 Good evening. I'll mark up to Grove the director of the LBJ presidential library and on behalf of Dr. Don Carlton The executive director of the briscoe Center for American history. I want to welcome you here tonight as we celebrate our first Temporary exhibit in our brand new temporary exhibit space from news to history which will feature Diana Walker and And was to feature David Hume Kennerley, but David unfortunately couldn't be with us So we've replaced one people a surprise winning photographer with another Lucian Perkins and I'm gonna bring Don out in just a moment who will introduce Diana and Lucian as well as our moderator Neil spells. I want to Mention that the news to history exhibit if you haven't seen it will be open After our program tonight as will the store at the LBJ library, so As you and they're both on the third floor so you can visit one and then visit the other I want to thank all of our friends of the LBJ Library not only for attending to not tonight But for all the support that you've given our institution And I want to invite those who aren't friends of the LBJ library to become our friends This is an incredible program and there's information outside of the auditorium about all that we have to offer but just to give you a sense of What our upcoming speaker roster looks like we will have Condoleezza Rice here later this month their former secretary of state We'll have the rising stars of the Democratic Party from our state of Texas Joaquin Castro Representative and his twin brother mayor Julian Castro mayor of San Antonio. They'll be with us in early April and then we'll hit they'll be followed by Director and best-selling author Sebastian Younger. So please look into joining us. It's an incredible value It's my pleasure to introduce my good friend Don Carlton when we were thinking about The first temporary exhibit in our temporary exhibit space It didn't take us long to figure out that the logical partner for the exhibit would be the Briscoe Center for American History That is an incredible institution And it is wholly complementary to what we do here at the LBJ library and Don and his staff have amassed a remarkable collection that includes six million photographs As well as the largest collection of presidential Photography outside of Washington DC much of which you'll see in the exhibit and news to history Don has published and lectured extensively on the fields of historical research methods and sources the history of broadcast journalism and 20th century Texas and US political history I will tell you that whenever I have a question Regarding our great state of Texas. I go to Don Carlton He's also the executive producer of the award-winning historical documentary when I rise Which premiered at the south by southwest film festival back in 2010 And aired on pbs later the same year with a series called independent lens He's also the co-author of 10 books Including 2010's conversations with Cronkite about his good friend Walter Cronkite Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming my friend Don Carlton Thanks mark for that very overly generous introduction, this is It's always great fun to do things here Mark before I get started. I really want to recognize take this opportunity to recognize Janie briscoe marmian Whose father governor doff brisco was the patron saint of our center. Janie. I know you're out here somewhere Did you make it through the traffic? Thank you, Janie As mark said We're here tonight to celebrate the briscoe center's exhibit news to history photojournalism and the presidency And that was really made possible by my good friend mark up to grove who invited the briscoe center To present the inaugural exhibit in this building in the new Temporary gallery that that you've created there, which is such a beautiful space. So thanks again mark for that uh As we thought about which of our special collections we would highlight in this new exhibit space We realized that really one of the best candidates would be the briscoe center's extensive photojournalism collection Given that the setting for the exhibit is here in the lbj library It really only made sense to use the presidency as a way to organize this exhibit More than 20 years ago the briscoe center initiated an ambitious program to collect and preserve The historically valuable archives of important american photojournalists Our efforts were somewhat revolutionary at the time While art photography had been actively collected by any number of institutions There really wasn't that much being done to collect the entire work of individual news photographers or photojournalists I had long taught in my history research seminars the importance of photographs as historical evidence Which by the way is obviously the reason That our exhibit is titled news to history because when photojournalists are documenting the news They are also documenting history So I saw that there was an important opportunity for the briscoe center to take the lead in preserving these historically Valuable images and making them available for research and teaching Now the founding collection for our photojournalism archive was that of david hume kennerly's The Pulitzer prize-winning farmer white house photographer for president gerald ford That donation was soon followed by donations from dirk haustead walley magnum me and more than 30 Other nationally recognized photographers including two other Pulitzer prize winners eddie adams and luchin perkins And i'm pleased that our most recent donation to the collection is the personal archive of david valdez who was president uh, george herbert walker bush's photographer Now dirk haustead and david valdez are with us tonight. I wish they would stand and be recognized david and dirt There's david. Where's dirt did dirt show up? Okay Um, I also want to