Farewell Dirck Halstead

July 23, 2022 By David Hume Kennerly

Everyone needs a mentor. Mine was Dirck Halstead. His was Robert Capa. Dirck never met Capa, but he was able to bid him farewell.

Dirck Halstead and David Kennerly in Vietnam, 1972

Halstead had just graduated from high school in 1954 when he heard that photographer Robert Capa had been killed covering the Vietnam War. Dirck wrote about it in his book, “Moments in Time.” “Robert Capa dead? Couldn’t be. Robert Capa was my hero. To me he was the epitome of a war photographer: handsome, brave, had an affair with Ingrid Bergman . . . I heard that Capa was being brought to the United States for burial in Amawalk, New York . . . On the day of the ceremony I arrived at the Quaker cemetery early . . . A few minutes before the burial was supposed to take place, John Morris who was then the head of Magnum Photos, came up and asked me to leave. At this point, a rough wooden casket, almost like a shipping box, was ushered into the cemetery . . . I began to cry. John Morris suddenly looked stricken, and he asked me to wait. A moment later he came back and said, ‘You know, you are a photographer, he would have wanted you here.’ So I photographed the burial and wrote a story for the Patent Trader about what Capa meant to me.”

Robert Capa’s casket, from Dirck's book, "Moments In Time"

Capa’s mother Julia grieves and is comforted by her other son Cornell (Moments In time)

A week later Dirck gave John Morris a set of the funeral prints. He told Dirck that there was a story that might interest him about a group of American students going to Guatemala to build a school. Dirck had also heard about a possible war brewing there. “I thought this was my big chance,” he said. Dirck approached LIFE Magazine about the school-building assignment, and they liked it. The editors said they would give him $1,000 and free film. “That was a goldmine to a kid who had been getting ten dollars a picture!” The LIFE editors didn’t know that they were sending a 17-year-old kid into danger.

Before Dirck left the states he visited his hero’s grave. “As I walked to Capa’s tombstone the wind started to kick up. A clap of thunder echoed through the cemetery as rain started to pour down. I stood over his grave as the rain ran down my face.

For a moment I thought I could feel the great photographer’s presence. Whatever it was, I allowed it to mingle with mine. I was convinced that I had taken on Robert Capa’s spirit and that I was going to be covering my first war.”

Dirck’s picture of combat in Guatemala City (Moments In Time)

And he did. It was a short one, but Dirck made some good action photos of the combat. LIFE wrote in their contents page about Dirck and a letter to his parents: “Dear Folks—as I sit here at my typewriter pounding out this letter I can hear gunfire in the distance . . . You guessed it—I’VE COVERED MY FIRST BATTLE!”

LIFE story about Dirck (Moments In Time)

Dirck’s final wish was that his ashes be left at Robert Capa’s grave. I put some in a small Canon battery case and placed it at the tombstone. it was a full-circle moment that honored Dirck’s love of Canons and Capa. The spirit and presence of one great photographer was joined with another.

Capa had to be smiling.

Dirck’s ashes in a Canon battery case that I left at Capa's grave (Photos by Rick Smolan)

50th Anniversary of the Watergate Break-in

June 18, 2022 By David Hume Kennerly

Kennerly's Watergate Photo Gallery

This is the 50^th anniversary of the break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate Office Building. It led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon.

WASHINGTON -- 1970: Attorney General John Mitchell and wife Martha Mitchell enter the Department of Justice, Washinton, D.C., 1970. (photo by David Hume Kennerly/GettyImages)

This image of Martha Mitchell was John F. Kennedy, Jr’s favorite political photo. I took it in 1970. Martha was the wife of Attorney General John Mitchell and known as, “The Mouth of the South.” She couldn’t help talking to the press, and gave them some of her husband’s secrets. President Richard Nixon blamed her for his troubles. He told David Frost in an interview, “If it hadn’t been for Martha, there’d have been no Watergate.” Her husband John, (behind her here), left Martha in 1973, and was convicted of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and perjury. He spent 19 months in prison. “It could have been a hell of a lot worse," he said, "They could have sentenced me to spend the rest of my life with Martha.”

03_072_1974circa_SenateWatergateCommittee_SamErvin_HowardBaker_00031_04A copy.jpg

Republican Sen. Howard Baker and chairman of the Senate Watergate Committee Democrat Sen. Sam Ervin. Howard Baker had the most memorable line from the hearings when he asked witness John Dean, ‘What did the president know, and when did he know it?”

Former CIA officer E. Howard Hunt testifies before the committee. He was convicted of burglary, conspiracy, and wiretapping. Hunt spent 33 months in prison for his Watergate antics.

Spiro Agnew in the back seat of a car after resigning

Not related to Watergate, but contributing to Nixon’s problems, was the resignation of Vice President Agnew on Oct. 10, 1973. Two days later House Minority Leader Gerald R. Ford was nominated to replace Agnew, and less than a year later would replace Nixon.

