David Hume Kennerly Blog
Four Days of The Mayaguez
After word of the ship’s capture reached the president the administration tried to secure the release of the crew through diplomatic channels. They sent messages through the Chinese who were allies of the Khmer Rouge. There was no reply, however, and some doubt that anyone, including the Chinese, really knew who was running the show […] Read More
50th Anniversary of the “Fight of the Century”
In late 1970 I hounded the bosses at United Press International (UPI) to send me to Vietnam to cover the fighting. The opportunity was slipping away as the U.S. withdrew its troops and transferred the responsibility of conducting the war to the government of South Vietnam. As a young news photographer this was the biggest […] Read More
How To Transition
President Gerald R. Ford held his first meeting with President-elect Jimmy Carter on November 22, 1976, thirteen years to the day after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. It was the first time Carter had been in the White House. The two sat in the Oval Office under the portrait of George Washington that hangs […] Read More
How to Concede
I’m missing President Gerald R. Ford more than ever. His graceful and dignified concession of the 1976 election to Jimmy Carter was an exemplar of how to deal with this overwhelmingly painful moment. Gerald R. Ford was not the first or last president to suffer this fate, and he wasn’t alone in doing it right. […] Read More
My Thirteen Presidential Elections
This 2020 presidential election campaign is my thirteenth. I’ve covered them all since 1968, except for 1972 when I was in Vietnam photographing the war. (I have the best excuses.) Due to Covid-19, this year I only caught the early action in February, during the New Hampshire Primary. Thankfully it produced some telling images. Campaigning […] Read More
The Day Hillary Clinton Lost the Election
I’d been covering the 2016 presidential campaign for CNN since the year before, but when I showed up to photograph an appearance by Hillary Clinton at St. Anselm College in New Hampshire, I hadn’t seen her in a couple of months. The first time I photographed her was when she was a young lawyer working […] Read More
John McCain (1936-2018): A Remembrance
A Remembrance Two years ago today, September 2, 2018, Senator John McCain was buried on the grounds of his beloved U.S. Naval Academy. John’s family asked me to document his last journey from Arizona, to Washington, D.C., and to his final resting place in Annapolis. It was an honor for me to do so. There […] Read More
Uncropped: The Story Behind “The Hug” Photo
This is the first time I’ve unveiled my uncropped “The Hug” photo from the dedication of the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) in 2016. This version honors the late Rep. John Lewis who died July 17th. Along with First Lady Michelle Obama and former President George W. Bush, former First Lady […] Read More