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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)

Jimmy Carter (1924-2024)

January 5, 2025 By David Hume Kennerly Leave a Comment

Former President Jimmy Carter died December 29, 2024, at 100 years old. Here are some of my recollections about him and my old boss Gerald R. Ford. Theirs was an unusual and touching relationship that didn’t start well.

I went through a presidential election from inside the bubble as the president’s chief White House photographer and President Gerald R. Ford delivered quite a ride. I watched him go from thirty-four points down after the 1976 Republican Convention to “too close to call” the day before the election. My favorite Maxwell Smart quote sums it up, “Missed it by that much . . .” Jimmy Carter ruined the journey, beat Ford in a squeaker, and became the 39^th President of the United States.

My initial glimpse of the one-term Georgia governor was at his first debate with President Ford in Philadelphia. He seemed diminutive compared to former football center Ford who was six feet tall, but in fact he was only a couple of inches shorter. Carter was wearing that famous toothy grin and I immediately disliked him, his smile, and what he was trying to do to my boss.

That famous Carter smile, 1976

President Ford and Gov. Carter after 1st debate, Philadelphia, 1976

President Ford did well in the first debate but stumbled in the second when he said, “There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe . . .” What he intended to say, should have said, was that the “spirit” of the Polish people would never be dominated by the Soviet Union. What he intended and the words he spoke might have cost him the election, it was that close of a race. To his dying day President Ford would get mad about what he felt was a misinterpretation of his statement. He knew what he meant, but everybody else didn’t. He was stubborn on that one until the end.

Competing campaign signs, Milwaukee, WI, 1976

The day after the election, November 3, 1976, President Ford called Carter from the Oval Office to concede. He was so hoarse from campaigning that he could barely talk, so he put Dick Cheney, his chief of staff, on the phone to read his concession statement. Afterwards Mrs. Ford and the family joined him. It was a sad day for all of us, particularly him.

President Ford concedes to Carter, Nov. 3, 1976

Susan Ford, First Lady Betty Ford, Steve Ford console the president, Nov. 3, 1976

President Gerald R. Ford held his first meeting after losing with President-elect Jimmy Carter on November 22, 1976. Incredibly, it was the first time Carter had been in the White House. The two sat near the fireplace in the Oval Office. I was behind the president’s desk looking for an angle when President Ford unexpectedly reached out and shook hands with Carter, saying, “I’m sorry, but I haven’t formally congratulated you on winning the election.” It was a spontaneous moment not for the public benefit, but a genuine signal of respect. My wide-angle frame of that gesture featured the desk in the foreground, covered with papers. On the other side of that historic room the man who was president shook hands with the man who would be. In my mind it metaphorically showed the vastness of the job with mere mortals in temporary custody of its vast powers.

President Ford congratulates President-elect Carter, Nov. 22, 1976

President Ford had pledged a smooth transition and it was. Chief of Staff Dick Cheney led the effort for the president, and Jack Watson for Carter. Ford’s cooperation started right after Carter was nominated at the Democratic convention. The president directed that Carter be given highly classified intelligence briefings so he would be prepared if he won the election. To show his seriousness the president had CIA Director George H.W. Bush personally brief Carter at his home in Plains, Georgia right after he was nominated.

When President elect Carter arrived at the White House for his initial visit, three weeks had elapsed since the election, but the transition was fully underway. The two discussed every element of the job, particularly what was happening with national security. The president and Carter went through binders filled with sensitive material with Cheney and Watson in the meeting.

Ford Chief of Staff Dick Cheney gives Carter the side-eye during their meeting

When their meeting ended Ford told Carter that he wanted to show him something. They went to his private hideaway right next to the oval office. President Ford made a from-the-heart offer. He said, “Jimmy, I’d like you to have this office during the transition if you want.” He told the president-elect that he would be available to him anytime. Carter seemed taken aback at the proposal. The president’s private secretary Dorothy Downton who was working in there appeared to regard Carter as if he had just landed from Mars. Like most of us, this wasn’t a visit she had been welcoming. As magnanimous as the proposition was to take over his private space the president-elect demurred. He didn’t want to muddy the waters as to who was in charge until he took over, and he spent a good deal of his time before the inauguration at home in Plains.