WASHINGTON -- OCTOBER 21: Former Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox after speaking with reporters at the National Press Club in Washington DC on October 21, 1973, the morning after President Richard Nixon fired him during what is knowns as the Saturday Night Massacre. (Photo by David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images)

Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox leaves a press conference after the Nixon Administration refused to give him the White House tapes. He said, “I'm not looking for a confrontation… I'm certainly not out to get the President of the United States.” The next night, on October 20th, 1973, in what became known as the “Saturday Night Massacre” Nixon ordered Attorney General Elliott Richardson to fire special prosecutor Cox. He refused and resigned. Nixon then ordered Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus do it, and he also resigned. Robert Bork became acting AG, and carried out the command.

During the Saturday Night Massacre, Watergate

That night I rushed to Special Prosecutor Cox’s office to get photos, but was blocked by an FBI agent from entering the room. It made an even better picture.

WASHINGTON DC - DECEMBER 6: (NO U.S. TABLOID SALES) Gerald R. Ford shakes hands with U.S. President Richard M. Nixon (r) during Ford's Vice President Inauguration in the House Chamber, U.S. Capitol on December 6, 1973 in Washington, DC. The oath was administered by Chief Justice Warren Burger of the Supreme Court. James Eastland, President pro Tempore of the Senate (back) attends ceremony. Ford was appointed by President Richard M. Nixon after Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned his office while under criminal investigation from his time as an office holder in Maryland. (Photo by David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images)

On December 6, 1973, Gerald R. Ford was sworn in as Vice President of the United States. President Nixon was there to congratulate him on the floor of the House in the U.S. Capitol.

WASHINGTON, DC - 1973: (NO U.S. TABLOID SALES ) Protestors with conflicting U.S. President Richard Nixon viewpoints in front of the White House 1973 in Washington, DC. (Photo by David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images)

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A man holds an “Impeach Nixon” sign in front of the White House as supporters of the president pass behind him. The nation was in turmoil over the Watergate affair.

Former Attorney General John Mitchell walks past a protester after appearing before Judge John Sirica at the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.

WASHINGTON - 1973: (NO US TABLOID SALES) Washington Post Reporters (L) Bob Woodward and (R) Carl Bernstein walk from Federal court after covering the President Richard Nixon Watergate hearings 1973 Washington DC. (Photo by David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images)

Famed Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein leave the U.S. District Court while covering the Watergate trial. They were the ones who broke the Watergate story.

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Republican first-term Congressman from Maine William S. Cohen broke with his party over Watergate and joined Democrats in demanding the Nixon White House tapes in 1973. He also voted to impeach Nixon. Cohen thought his fledgling political career was dead. “I had come to the conclusion based on all of the hate mail I had gotten, all of the flak I had gotten, that I wasn’t coming back,” recalled Mr. Cohen, who had been elected less than a year earlier. “I was O.K. with that.” Rather than cratering his career he went on to three terms in the Senate and became President Clinton’s secretary of defense. Liz Cheney is the William Cohen of today, her political future unclear. Her heroism is not in question, however.

WASHINGTON -- 1974: Hillary Rodham, a young lawyer advising the Rodino Committee stands next to chief lawyer John Doar during impeachment proceedings against President Nixon in the House Judiciary Committee Room, 1974 (photo by David Hume Kennerly/GettyImages)

Young attorney Hillary Rodham with Judiciary Committee chief counsel John Doar during the House impeachment hearings at the U.S. Capitol. On July 27–30, 1974, members of the Democratic-led Judiciary Committee approved three articles of impeachment against Nixon. He resigned before they reached the House floor for a vote.

WASHINGTON - AUGUST 9: President Richard Nixon waves goodbye as he boards a helicopter to leave from the South Lawn of the White House after resigning the presidency, August 9, 1974, in Washington, DC. In the first and last frames of this contact sheet Vice President Gerald R. Ford and Mrs. Ford say good bye. Ford was sworn in as president minutes later. (Photo by David Hume Kennerly)

President Richard Nixon waves goodbye as he boards his helicopter after announcing his resignation, August 9, 1974. He remains the only president to resign.

My cover picture on TIME Magazine of Gerald R. Ford after he became the 38th President of the United States. In his remarks after being sworn into office he declared, “Our long national nightmare is over.”

On Winning a Pulitzer Prize 50 Years Ago

April 30, 2022 By David Hume Kennerly

Fifty years ago today, May 1, 1972, a message reached me in Saigon that changed my life. It said I had just won the Pulitzer Prize in Journalism for Feature Photography. Here’s an edited version of the story as recounted in my book Shooter published in 1980.