thank uh farmer texas lieutenant governor bill hobby Whose financial support uh made our exhibit possible I'd also like to acknowledge the gifted briscoe center curatorial team that helped put news to history together And that's allison beck amy bowman Lynn bell and erin purdy And i also want to recognize austin art services for their remarkable work with the exhibits design We're deeply grateful to the photographers who've entrusted their collections to us So please visit the exhibit and see see their wonderful work now about our special guests tonight i'm very proud to say That luchin perkins is a graduate of the university of texas at austin After his graduation luchin worked as a staff photographer for the washington post for 27 years Where he won two Pulitzer prizes He has covered many major events including the wars in the former yugoslavia The first gulf war and the wars in afghanistan and iraq Luchin's work has been reproduced in newspapers magazines and websites throughout the world And it's been featured in a number of solo and group exhibitions. He has books that include Russia chronicles of change and runway madness Luchin donated his archive to the briscoe center in the year 2008 And i'm very proud to say that his uh, his mother lives in basker of texas and she's here with us tonight as well Cateen perkins. Where are you? Cateen perkins, please stand there you are. Yeah Thank you Thank you As time magazines white house photographer for 20 years diana walker covered presidents ronald ragan George herbert walker bush and bill clinton diana obtained white house credentials in 1975 while freelancing for the washington monthly in 1979 she became a contract photographer for time magazine diana's books include public and private 20 years photographing the presidency and the bigger picture 30 years of portraits In 2012 time incorporated honored diana walker with the prestigious harry loose lifetime achievement award And she also has won numerous awards from the world press photo the white house news photographers association and the national press photographers association diana donated her archive to the briscoe center in 1997 And i should also add that diana is a featured speaker at this year's Interactive program at south by southwest which begins this coming week As a result of an amazing photograph that she took of hillary clinton as secretary of state that went absolutely viral on the internet Our moderator tonight is nil is nil spells Who is a very well known media figure in in this area of the world? He's an accomplished broadcast journalist who earned three communications degrees from ut austin So he's a long horn three times over After graduation nil embarked on a career that earned him some of the nation's highest broadcast journalism awards And let me tell you something he definitely knows something about photojournalism in the presidency Because along the way nil has either interviewed photographed or associated with nine presidents of the united states From harry truman to george w bush nil has been more than just a friend of the briscoe center and the lbj library For the briscoe center. He donated more than 390 second tv vignettes About america under the titles of an american moment with charles corralt And then after corralt's early death He produced an american moment with james earl jones and nil contributed those donated those tapes to us President mrs. Johnson Personally selected nil spells to chair the opening of this library here that we're in today To this day nil has remained closely involved with the johnson family and the library Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming nil spells dyna walker and lucian perkins Don thank you very much And mark thank you for the use of your hall this evening Would like to tell you You people are in for a treat this evening and this is something that i think you're going to enjoy probably more than Any lecturer standing up and talking to you because you're going to see history here As captured through the lenses of these two people Plus the best photojournalists this nation has ever produced and we're going to go through and talk about them photojournalism You know this this is coming from a broadcast guy basically Television can capture something as it happens A photojournalist is even better Because they get a freeze frame an instant and a capture news as it occurs And it's in your memory and in your brain forever the great photojournalism Of our time is here in this hall and in the briscoe center and the rest of the collections So what you're going to see now is these two photojournalists are going to go through they have picked photographs from the exhibit from other photographers What captured their eye what did they like about what the others did? And we're going to talk about them go back and forth with them And then as we go through those photographs and discuss each one of them I selected about four pictures that They took to each and we're going to talk about some of their work In that vein and as we go through the program I think you'll see unfolding before your eyes an amazing array Of what this country has been all about through the eyes of very special Reporters who call themselves photojournalists Let's take a look now at the first photograph and Diana this is your photograph And Would you explain what's happening here? I didn't take it No, no, no, this is your photograph to talk about. Yes. Yes, exactly Yeah, but you weren't even born then Yes, I was But how could you resist that picture? I mean there Franklin Roosevelt is Driving around in at Hyde Park With his dog Fala in the front seat. It is to me it absolutely exudes charm and Tells me something about the president It also tells me something about the wonderful photographer George Tames who took that picture and he