President Ford shows Carter his hideaway as his secretary Dorothy Downton observes the president-elect

When the two leaders walked out of their meeting to greet the press, President-elect Carter told them, “There cannot have been a better demonstration of unity and friendship and good will than there has been shown to me by President Ford since the election.”

Carter and Ford walk from Oval Office

I’m caught behind Ford and Carter (Photo by Bill-Fitzpatrick)

On January 20, 1977, the Fords greeted the Carters as they arrived at the White House for what for the most part has become a traditional rite, a pre-Inaugural coffee in the Blue Room of the Executive Mansion. It was a friendly gathering, considering the circumstances. The two leaders had a quiet and private moment, a portrait of George Washington between them. I felt the history.

President-elect Jimmy Carter and President Ford in Blue Room of White House with George Washington portrait

President Ford wanted a group photo of everyone, and assembled the Carters, Vice President and Mrs. Nelson Rockefeller, and Vice President-elect and Mrs. Walter Mondale. If you didn’t know what was happening it looked like a group of old friends, not the heads of the incoming and outgoing administrations.

The Carters, Fords, Rockefellers, and Mondales in the Blue Room

First Lady Betty Ford and the next First Lady Rosalynn Carter, Jan. 20, 1977

Then it was time for the Fords and Carters to take that short car ride together up Pennsylvania Avenue to the U.S. Capitol for the Inauguration. Six outgoing presidents chose not to attend their successor’s inaugurals. John Adams in 1801 for Thomas Jefferson’s inaugural, John Quincy Adams didn’t attend Andrew Jackson’s in 1829, Andrew Johnson disliked U.S. Grant and boycotted his 1869 ceremony, Woodrow Wilson made it to the Capitol but chose to skip Warren Harding’s formalities in 1921, Richard Nixon passed on Gerald Ford’s 1974 East Room swearing-in, and Donald Trump famously bailed out to Florida before Joe Biden was inaugurated in 2021. After all, he was still insisting quite wrongly that he won the election. Haven’t heard the word “rigged” this time around.

The Fords and Carters leave the White House for the U.S. Capitol

Carter remembered that trip to the Hill many years later as, “an uncomfortable ride.” The picture bears it out. Because there was no room for me to squeeze into the limo, I mounted a camera between Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill, and Sen. Howard Cannon of the Inaugural Arrangements Committee. I strung the shutter release cable to the front where the Secret Service agent riding shotgun agreed to take the pictures. Before the motorcade left the North Portico of the White House I asked the Speaker to scoot over to his left so he wouldn’t block the shot. He happily obliged. Afterwards the agent told me that he didn’t think the photos would be that good because, “the two of them didn’t say much.” He was wrong about the image—the picture told the story.

President Ford and President Carter during their “uncomfortable ride” to the Capitol

Although I would have preferred seeing President Ford being sworn-in, not Jimmy Carter, it still was the kind of moment that I live to document. I was witnessing what our country normally represents. A peaceful and honorable transfer of power. One where everybody pulls together. An American tradition and democratic staple of our free society, at least it was until the attempted insurrection of January 6, 2021. This time around the election was certified by Congress on January 6 without incident with Vice President Kamala Harris, the defeated presidential candidate, presiding. She said that the official electoral count, "shall be deemed a sufficient declaration" for Trump to take his oath of office on January 20. That had to hurt, but she did it with class.

As Ford watched his rival become president, Carter’s first words of his inaugural address were, “For myself and for our Nation, I want to thank my predecessor for all he has done to heal our land.” It was a fitting tribute to outgoing President Ford.

President Jimmy Carter after his swearing in as Chief Justice Warren Burger and former President Ford watch him wave to the crowd

During the transition President Carter’s press secretary Jody Powell was asked who was going to be Carter’s chief White House photographer. “Nobody,” he said, “we don’t want another David Kennerly in the White House.’

When I heard that I laughed. For one thing there’s no way I would have stayed and of course wasn’t asked, but it did reflect my rather high profile as Ford’s photog, a fact that President Ford found amusing and non-threatening.

Carter also railed against a Nixon-style “imperial presidency,” so I suppose having his own photog in his mind was part of that. He did, however, keep my photo staff, but didn’t appoint a chief or give them much access. His historical visual legacy reflects that, and not in a good way.