I got the call at 4 a.m. from Saigon United Press International news bureau chief Bert Okuley. He said, "You'd better come down here and have a look at this message.” His voice was grave. All I could think was there had been a problem with the photos I sent out earlier taken by a freelancer of the North Vietnamese offensive in Quang Tri near the DMZ. I ran down the stairs from my apartment to Okuley's office. "Look at this," he said, handing me a sheet of paper torn from the wire machine:

“KENNERLY HAS WON PULITZER FOR FEATURE PHOTOGRAPHY”

The cable read (in all caps): "01170 SAIGON-KENNERLY HAS WON PULITZER FOR FEATURE PHOTOGRAPHY, WHICH BRINGS CONGRATS FROM ALL HERE. NOW NEED EFFORT SOME QUOTES FROM HIM AND PINPOINT HIS LOCATION WHEN ADVISED FOR SIDEBAR STORY, BRANNAN/NX CABLES."

I was dumbfounded. I didn’t believe it. How could I have won my profession’s highest award when I didn’t even know I was nominated? I thought it was a mistake or a prank. Bert sent a message back to New York, asking for clarification: "02054 EXHSG BRANNAN'S 01170 ARE YOU KIDDING? IF SO IT ISN'T MUCH OF A JOKE. IS THERE A PULITZER AWARDED TO A UNIPRESS PHOTOG AND IS IT KENNERLY? OKULEY." At that moment the wire machine decided to break down and we were cut off from the world. I hadn't had a cigarette for months, but right then and there I started smoking again.

Three hours and many cigarettes later, the wire machine finally came back to life and a flood of messages spewed out. The first one said, "01181 OKULEYS 02054 NO KIDDING AND CAN YOU REACH KENNERLY FOR SUDDEN COMMENT NEED TO KNOW WHERE HE WAS WHEN HE GOT THE NEWS. WOOD/NX CABLES."

The Pulitzer Prize is the premier award in the news business, something almost all photographers and writers dream of winning. Without my knowledge, UPI’s top photo editor Larry DeSantis had submitted a portfolio of pictures I'd taken the year before in Vietnam, India, Cambodia, and at the Ali-Frazier championship fight right before I left for Saigon. There were eleven photos, all taken in 1971.

The citation from the Pulitzer committee read: "For an outstanding example of feature photography, awarded to David Hume Kennerly of United Press International for his dramatic pictures of the Vietnam War in 'They also noted that "he specializes in pictures that capture the loneliness and desolation of war." The representative picture the committee selected from my portfolio was the one I had taken of a G.I., his weapon at the ready, walking over the scarred landscape of a god-forsaken place the soldiers had given the improbable name of LZ Hot Lips.

One of my Pulitzer Prize photos showing the “Loneliness and desolation of war.”

That night I lay in bed staring at the slowly rotating blades of the ceiling fan while the question circled in my mind: "What does it mean?" I decided it meant I had to go back out in the field and take pictures. My opportunity came the very next day, when Dirck Halstead, my close friend and mentor, showed up to cover the ongoing North Vietnamese offensive for Time Magazine.

Four years earlier Dirck had convinced the UPI executives in New York that a young photographer named Kennerly who was working for them in Los Angeles should be brought to New York. It was a big step up. Not long after I arrived in the city I began getting important assignments thanks to him. Halstead was UPI’s star shooter, and I was grateful that he chose to share some of the best jobs with me.

"Where's the action?" Dirck asked.

“ An Loc, the NVA have cut the place off," I told him. An hour later we jumped into an old ’58 Ford from the Caravelle Hotel and headed toward the action. Leon Daniel, a UPI newsman and one of the bravest correspondents I had ever met, joined us. (Leon was shot in the leg during the Korean War and still limped because of his old wound.) When we got to the area about 30 miles from Saigon we stopped to photograph South Vietnamese armored vehicles. Leon took a photo of me and Dirck in front of one.

Dirck Halstead and I moments before it hit the fan on Highway 13

All was quiet, but not for long. At that moment a bullet pinged off the pavement near Leon's good leg. We all hit the deck near our cAR. Two other newsies who had arrived minutes behind us in a white Toyota, decided to depart. A B-40 rocket blew up where they had been seconds before. We were crouched down near our car, but it was a target.

Leon Daniel with Dirck Halstead take cover by the old Ford

We told our driver to take off, and he high-tailed it. We ran toward soldiers who were returning fire. Incoming mortar rounds were blowing up all around us. We were surrounded.

South Vietnamese troops under fire

Intense fire from the NVA kept us pinned down. A dozen or more ARVN troops were killed all around us and many were wounded during the firefight. One soldier lay near me bleeding to death, he had been shot in the crotch. A medic bandaged him up.