continued to take Award-winning photographs for his entire career. He had a great touch. He was a photographer with the New York Times He looks as though he's the only photographer there at this moment, but probably there were 10 other photographers But George nailed the picture. He did he nailed that Lucian how about talking about this one now this one It's an interesting photojournalist here that took this and I wonder did you know him? I did not Russell Lee though Todd. He was the first I believe photographer Photography professor that taught at University of Texas at Austin But more importantly he I shouldn't say more importantly, but he was also one of the photographers for the farm security administration the fsa which in the 1930s documented America During the depression during the depression and and most of the photographs that I think we all recognize is from this period and he He has an amazing set of photographs. I selected this one because as a photographer In washington for 27 years we covered a lot of protests And we would always see signs and a lot of times you became oblivious to signs because you saw you saw these slogans so many times But what I started to realize is that maybe those photographs aren't that important today, but historically they will be because 20 30 years later people Won't necessarily recognize those slogans as well as we did and and and I thought about that when I saw this photograph because When this was taken, which was I think it was in 1940s in the 40s. Okay Jobs for all unemployed. I mean all unemployed workers All these signs are things we still see today and and that was that that really struck me That the issues and and the slogans Are still very relevant today, but it also is a reminder For all the photographers out there that when we go and Photograph these protests and we get bored photograph the signs as don Carlton said history history in this sense This next photograph both of you selected this one Now now tell me why dine. What was your reason for picking this one and who shot it? I thought it was absolutely irresistible Eddie Adams took this picture. He was with the ap at the time And I love it because I think he Came upon her or she came upon him It does not look as though she was prepared to be photographed And she just sort of stops and turns it on and I love the mp walking by kind of thinking what is this? Don't you think it's charming? Well, it's not only that but it's funny We've all seen so many photographs of Marilyn Monroe sure that it's it's you don't respond anymore And as we walk through the exhibit we all just kind of looked at this like If there was something about it this equality and I think because Of the reaction of the mp and the the ambiance It's different than any other photograph. I've ever seen them. I don't know it's so new And the other thing is and I'll just for those that don't know Eddie Adams who and I think he was actually A photographer for the marines at this point. It's 1953 But he went on 14 years later to take the photograph in vietnam of the South vietnamese general executing the vietcong suspect That became probably one of the iconic images of the vietnam war And may have been one of the photographs that that helped change the attitude And and public and that photograph is part of the exhibit here And is that you'll be able to see after this program and walk through the exhibit and catch it It's many many iconic news pictures that the briscoe center has collected That changed our thinking about all kinds of events in the united states over the last 50 years 75 years that's an important observation and you'll see that as you walk through the exhibit this next one illusion is one that That you took Uh, you picked that jimmy dodd took And what was it about this photograph that grabbed your attention? Well it it um As I was discussing with somebody earlier it it's kind of the anti anti norman rockwell Painting in a way when you look at it But it's very walk to me rockwell-ish in in the sense that this is This isn't a man. This is from the korean war and the other reason I selected it was that As a photographer for the post i've covered funerals for iraqi veterans afghan veterans It the it just goes down the list and when I saw korea I had said to myself How many wars have we been going through you forget and the the war in korea Had three I think that the captain said 300 000 texans served in korea But I think also this historically is very important because in this photograph You see the family you see the house Um, it's it's an image. I think that May not have been interesting as interesting back when it was taken As I think it is today for a lot of historians who have a Opportunity to to see the family that the way people lived in the 50s and And the thought of this casket being inside this small house. I mean it's it's a very very compelling for a lot of reasons Again this photograph both of you selected this flip schulke and it's a Desegregation Demonstration these people were demonstrating Against desegregation well as I understand if I remember correctly. I think Some african-american black students were walking to going going to school and these were were people yelling at them the Kennedy had sent an order to desegregate and To me the reason I chose it and On my list of wonderful pictures Is that you really you really feel the hate? You understand it. You don't understand it, but you can comprehend it You can take it in and it's all over that picture It is and it gives you some idea of this terrible struggle That was going on in the south And this obviously I thought the same thing because I felt like The students walking through this gauntlet You could just understand the fear that they would have and and you know, I should really point out too that uh flip schulke who