President Carter and his press secretary Jody Powell

A few months after Carter took office I was given an assignment from Time Magazine to photograph Vice President Mondale at work. When I showed up at the White House it was my first time back since leaving. It was a bizarre experience for me. Everything looked the same except that all the offices were occupied by strangers. Mondale sensed that and said, “It must be tough coming back here after all you went through here.” I was touched that he had noticed and teared up for a second. It was indeed difficult. Those memories never go away.

President Carter and Vice President Carter in the president’s private office

Two of Jimmy Carter’s presidential high points were the Panama Canal Treaty and brokering a deal between Egypt and Israel at Camp David that ended up being formalized by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin in the East Room of the White House. I was there to document the historic event. The Camp David Accords are working to this day and have resulted in an enduring peace between the two countries despite major turmoil in the area.

Carter, Sadat, and Begin in the East Room of the White House after agreeing to the Camp David Accords

Carter won the 1980 Democratic Presidential nomination despite an insurgent bid by Sen. Ten Kennedy. I was at the convention in New York when Kennedy appeared with Carter, but it didn’t appear to be a warm and fuzzy meeting. It did, however, make a good pictue!

President Carter and rival Sen. Ted Kennedy at Democratic Convention

After Ronald Reagan defeated Carter in a landslide in the 1980 election, President Carter also made that uncomfortable ride with President-elect Reagan on January 20,1981. The Carter people approved me putting a camera in the car, and once again my Secret Service agent friend pulled the trigger! Carter looked like Ford did during his unhappy journey to the ceremony where he would very publicly lose his job.

President Carter and President-elect Ford drive to the Capitol for Reagan’s Inauguration

Outside the U.S. Capitol I made a photo of the newly minted President Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan with Carter and Mondale behind then on the Inaugural platform on the West Front of the Capitol. It was the first time it was held in that location and every inauguration since has been staged there.

President and Mrs. Reagan, Carter and Mondale, Chief Justice Warren Burger, and Sen. Mark Hatfield at the inauguration

At that very moment in Iran a crisis that marred Carter’s presidency was coming to an end. Fifty-two U.S. Embassy personnel who had been taken hostage 444 days earlier in Tehran were released minutes after Reagan was sworn in as president. The timing was Iran’s final slap in the face to Carter who had worked tirelessly to get the hostages back home. He was happy that they finally were let go.

Recently freed Americans held hostage by Iran during Carter’s Administration aboard buses on Pennsylvania Ave., Jan. 27, 1981

President Carter and former President Ford formed a genuine friendship after Ford left office. It was an association that lasted until his death in 2006. They attended each other’s library openings and even showed up for a historic moment at the Reagan Library dedication in 1991 when five presidents stood together for the first time.

Five presidents at Reagan Library dedication, (L-R) President Bush, former Presidents Reagan, Carter, Ford and Nixon, Nov. 4, 1991

Two weeks before Barack Obama was sworn in President George W. Bush invited his former president dad, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter over to the White House to have lunch with President-elect Obama. Carter as always stood apart from the others, I never knew if it was an intentional act, but it wasn’t out of character.

Five Presidents in the Oval Office (L-R) Former President Bush, President-elect Obama, President Bush, former Presidents Clinton and Carter, Jan 7, 2009

Jimmy Carter lived life his way. Cue Frank Sinatra singing “My Way!”

Front page of Los Angeles Times with my portrait of Jimmy Carter taken in 2011 at the Carter Library in Atlanta

Photographs by David Hume Kennerly/Center for Creative Photography/University of Arizona

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September 8, 2014 By David Hume Kennerly Leave a Comment

1974, September 8 – The Oval Office – The White House – Washington, DC – Gerald R. Ford – signing Nixon Pardon – President Gerald R. Ford signs the Nixon Pardon

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September 8, 2014 By David Hume Kennerly Leave a Comment

WASHINGTON– SEPT 8:President Ford in Bill Timmon’s office at the White House moments after pardoning Richard Nixon, Sept. 8, 1974 (David Hume Kennerly)

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September 8, 2014 By David Hume Kennerly Leave a Comment

WASHINTON — SEPT 8: President Ford in his private office at the White House moments before signing the pardon of Richard Nixon Sept 8, 1974. Counsellor Robert Hartmann is with him. (David Hume Kennerly)

David Hume Kennerly named University of Arizona’s First Presidential Scholar

October 4, 2018 By Rebecca Kennerly

Prolific political photographer David Hume Kennerly has been appointed as the first University of Arizona presidential scholar by President Robert Robbins, the school announced Tuesday.