A gravely wounded South Vietnamese soldier during the battle

Communist troops were so close we could see them running across the road. One South Vietnamese soldier pointed in their direction and started screaming, "Beaucoup V.C! Beaucoup V.C!" Sgt. Ronald MacCauley, a U.S. advisor to the Vietnamese shouted, "Shoot the fuckers, don't just yell at them!" (MacCauley was awarded a Silver Star for his participation in the battle for An Loc for his heroic actions three weeks after we were with him).

U.S. advisor Sgt. Ronald MacCauley during the North Vietnamese firefight

We'd been pinned down for more than two hours when the first air strikes called in by Sgt. MacCauley and a Vietnamese major came in on top of the North Vietnamese combatants. A giant piece of shrapnel from one of the exploding bombs whizzed over our heads. It had been raining and we were covered with mud. Dirck got a shot of me that I later used on the cover of my book. It definitely caught the moment! I crawled over to Dirck and asked if this was what he'd had in mind for action. Always cool under fire he calmly said, “Can’t wait to have a drink at the Melody Bar tonight.”

Photo taken of me by Dirck Halstead during the battle

After being heavily blasted from the air the North Vietnamese finally withdrew, and things quieted down. Wet and shaken, we were wondering how we were going to get our asses out of there. In the distance we heard the sound of a car heading our way fast. He’s back! Our driver screeched to a stop, and yelled, “Need a ride?” He was laughing as we scrambled aboard. He got a big tip for that mission.

Back at the Melody Bar that night Dirck, Leon, and I tossed back a few and marveled at how close we’d come to getting whacked. Dirck apologized for being the catalyst that almost got me (and him) killed. He hoisted his cognac and said, “Oh, by the way, congrats on winning the Pulitzer.” We laughed and clinked glasses.

Dirck and I after the firefight along Highway 13

To celebrate the 50^th Anniversary of me receiving the Pulitzer Prize in Journalism for Feature Photography on May 1, 1972, I’m making the winning portfolio of those pictures available for purchase in a boxed set. It will include the photo Dirck took of me in combat the day after I won.

https://kennerly.com/archive-deck/new-pulitzer-prize-portfolio

Contact me at pix@kennerly.com for details!

Triple Play

March 10, 2022 By David Hume Kennerly

Fifty years ago on March 9, 1972, I celebrated my 25th birthday in Saigon. It was an occasion I never thought I’d see. I arrived in Vietnam a year earlier, and during the ensuing months saw combat in Cambodia, the India-Pakistan War, and of course, Vietnam. There were so many close calls that by rights I shouldn’t have made it. But I did.

Every year after that special day has been a gift, one that I deeply appreciate. When I hit 50 I doubled up, and on my 75th, I scored a triple! You will never ever hear me complaining about getting old, I’m just happy to be here.

Along those lines I would like to recognize my colleagues who are covering the Russian invasion of Ukraine. I can’t even begin to express how much I admire every one of them, and how critically important their work is to the world. I gladly admit that I didn’t consider going to Ukraine, but I’m gratified and at the same time anxious for those who did, and for those photographers from there.

I send love and admiration to them all including Carol Guzy, Lynsey Addario, Marcus Yam, Erin Trieb, Emilio Morenatti, John Stanmeyer, Peter Turnley, Wolfgang Schwan, Aris Messinis, Chris McGrath, Mstyslav Chernov, Jérôme Sessini and so many others. They are the eyes of freedom.

(Photo by Robert Wiener under fire near An Loc, South Vietnam on one of the many days I didn't think I would make it out alive. You can see clearly see that in my expression!).

Kennerly Commencement Address at U of Arizona

December 17, 2021 By David Hume Kennerly

David Hume Kennerly’s address to the Commencement and SBS Convocation, 2021 graduating class of the School of Social Sciences & Behavioral Sciences, “The People College” at the University of Arizona, Tucson, December 17, 2021

What an amazing group!

Congratulations to the graduating Class of 2021. You have survived and triumphed over our ongoing Covid nightmare, and from the looks of it have not only emerged intact, but raring to get on to the next step.

I wouldn’t be standing here today if it wasn’t for University of Arizona president Dr. Robert Robbins the driving force behind the university’s acquisition of my archive for the Center for Creative Photography, the CCP. I’m assuming that also makes me an official Wildcat, but I don’t want to be presumptuous. Your most excellent leader Dean John Paul Jones III has become a dear friend and invited me to speak today. Depending on how this goes you may or may not want to thank him.

It’s a real pleasure to speak to you. I’ve had my fair share of significant moments, but none of them include a college graduation, so each of you has already surpassed my academic achievements!

My dear friend Ansel Adams was co-founder of the CCP, I hope you know that his archive is right here on campus. I was privileged to take his portrait for the cover of TIME.

Ansel Adams on cover of TIME Magazine, September 3, 1979

He is the first and only photographer to be featured there. Ansel was also a philosopher. He said, “You don’t make a photograph just with a camera. You bring to the act of photography all the pictures you have seen, the books you have read, the music you have heard, and the people you have loved.”