took this photograph of spent Most of his time photographing in the south And under very sort of wartime conditions he he I met him once and he described how They were followed by pickup trucks with guys and guns and that they would have to change their license plates Change cars They would have to sleep in black neighborhoods because they were they were afraid that they would get lynched. It was a very very uh Another quick story is that he photographed for epony magazine a black magazine and he said that They sent a black photographer and the photographers it was immediately arrested because they They saw him with cameras and they figured he sold them So it was a very difficult time and What he covered during this period is probably as bad as any war zone that I've been to That's an interesting comparison A war zone comparison Before we talk about this picture Diana you selected this Uh George tames was a photographer And it's titled the loneliest job Tell me what moved you About this photograph My reaction to this photograph. I think is probably different From the next persons because I've done Quite a lot of behind the scenes photography in the oval office with the president And you don't ask the president go do something The president is there and you will photograph whatever you see him doing And I can imagine george in this picture He was apparently sitting in the oval office quietly in a corner Watching kennedy watching what he was doing that day And kennedy got up out of his seat and he went to the table behind his chair And to me this picture is Almost perfect. I can see george quietly getting up as quiet as he possibly could be Not to disturb the president because the president is not aware that george is in the room You don't have the the feeling that was george the white house photographer at the time No, he was with the new york times For his whole career and he asked to be behind the scenes this particular day And the president is reading the newspaper and the president shared with george later that He was reading a column by arthur croc Which was critical of the president and he was and so he was very critical of mr croc, but it was To me the picture is perfect because you can make it emblematic Of it being the loneliest job in the world and its back lit Three windows, I mean it happened right in front of him and it's a beautiful picture It says a lot just in that one's photograph lucian Speaking of john f kennedy You selected this picture Taken in san antonio The day before the assassination Uh, I I selected that because when I went through the exhibition last week I was with frank johnston who was a photographer with the washington post and who took this photo And I looked at it that and go wow, that's a great photo frank. I said i've never seen it before And he goes well, it was never published And uh, and so one of the reasons I picked it is because there are so many great images that never were published and this this is To me it's it's a it's just a lovely moment and But it was one that at the time Was not published, but it's in this except it got lost in all the coverage of the assassination. I assume right after that Yeah, absolutely. Yeah you know Let's talk about that a minute Lucian you selected this one Robert jackson took this photograph and I think every texan has this one just ingrained it like people all over the country Uh describe this picture Besides its news value. What do you find compelling about it? Well? I selected this again because frank johnston and I were discussing it and he was actually They're taking photographs as well But frank was uh bob jackson took this photograph frank was right next to next to him and Jack ruby stepped in between them and blocked frank's position From taking the photograph. There was actually three photographers there And so one of the reasons I I selected this and I think dianna can attest to this is that Any event that we cover? You don't necessarily you're not necessarily going to get the photo By the fact that they you're there. There's so many other things that can go wrong It could be that if you're as Dianna will tell you if we're photographing a president and I go on one side of the room and she goes on the other And the president waves at somebody over there And you don't have the the photo you have to go back to the newsroom and say I missed it and um, but this is a little bit that never happens It never happened to me But uh, so and it was really interesting because I knew frank for years and years and and it was only recently That he told this story and it and I was thinking this got to be very difficult to be in a in a situation like this, uh, and you know, of course not get the photograph, but um And I should just quickly point out that this the situation here is something that a lot of photographers Are really we've all done it at one time or the other where the police Have they've arrested somebody and they want They want it to be they want the coverage so that the the public knows that they're doing a good job So the Dallas police calls all the the wire surfaces and they say we're bringing walls wall walls wall You know from booking to You know wherever else he's going to go and so the photographers are there waiting to get this photograph and of course Who imagines that the person's going to get assassinated, you know interestingly I talk about how memory Changes, uh, george phoenix and many of you may know george. He's uh from austin here And he was at this same place at this same time shooting television film For kRLD tv in dallas And he shot his footage of it took it back and it went into the normal coverage I ran into george, uh, maybe five years ago and he along with a couple of other dallas Reporters were putting together a book about the untold story about what happened in