Kennerly won the Pulitzer Prize at 25 for his documentation of the Vietnam War and served as chief White House photographer for President Gerald Ford, among many other titles.

The unpaid, honorary appointment highlights the university’s drive to support the arts, humanities and social sciences, which are critical to success in the global economy, according to university officials.

Kennerly will work with the UA’s Center for Creative Photography, located on campus at 1030 N. Olive Road, to develop a series of lectures and events for students and the community that draw on his 60 years of experience.

David Hume Kennerly has photographed every president since Richard Nixon. Here are George H.W. Bush, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.

“How wonderful for students to hear a lecture where David (Kennerly) is the one actually talking about the contextual history of his photographs,” said Anne Breckenridge Barrett, the center’s director.

His résumé includes capturing images from 12 presidential campaigns, every president since Richard Nixon, several wars and many other significant moments in history. He was close friends with world-renowned photographer Ansel Adams, who co-founded the UA center.

With this appointment, Robbins “is recognizing visual history as a key element in teaching where we’ve been as a country and society, where we are today and where we are heading,” Kennerly said in a statement prepared by the UA. “Pairing the Center for Creative Photography with the university’s courses in arts, social sciences and humanities will produce informative, entertaining and unique programming and lectures.”

President Gerald Ford prepares to take a picture of David Hume Kennerly, 27, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer in the White House Oval Office in Washington, Aug. 11, 1974. Ford named Kennerly as official White House photographer. Kennerly left his assignment with Time Magazine to replace Ollie Atkins in the post. (AP Photo/Charles Harrity)

“We’re thrilled at the center to have his partnership and contribution,” Barrett said.

“It’s a very good indicator of the university’s belief in the center and ability of visuals to connect us all.”

View Kennerly’s portfolio at kennerly.com

The original article written and released by Mikayla Mace of the Arizona Daily Star can be viewed here!

DAVID HUME KENNERLY ARCHIVE PROJECT – Why Now?

July 29, 2016 By David Hume Kennerly

Every so often, I wake up in the middle of the night from a recurring nightmare. In it, I am watching the final scene of Citizen Kane. The camera slowly glides over hundreds of boxes and crates in a giant dark warehouse, a room that stretched to infinity. Then, the lens settles on a box marked, “Kennerly photos.” I realized that this warehouse contains my life’s work and I watch helplessly as workmen lift boxes filled with images and historic records and pitch them into a roaring fire. My pictures are Rosebud.

Throughout my fifty-year career, I have pursued a relentless mission to document history in the making. With a combination of hard work, research, and a little intuition I have been able to, on numerous occasions, get myself into the room where history is being made. Often, I am the only person there other than the history makers themselves. My photographs have documented the fields of fire during the Vietnam War and the President of the United States as he ended that bitter conflict. I was ringside when Frazier dealt Mohammed Ali his first knock-out at Madison Square Garden and stepped around hundreds of dead bodies in Jonestown. I documented Reagan and Gorbachev during their historic Fireside Summit and, on election night 2000, I was with Bush and Cheney as they realized their presidential contest had ended in a tie.

MONTANA - 1982: (NO U.S. TABLOID SALES NO SALES UNTIL JULY 1, 2003) President Ronald Reagan bids farewell after campaigning for a congressman 1982 Billings, M.T. (Photo by David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images)

As a young shooter, barely out of high school, I wanted people to see my pictures; not because they were cool – well, not only because they were cool – but because they revealed moments of history that otherwise would have gone unseen. I am just as driven now to document history with my camera – to peer inside closed doors, to reveal an individual’s character through a portrait or a slice of our country that might be fading away. And I am just as determined to make sure that those images realize their mission of revealing that history to future generations.

In this digital era, images have the potential to provide visceral, visual primary source historic information. They provide dynamic new ways to teach history to future generations in any region around the globe. However, photography collections are expensive and cumbersome to manage. Too often, I have seen collections destroyed, lost, or stored away in a basement or conventional analog archive never to be seen again – their historic content and educational potential lost forever.