I thought I would share this with you because Ansel’s words apply not only to photography, but to life.

After graduating from high school in 1965 the world was changing in ways I couldn’t imagine.

Cops fight off protestors at San Francisco State College, 1968.

I felt compelled to tell my generation’s story with my weapon of choice--a 35mm camera. That desire to document turned into a life-long journey that has (so far) produced hundreds of thousands of photos. I’ve photographed 11 presidents, traveled to more than 100 countries, been in several wars, saw the horror of Jonestown, and have produced movies and documentaries.

Five Presidents in the Oval Office, 2009. (former President George Bush, President-elect Barack Obama, President George W. Bush, former Presidents Bill Clinton & Jimmy Carter)

I’d like to pass along some wisdom from my dad, O.A. “Tunney” Kennerly who was a traveling salesman.

O.A. “Tunney” Kennerly, David Hume Kennerly’s dad, Portland, Oregon, 1967

During his life he sold everything from plastic garden tools to automobiles. As a youngster I accompanied him around my home state of Oregon watching him sell people things they didn’t really need, or at least didn’t know they needed! One bit of advice he shared with me was, “If you want to get along with people don’t discuss politics or religion.” That advice might be more pertinent now than ever.

Observing Dad in action helped me understand his real secret. He was selling himself first. He put people at ease and made them laugh. Tunney was a genuine individual who liked his fellow humans and they liked him back. And bought his stuff.

His example helped me get behind closed doors with my camera.

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michell Obama, Inauguration Night, January 20, 2009

I became very good at convincing (selling) politicians and others on the idea of letting me into their lives to document their important work and to photograph them in genuine moments.

One of my earliest assignments as a 19-year-old cub newspaper photographer was covering Sen. Robert Kennedy’s visit to Portland. I set off on that mission with words from the managing editor ringing in my ears, “Don’t screw it up, kid.”

Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and Kennerly, Portland, Oregon, 1966

I arrived at the Portland Labor Hall where Kennedy was going to speak. It was so crowded I couldn’t get in. But I had to or possibly lose my job. I spotted a photographer who was travelling with Kennedy. I asked him, ‘How do you get through all these people?’

He was Bill Eppridge of LIFE Magazine, one of the world’s best. Sensing my panic he said, “Grab onto my coat.” He zigzagged through the crowd and deposited me right up on the stage. He added, “This is the best angle.”

Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, Portland Labor Hall, 1966

It was also a career saver! This image that I made of Kennedy is still one of my most meaningful pictures.

Afterwards I followed the senator and his entourage out to the airport. RFK plunged into the cheering crowd then he dashed up the airplane’s steps.

Sen. Robert F. Kennedy in crowd at Portland Airport, 1966

But that’s not what rang my bell. THE moment, the one that’s so clear to me even now, was when Bill Eppridge followed Kennedy, stood on the top of the plane’s stairs then spotted me in the crowd. He flashed me a wink and a smile then turned and disappeared inside the plane. The door closed behind him, and the aircraft taxied out and took off into the night.

I was overwhelmed with emotion. Why? I wanted to be on that plane, to go where history was being made and to photograph the people making it. My path was suddenly clear. I would run away and join the political circus. (Full circle note: I was right here on campus with him in 1968 when he made a campaign stop).

We’re all here because someone pointed us in the right direction. Somebody cleared away obstacles--or let us hang onto their coat. You haven’t had to walk alone. With luck you’ll run into compassionate and inspiring people like Bill Eppridge who will bless you with their drive, expertise, and most of all kindness.

Kennerly and Bill Eppridge, Jefferson, New York, 2012

A few months before Bill died I was able to thank him for helping me find my way. It’s hard to express how important that was for me.

As I was coming up through the ranks of photographers I had no idea what decades of my pictures might reveal. I never thought I would make it this far, and there were so many times when I almost didn’t. Overcoming fear to do my job was essential, but trust me, it didn’t make me less scared on occasion!

Kennerly under fire, Chon Thanh, S. Vietnam, 1972

Getting the shot and telling the story is what drives me. An example is a picture that I took in Vietnam of a lone soldier carefully picking his way across a devastated hillside.

Lone Soldier above A Shau Valley, S. Vietnam, 1971 One of the photos from David Hume Kennerly's portfolio that won the 1972 Pulitzer Prize in Journalism for Feature Photography. The Pulitzer committee described this image as showing, Òthe loneliness and desolation of warÓ. " A Shau Valley, South Vietnam

I saw him coming from across the way and moved to position where I could frame him through some shattered trees if he stayed on his path. I prayed he would hold that course. He did. That photo became the centerpiece of my Pulitzer Prize-winning portfolio of pictures I took in 1971.

So be patient. Wait for it. Think ahead. And most important don’t give up. You never know what might come next!