the media in dallas around the assassination He said neil I looked at my film for the first time that I shot that day And he said damn it's nothing like I remember it He said I've been telling this story over and over and when I looked at my own film I've been telling it wrong And it just I think is a testimony to the fact that white pictures are so important to Capture the photograph where this guy was looking through a lens at what happened And for 30 years or whatever He didn't uh didn't go back and check uh his own film But over the years the retelling eyewitnesses sometimes are not as good As as they should be Well, excuse me for interrupting there, but uh, again, let's stay on this topic because diana you selected this photograph that Just just I chose this because um, this is another photograph taken by eddie adams and um Where a photographer Stands during an event is terribly important and You have choices to make Mostly in the white house. They have ropes and and stanchions and Bleachers and all kinds of things to keep you in one place um, but any must have had quite a lot of choice that day at the up at the um Cemetery and he must have been using a quite a long lens But he was just in the right place to make this incredibly affecting picture of a young grieving widow who And she was just given the flag And she's speaking to um one of the priests I assume from the Look of it and That I find it a very moving picture And I think it is emblematic of a just a terrible time for this country. It captures it just totally Dianna you you also selected this picture Dirk holstead, where are you? I I I couldn't get over this um Now dirk holstead who's in a crowd who was introduced right down here in the front He took this photograph and and it's upstairs in the exhibit as well. Well, um Dirk is a reason that I gave my archives here to um to the briscoe center We were colleagues together at time magazine for a long time I just think it's the most perfect campaign picture I've never seen it before until this show this show has so many wonderful surprises in it But this to me first of all dirk took um, I know nothing about how he took this picture So I'm just going to talk about it He chose to be behind the candidate. That's the first thing he got up on the stage. He went behind A lot of times when you go behind you miss what's out front So it's a risk to do it He did it and it was absolutely the place to be you have the faces of other people down in the front Adoring crowd you have all those signs all those flags And then you have the candidate richard nixon with his sort of emblematic v His classic pose and it's sort of the book the picture has so much energy And it says to me campaign and it says to me and i'm going to win You know lucian, you had mentioned earlier about the signs Notice they have the nixon sign upside down and it spells noxious No Yes, they do look at that neil. I never saw that till now Well Here come to prez. Look at that. You remember here come to judge here come to judge. Well here come to press So this your observation about signs. I think is just a truly truly spot on here All right, uh, everybody has seen this picture Uh called tear of war And lucian tell us about this is taken in 1972 and one reason I remember very well before I was a photographer is that uh, I was my draft year was 1972 and uh, my draft number was so low I thought for sure that I was going to be drafted and I remember seeing this photograph among many others And praying that I was not going to get drafted, which I did not But the other part of this story is that the photographer, uh, nick utt who who Took this photograph Right after this happened. He put the this the little girl in his car and drove her to a hospital And she the photographer of this photograph And I think she had 17 operations Clothing was burned off her body was that what happened? Yeah, it was a napalm Air strike, I think American planes dropped napalm on a village and and I think I could be wrong about that But so he took her to the hospital and they've Been in touch ever since and as a matter of fact, they just The photographer and I can't think for a name. They just had a reunion Uh last year Yeah, okay. Um, so That was that that's that's amazing and an amazing backstory on it as well Moving ahead Diana you selected this picture of the watergate hearings I suggested it. I mean I selected it neil because um, I think it's so good And it's so hard to do We've all had to shoot on the hill In a capital hill and this was during the watergate hearings And you usually end up sitting on the floor between the senators on on one side And the witness on the other and you can't stand up During the oh you see that all the time the photographer sitting. We're all sitting down. Yes And every so often when there's a break you can stand up and Wally McNamee took this picture Um and to me it's Absolutely perfect. It's sort of like when you're listening to a symphony and everything comes together Because it I feel the import of the of those hearings. I I know the the players I know Howard Baker and senator ervin and and the councils to those senators and it it just I just think it it's um Beautifully put together and and just sort of happened and he just got it That's amazing. It's it's very indicative of of what was happening Um, and you're right. I've never seen a photograph on the hill like this ever again. Oh really? No, it's hard. It just yeah, I mean it's really amazing Well, now let's let's take a break from this sort of coverage and Lucian you selected this picture And diana took this picture. Well, uh, this is steve jobs at apple and of course when I saw it This is not the steve jobs that I you read about and part of reason I I I selected it because I wanted to hear the backstory from Well, diana, this is quite an