LOS ANGELES -- 1968: UPI Photographer David Hume Kennerly and Governor Ronald Reagan, Los Angeles, 1968, (courtesy of David Hume Kennerly)

Gov. George W. Bush of Texas, signs the head of Newsweek photographer David Hume Kennerly during the flight to launch his presidential campaign in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

WASHINGTON -- 2008: Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and David Hume Kennerly at the U.S. Capitol, 2008 (Courtesy dhk)

2016 marks the 50th anniversary of my career as a professional photographer. To celebrate that extraordinary milestone, I am launching the David Hume Kennerly Archive Creation Project with the objective of transforming my half-century of visual history into a cutting-edge digital educational tool that is fully searchable and available to the public for research and artistic appreciation.

Seeing this collection available to the public would be the realization of my lifelong dream for the possibilities for my collection. It is the flipside of that dark nightmare that haunts me about the many threats to these fragile historic objects. However, I know too well how real my nightmare could be and that making this dream a reality will take an all-out effort and a race against time.

Portions of my work are already housed in wonderful institutions, including the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History and my White House photos at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum & Library. And for more than a decade my wife, Rebecca Soladay Kennerly, and I have worked to make this good dream come true, investing every dollar we could to protect, organize and process my photographs and related materials. A year ago, we hired Randa Cardwell, an extraordinary curator who had recently graduated from UCLA with a Masters Degree in Library and Information Sciences to help with this project. And my collection, spanning a half-decade and containing more than a million items, the size of a small presidential library, is a real monster – impossible to tame by us alone. Our small team is now ready to take the next big steps in helping the Kennerly Collection fulfill its potential as an historic educational resource.

Check out our work in detail at the Archive Page on Kennerly.com.

And please, SIGN UP at the bottom of the Archive Page now to follow our progress in this ambitious project. By signing up you will receive –
• project updates
• archive stories
• ways to help
• appearance dates
• exhibition information
• print sales opportunities
• early sneak peeks at photos we unearth along the way – such as this unpublished collection of images I made of a young lawyer who I first photographed at an impeachment hearing of President Richard Nixon in the House Judiciary Committee in 1974.

It’s going to be quite a journey. Would love to have you along for the ride.

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October 7, 2013 By David Hume Kennerly Leave a Comment

SIMI VALLEY – – NOV 4: Five Presidents at the Reagan Library opening.
(L-R) President George H. W. Bush, former presidents Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, and Richard Nixon, Simi Valley, California, November 4, 1991. by David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images