Another Tunney Kennerly saying was, “If you don’t ask, you don’t get.” People can’t read your mind. They don’t know what you want. It’s a tough choice because you might rightfully believe that an opportunity could disappear if you push too hard for it. So what? Take a chance. Even if the person you’re talking to is the President of the United States!

President Richard Nixon waves goodbye from his helicopter after resigning, August 9, 1974

Gerald R. Ford Sworn in as President, East Room of the White House, August 9, 1974

I was on the South Lawn of the White House lawn as Richard Nixon departed in disgrace after resigning the presidency. He was the first and last president to do that.

Two hours later Gerald R. Ford was sworn in as the nation’s 38^th president.

I had covered him for TIME Magazine while he was the vice president, and then watched him go right into presidential history.

Kennerly’s TIME Magazine cover of Gerald R. Ford, the 38th President of the United States of America

I got along well with the vice president. He liked me and my pictures. I suspected he might ask me to become his chief photographer, but I wasn’t sure that I wanted the job.

Nixon’s photographer’s legacy was a rough road. He had extremely limited access to his boss, and his photographs showed it. History was not well-served and even though it wasn’t his fault he missed critical moments. There are few photos that show Nixon’s handling of the Vietnam War and the Watergate cover-up that brought him down. I could not and would not work under those restrictive conditions.

That night President Ford and I sat in his living room. He popped the question.

Cover of Kennerly’s book, “Extraordinary Circumstances”

Would I like to be his personal photographer?

I told him I had misgivings and why. Then looked him right in the eye and said, “Mr. President, I would love to take the job, it would be an honor, but I have two conditions: I report directly to you AND have total access to everything going on in the White House.” (To this day I still can’t believe those words came out of my mouth). President Ford appeared slightly flummoxed and stopped smoking his pipe. I thought, “OK, I blew that one.” Then he laughed, and said, “You don’t want Air Force One on the weekends?”

Hallelujah! I hadn’t blown it.

Kennerly and President Ford walk along the White House Colonnade, 1975

I didn’t have to call my parents to tell them that the president offered me a job but I told him to shove it. Ford understood that my wanting to always be “in the room” came from my desire to document his presidency from all angles – to create a visual record for history and that I didn’t want to miss anything.

The Ford presidency was one of my most rewarding and exciting assignments.

Gerald R. Ford in the Oval Office after becoming president, 1974

I faithfully, objectively, and I hope accurately, documented every moment of history that I could – and history happened 24/7 for the next two-and-a-half years. And yes, I spent hundreds of hours on Air Force One—but only when the president was on board!

Kennerly in the doorway of Air Force one, Portland, Oregon, 1974 (photo by Stanford Smith)

Documenting history since the 60s has given me a unique perspective of our proud and imperfect nation. We are a place of heroes, villains, and those in between. But I remain an optimist.

No matter how powerful the lens, one person can’t capture it all. I believe my life's work can inspire confidence in our ability to improve as a people. It can also be a sobering reminder of how often we screw things up.

With luck my pictures will motivate a new and diverse generation (you) to be passionate chroniclers and not impartial observers (unless you’re a journalist, of course!) of our collective experience.

You can all participate in this idea. Whether you’re receiving degrees in American Indian Studies, Anthropology, Geography, History, Law, or any field, you can document your own point of view. There are social media vehicles to do that but more important, keep notes about your work and your unique perspective of the world around you. You’re seeing history every single day, so don’t let it slip away. And by all means, supplement those observations with photos!

The best line in any graduation speech is, “And in conclusion.” Here it is:

A long list of people helped and trusted me along the way. The same goes for you. Look around. You’ll see family, friends, professors, and employers. Thank them for helping you to become the person you are, and for shaping the person you will become. We are all in this together. We’re not flying solo.

Good luck and love to the 2021 graduates of The People College of the University of Arizona. You now have the Wildcat wind at your back, and an incredible journey ahead.

I’m leaving you with one of my favorite photos. I took this on assignment for Bank of America. It even went viral!

First Lady Michelle Obama hugs former President George W. Bush at the opening of the National African Museum of History and Culture, 2016

This is First Lady Michelle Obama hugging former President George W. Bush at the opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture and personifies an optimistic note on how we can get along, no matter what gender, color, or political party. I hope it sums up how you feel today.

I love the University of Arizona’s motto: Bear Down!

A scholarly cat watches Kennerly's commencement address. (Photo by John Rodrigues).

A selfie in Centennial Hall after commencement address to University of Arizona’s “The People College.”

General Colin Powell: Soldier & Statesman

October 20, 2021 By David Hume Kennerly

“First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.”

Henry Lee’s eulogy honoring General George Washington could well have been written for General Colin Powell.