Archive Deck 9

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar • King Abdullah II of Jordan • Ansel Adams • Eddie Adams • Spiro Agnew • Hafez Al-Assad • Madeline Albright • Jason Alexander • Muhammad Ali • Samuel Alito • Richard Allen • John Anderson • Jennifer Aniston • Yasser Arafat • Neil Armstrong • John Ashcroftl • Les Aspin • Fred Astaire • Tariq Aziz • Joan Baez • Pearl Bailey • Howard Baker • James Baker III • Menachem Begin • Candice Bergen • Sandy Berger, NSC Director • Joseph Bernardin • Yogi Berra • Ali Bhutto • Joe Biden • Tony Blair • Joshua Bolten • Frank Borman • Erskine Bowles • Bill Bradley • James Brady • Tom Brady • John Brennan • William J. Brennan • Stephen Breyer • Leonid Brezhnev • Eli Broad • Jim Brown • Pat Buchanan • Warren Burger • Arthur Burns • George Burns • Richard Burton • Barbara Bush • George H.W. Bush • George W. Bush • Jeb Bush • Laura Bush • Earl Butz • Robert Byrd • Jane Byrne • Joseph Califano • James Callaghan • John Cappelletti • Andy Card • King Juan Carlos of Spain • Stokely Carmichael • Jose Carrares • Ben Carson • Jimmy Carter • William Casey • Fidel Castro • Nicolae Ceausescu • Suzy Chafee • Charles, Prince of Wales • Eddie Cheever • Dick Cheney • Lynne Cheney • Konstantin Chernenko • Jacques Chirac • Chris Christie • Warren Christopher • William Clark • Wesley Clark • Bill Clinton • Bill Cohen • William Colby • William Coleman • Charles Colson • John Connally • King Constantine II of Greece • Bill Cosby • Archibald Cox • Courtney Cox • Walter Cronkite • Ted Cruz • Jamie Lee Curtis • Robert Cushman • Bill Daley • Tom Daschle • Larry David • Miles Davis • Moshe Dayan • Michael Deaver • Miguel del la Madrid • Ron Dellums • Suleyman Demirel • George Deukmejian • John Deutch • John Doar • Anatoly Dobrynin • Bob Dole • Elizabeth Dole • Placido Domingo • Pham Van Dong • William O. Douglas • Julia Louis Dreyfus • Kenneth Duberstein • Lawrence Eagleburger • Clint Eastwood • John Edwards • Julie Eisenhower • Michael Eisner • Rahm Emanuel • Zhou Enlai • Sam Ervin • Ismail Fahmey • Mia Farrow • Martin Feldstein • Carly Fiorina • Leonard Firestone • Mary Fisher • Emerson Fittipaldi • Steve Forbes • Betty Ford • Gerald R. Ford • Abe Fortas • Vicente Fox • Francisco Franco • Tommy Franks • Malcolm Fraser • Joe Frazier • Dr. Bill Frist • Robert Gates • Richard Gebhard • Amin Gemayel • Hans-Dietrich Genscher • Ron Gettelfinger • Edmund Giambastiani • Edward Gierek • Newt Gingrich • Ruth BaderGinsburg • Valery Giscard d’Estaing • John Glenn • Arthur Goldberg • Barry Goldwater • Mikhail Gorbachev • Raisa Gorbachev • Al Gore • R.C. Gorman • Porter Goss • Billy Graham • Alan Greenspan • Andrei Gromyko • King Carl Gustav XVI of Sweden • Phillip Habib • Chuck Hagel • Alexander Haig • H.R. Bob Haldeman • Armand Hammer • Tonya Harding • Bryce Harlow • Mel Harris • George Harrison • Arthur Hartman • King Hassan II of Morocco • Orrin Hatch • Dennis Hatert • Mark Hatfield • Pavel Havel • Michael Hayden • Tom Hayden • Wayne Hays • Christie Hefner • Jesse Helms • Richard Helms • Margaux Hemingway • Emperor Hirohito of Japan • Gil Hodges • Dustin Hoffman • Bob Hope • Huell Howser • Mike Huckabee • E. Howard Hunt • Jon Huntsman • King Hussein of Jordan • Lee Iacocca • Julio Iglesias • Jesse Jackson • Kate Jackson • Michael Jackson • Mick Jagger • Leon Jaworski • Michel Jobert • Pope John Paul II • James Earl Jones • Quincy Jones • Hamilton Jordan • Michael Jordan • John Kasich • Ken Kaunda • Gene Kelly • Grace Kelly • Jack Kemp • Anthony Kennedy • Caroline Kennedy • Ethel Kennedy • John Kennedy, Jr. • Robert F. Kennedy • Ted Kennedy • Nancy Kerrigan • John Kerry • King Khalid of Saudi Arabia • Young-sam Kim • Henry Kissinger • Wayne Knight • Helmut Kohl • Ted Koppel • Tom Korologos • Lisa Kudrow • Nguyen Cao Ky • Mel Laird • Rod Laver • Patrick Leahy • Matt LeBlanc • Jack Lemmon • Jacob Lew • Carl Lewis • Joe Lewis • Patrick Lichfield • Joe Lieberman • John V. Lindsay • Joe Lockhart • Trent Lott • Jeff MacNelly • Norman Mailer • John Major • Makarios III • Fred Malek • David Mamet • Marcel Marceau • Ferdinand Marcos • Imelda Marcos • Thurgood Marshall • Steve Martin • John McCain • Gene McCarthy • Matthew McConaughey • Mike McCurry • Denis McDonough • Denny McLain • Mack McLarty • Edwin Meese • Zubin Mehta • Golda Meir • Nicholas Meyer • John Mitchell • Francois Mitterand • Walter Mondale • Thomas Moorer • Aldo Moro • Hosni Mubarak • Edmund Muskie • Carl Mydans • Richard Myers • Jim Nabors • Bob Nardelli • Gaafar Nimeiry • Paul Nitze • Richard Nixon • Lon Nol • Hideo Nomo • Sandra Day O’Conner • Paul O’Neill • Tip O’Neill • Ed O’Neill • Michelle Obama • Barack Obama • Aristotle Onassis • Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis • Antonio Ordonez • Daniel Ortega • Mohammad Reza Pahlavi • Ian Paisley • Leon Panetta • Chung-hee Park • Rand Paul • Ron Paul • Luciano Pavarotti • Charles Percy • Shimon Peres • H. Ross Perot • Matthew Perry • Rick Perry • David Petraeus • Michelle Pfeiffer • Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh • Kim Phuc • Lou Piniella • John Podesta • Pope Paul IV • Adam Clayton Powell • Colin Powell • Jody Powell • Lewis Powell • Billy Preston • Richard Pryor • Qaboos bin Said al Said • Dan Quayle • Queen Elizabeth II • Queen Noor of Jordan • Yitzak Rabin • Prince Rainier III of Monaco • Charles Rangel • Dixie Lee Ray • Ronald Reagan • Nancy Reagan • Don Regan • William Rehnquist • Mary Lou Retton • Condoleeza Rice • Michael Richarda • Tom Ridge • Richard Riordan • Elliot Rirchardson • John Roberts • Brooks Robinson • Nelson Rockefeller • David Rockerfeller • Hillary Rodham Clinton • Ginger Rogers • George Romney • Mitt Romney • Linda Ronstadt • Alice Roosevelt • Joe Rosenthal • Diana Ross • Karl Rove • Marco Rubio • Donald Rumsfeld • Meg Ryan • Nolan RyanPaul Ryan • Anwar Sadat • Khieu Samphan • Bernie Sanders • Susan Sarandon • Paul Sarbanes • Ekias Sarkis • Diane Sawyer • Antonin Scalia • James Schlesinger • Helmut Schmidt • Arnold Schwarzenegger • David Schwimmer • Brent Scowcroft • Tom Seaver • Jerry Seinfeld • Ravi Shankar • Ariel Sharon • Al Sharpton • Cybill Shepherd • Eduard Shevardnadze • Eunice Shriver • Maria Shriver • Julius Shulman • George ShultzNeil Simon • William Simon • O.J. Simpson • Frank Sinatra • John Sirica • Jean Kennedy Smith • Tom & Dick Smothers • David Souter • Giovanni Spadolini • Steven Spielberg • Kenneth Starr • James Stavridis • John Paul Stevens • Potter Stewart • Igor Stravinsky • Suharto • John Sununu • Kakuei Tanaka • Elizabeth Taylor • George Tenet • Margaret Thatcher • The Rolling Stones • The Supremes • Nguyen Van Thieu • Clarence Thomas • Fred Thompson • Strom Thurmond • Josip Broz Tito • Jeffrey Toobin • John Tower • Pierre Elliott Trudeau • Donald Trump • Stansfield Turner • Johnny Unitas • Cyrus Vance • Ben Vereen • John Vessey • Antonio Villaraigosa • Paul Volcker • Kurt Waldheim • Vernon Walters • James Webb • William Webster • Casper Weinberger • William Weld • Paul Wellstone • William Westmoreland • Byron White • Christine Todd Whitman • Ron Widen • Gahan Wilson • Harold Wilson • Natalie Wood • James Woolsey • Herman Wouk • Deng Xiaoping • Lee Kwan Yew • Jiang Zemin • Jiang Zimen • Zhou Ziyang

Archive Deck 5

THE OTHER PERSON IN THE ROOM

Kennerly’s deep understanding of the forces shaping our world drove him to seek out opportunities to document history that others missed. Often he was the only person in the room other than participants themselves. His lists of exclusive situations or images include the end of the Vietnam War, Jonestown, Reagan and Gorbachev’s Fireside Summit, in the Pentagon’s secret video conferencing room with the Secretary of Defense during the Iraq war, with McCain the night he won the New Hampshire primary, election night 2000 with Bush and Cheney, the aftermath of 9/11 at the Pentagon, Donald Rumsfeld’s visit to Abu Ghraib, the final episode of the television show Seinfeld and more. Kennerly’s collection includes portraits and behind-the-scenes documentation of hundreds of notable world figures, including every president since Richard Nixon, dozens of elections, congressional crises, wars, and a host of major national and international events. It also contains a vast but little-known collection of images chronicling American life, landscape and nature.

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HISTORICAL FIGURES PHOTOGRAPHED

THE OTHER PERSON IN THE ROOM