WASHINGTON DC - FEBRUARY: US Chairman of the Joint chiefs of Staff, General Colin Powell February 1991 in Washington, DC. Powell was overseeing military operations both stateside and in Operation Desert Storm during the war against Iraq that broke out in January 1991. (Photo by David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images)

Our paths didn’t cross in Vietnam where he pulled two tours, the first in 1962-63, and then in 1968. During that second deployment Major Colin Powell was decorated for bravery after he survived a helicopter crash and single-handedly rescued three others from the burning wreckage, including his commanding general.

I first got to know Powell in 1991 when he was chairman of the JCS shortly after the U.S. launched Operation Desert Storm against Iraq after they invaded Kuwait. I flew with him and Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney to Saudi Arabia where they met with CENTCOM commander General Norman Schwarzkopf in the war room in Riyadh. Schwarzkopf, like Powell, was another Vietnam vet who had also been wounded several times in combat. At this point the Allied forces had been bombarding the Iraqi forces from the air, and Cheney and Powell’s trip was the prelude to the ground invasion that would free Kuwait from Saddam Hussein’s military occupiers.

SAUDI ARABIA - FEBRUARY 12: (L-R) General Colin Powell Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney, CENTCOM Commander General Norman Schwarzkopf and Assistant Secretary of Defense for Policy Paul Wolfowitz discuss plans for Operation Desert Storm (to re-take Kuwait from Iraq) February 12, 1991 in Riyadh , Saudi Arabia. (Photo by David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images)

Cheney and I knew each other since working closely together in the Ford White House, and he had invited me to accompany them on the Saudi trip. But Powell was new to me. I’m always comfortable around people who shared the Vietnam experience, and Powell was no exception. We immediately hit it off, and even managed to compare a few war stories on that long ride as only those who’ve been through the combat wringer can do. He was confidant, easy-going, and had a terrific sense of humor. Most people who rise through the ranks of the military tend to be rather humble and modest, and Powell was no different. That’s also where he started referring to me as “Kennerly,” and it stuck. Even George W. Bush picked up on it.

During the trip to Saudi Arabia we also visited a secret air base at an “undisclosed location.” Let’s just say it was out in the desert, and in Saudi that covers a lot of territory. I photographed Cheney and Powell addressing the troops framed by warplanes. It was a very dramatic setting, and a visual prelude to the upcoming ground war.

When we returned to D.C., Cheney and Powell met with President George H.W. Bush to discuss battle plans, then appeared in the Rose Garden for a press conference. The picture typifies how the same people never seem to go away until they pass away.

WASHINGTON DC - FEBRUARY: (NO U.S. TABLOID SALES) U.S President George H.W. Bush and staff brief the press on the front steps of the White House in regards to the 1991 war with Iraq February 1991 in Washington, DC. Standing next to Bush is Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney (L, with eyeglasses), General Colin Powell (r, in uniform), Vice President Dan Quayle (c, back). In the far back stands National Security Advisor Brent Skowcroft (L, holding notebook) and Secretary of State Jim Baker (c, between Quayle and Bush). (Photo by David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images)

It was a who’s who, who was who, and who would be who of American politics moment. (left to right), National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft, also NSC advisor to President Gerald Ford. CIA Director Robert Gates, future Secretary of Defense under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney, former White House chief of staff for President Gerald R. Ford, congressman, and later Vice President of the United States for President George W. Bush. Vice President Dan Quayle, was a U.S. Senator, and congressman. Secretary of State James Baker, former White House chief of staff and Treasury Secretary for President Ronald Reagan, and later chief of staff for Bush 41. President George H.W. Bush, Reagan’s vice president, CIA Director for Ford, U.S. Ambassador to the UN for Nixon, and congressman. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Colin Powell, NSC advisor to President Reagan, would become Secretary of State for President George W. Bush. Whew!

Two years later, and during his final months as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, LIFE Magazine assigned me to photograph Powell before he retired from the Army. One of my prized possessions, now in my archive at the Center of Creative Photography at the University of Arizona, is a letter from Powell essentially agreeing to my proposal, but I had to negotiate the terms of my access. He was no pushover, but it ended up working out.

The highlight of my coverage was a trip that Powell made to Somalia to visit U.S. troops. They were there to help starving people whose lives had been torn apart by war. The operation was Powell’s baby. To underscore that point Powell visited a hospital and held up a newborn child whom the mother named “Colin” in appreciation for America’s help. It might go down as one of the more unusual situations I have photographed, and Powell seemed to enjoy it.

General Powell loved his troops and they loved him. He was a rock star to them. They all wanted to have their photo taken with him, and I obliged as many as I could. Powell seemed happiest when he was around his fellow soldiers, and I could see why they liked him. He wasn’t asking any of them to do something he hadn’t already done.

SOMALIA - APRIL: (NO U.S. TABLOID SALES )
General Colin Powell smiles with U.S. soldiers1993 in Somalia. (Photo by David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images)

We also paid a visit to the USS Wasp, an amphibious assault ship that was cruising of the coast of Somalia in support of the operation. Powell addressed the sailors and Marines on board, and received cheers and applause.

I caught a quiet moment of him on the ship as he reviewed some documents.

Back in the states I got a look at Powell the grandfather as he raced across the lawn near his quarters at Ft. Myer with his delighted grandson. He told me that one real regret he had was never getting enough time with his family.

VIRGINIA - APRIL: (NO U.S. TABLOID SALES )
General Colin Powell with his grandson at Fort Myer Military Community April 1993 in Fort Myer, VA. (Photo by David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images)

On the last day of the assignment I rode with Powell on his helicopter back to the Pentagon. As he looked out the window I had a feeling that there was more in store for him after he left the military.

Flash forward two years later. 1995. People in both political parties were encouraging Powell to run for president. I wrote Powell a letter encouraging him to jump in and also telling him that if he did I would like to cover his campaign. I added that if he won I would also happily become the chief White House photographer for the second time. But alas, he didn’t go for it, citing a lack of passion for politics. He later told me he absolutely would have had me along for the ride. My close-up observation of thirteen presidential campaigns is that most people who run for president would step over their mother’s body to get to the White House. Powell (and Gerald Ford) were not among them.

CRAWFORD - DECEMBER 16: President elect George Bush announces his first cabinet appointment of General Colin Powell as Secretary of State on December 16, 2000 at an elementary school in Crawford, Texas, near the Bush's ranch. (Photo by David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images)

But Powell was not out of the game. On Dec. 16, 2000, President-elect George W. Bush named Powell as his choice for Secretary of State, the first Black person to achieve that position. At the announcement in Crawford, Texas, Powell thanked Bush for not holding the ceremony at his nearby ranch and joked, “I’m from the South Bronx,” he said, “and I don’t care what you say, those cows look dangerous.” Bush picked Condoleezza Rice as his NSC adviser. She would replace Powell as Secretary of State four years later.

Powell’s relationship with VP Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was not always warm and fuzzy, but early-on they appeared to get along fine. On one occasion I was with them in Rumsfeld’s office at the Pentagon when Powell became the butt of a joke, and laughed along with them. It was genuinely good natured at that moment, but wasn’t always that way. However, in a statement issued by former VP Cheney after Powell died he said, "I'm deeply saddened to learn that America has lost a leader and statesman. General Powell had a remarkably distinguished career, and I was fortunate to work with him. He was a man who loved his country and served her long and well."

WASHINGTON - APRIL: (L-R) Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell in Rumsfeld's Pentagon office April 2001 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images)

The graceless Donald Trump on the other hand said, "Wonderful to see Colin Powell, who made big mistakes on Iraq and famously, so-called weapons of mass destruction, be treated in death so beautifully by the Fake News Media. Hope that happens to me someday. He was a classic RINO, if even that, always being the first to attack other Republicans. He made plenty of mistakes, but anyway, may he rest in peace!" Congresswoman Liz Cheney, the former Vice President’s daughter, called Trump’s words “pathetic garbage.”

Seven months after Powell became Secretary of State TIME Magazine ran a cover story with the headline, “Where Have You Gone Colin Powell?” The story accused him, among other things, of, “leaving shallow footprints.” It was pretty much a hose job, and Powell was pissed. The day it came out he pulled me aside to vent about the story. (I was working for Newsweek then, fortunately for me). I said, “Who cares, they ran a great photo of you on the cover, and that’s all anyone will remember.” Three days later I ran into him again, and he was wearing a big smile. “Goddammit Kennerly, you were right! Everyone told me how great that story was, they must not have even read it.” I said, “General, you have just discovered the power of photography, so you better treat me nice.” He laughed. Three days later was September 11, 2001, and that Powell story was instantly forgotten.

What’s not ancient history is Powell’s speech at the United Nations on Feb. 5, 2003. In it he tried to convince them and the rest of the world that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction as a pretext for war. It turns out they didn’t, but the war did. Powell told Barbara Walters in 2005 after he left the Bush Administration, that the speech was a “blot” on his life. He said “It will always be part of my record. It was painful. It’s painful now.”

Three years ago as I was walking into Union Station in Washington, D.C. I heard someone yell, “Hey Kennerly!” I turned around and there was General Powell standing by his car after dropping his wife Alma off. We shared a hug. That was the last time I saw him.

General Colin L. Powell. A good guy. I will miss him.

IN FLIGHT - 1996: (NO U.S. TABLOID SALES)
General Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staffs Colin Powell aboard a Blackhawk heliocopter arriving at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. 1996.

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Final farewell. General Colin Powell is carried from the Washington National Cathedral by members of his beloved U.S. Military after his funeral service, November 5, 2021