interesting. It's I think What's it titled didn't you a cup of tea or something like that? I don't remember a title. I I was sent out I covered the white house every other month and so I had these other months where I could do other kinds of work and they sent me out To photograph steve jobs and this was in 1982 and he was very still very young and He said well, would you like to see my new house? and I said sure and so we went over to the new house and He didn't have any furniture in it so I photographed him in his new house without any furniture and it was just that simple And it was night and there was no light except the one tiffany lampshade And I teased him about being so successful, but not having you know, no furniture And he was very he enjoyed that and it began a friendship and an association that lasted His whole life. We were friends. Um, and he Time sent me out to photograph him about Every couple of years over the years for 20 some years and I became a great admirer of his Fascinating. Let me let me ask you one more question about this photograph Was this a portrait type shot or was it just something that? No, it was a portrait because he we had been in the kitchen having a cup of coffee and talking about the schedule for the next day I was we were doing a big story on him and I wanted to photograph him in all his all aspects of his life And so I said well here you are in the house. Let me take a picture of you Do you mind coming in and he said no, I'll sit down and with my my hi-fi and my book and my cup of tea I have everything I need So there he was Steve Jobs Emotions show up in so many different ways Diana took this picture. Well, I get not took it. You took this picture of lucian. Yes. This is lucian's picture Yes, it is but you selected it. I selected it and I selected it because Lucian got to do all the fun stuff. I mean He was out there and what lucian was doing was he was photographing the mood of america He was photographing this is the inauguration and this is the inauguration of obama and it's the first Black president of the united states and these two ladies had come down from philadelphia apparently and lucian tell us about them because to me Each has the most wonderful expression of pride And it must have been an extraordinary moment for them on january 20th 2009 and The sister on the left Is just almost exhausted with her emotion and on the right Is that Is there has there ever been a better expression of pride and joy? and Just real pride Well, it was on them all I forget now how many people were there. It was a million maybe and I'm going through trying to figure out Who to photograph and there's a lot of people to photograph And it's one of those things where you You try to figure out. Okay. Am I going to just go from one To another and just keep photographing people or maybe do I just stick with one or two people And I saw these two women. I said i'm going to stick with these two women They were they had been there since I think 4 a.m In the morning on the mall. It was very cold two sisters They were so excited I spent I ended up just staying within the whole time and it was An extraordinary experience. I mean for the inauguration itself and it was it was risky because The post is expecting all you know hundreds of photos from me on the mall and I just said this is I want to think you did I want to stay with these two Two women. Yeah, well, did you Disappear like george tames did in the in the oval office. Were they aware that you were They were so excited about the moment I mean they were aware of me, but I was the last thing on their mind in a sense that They had come to see obama inaugurated And and that's what was on their minds and which is great because I didn't have to worry about them, you know Looking at me or are Are You know are being you know distracted by me? They they were fully engaged and just It was wonderful well This photograph was taken by David valdez. David. You were introduced her you here in the audience Yeah, right back there. David took this picture and And diana selected it and I had to select it because for years I Tried to do Behind the scenes pictures now behind the scenes for me ended up being the president taking off his jacket and rolling up his sleeves To write a speech, you know that was that was behind the scenes and this truly is a behind the scenes picture taken in in when the the then Vice president bush was in kenny bunkport with his family and I don't know whether it was david's idea um At first of all, it was wonderful that david was there And that the family felt so easy with him that he could photograph this wonderful crazy morning scene, but um beyond that it was a it was a Good picture to put out there because obviously it's not an open photo op and it was um Totally behind the scenes and it was one of those pictures that told you told you about the character Of the vice president and he was running that year Or ran the next year while he was vice president while he was vice president. Yes, and um There's no makeup person present I just think it's um, it's a lot of fun. There's another photograph in this show which was also taken by a um Man who's given his archives to briscoe um eric draper And he was the Photographer to george w bush and indeed Don't miss this picture because it's interesting. He took the picture of when George w bush was hearing about the attack on 9 11 And he was in a school In a classroom And eric draper's picture is in this show and the white house photographers the The personal photographers to the president do a fantastic job because they not only Chronicle every single thing that the president does And everybody who sees him But they also Are able on occasion to take pictures That uh, never never would have been seen had they not been there and trusted entirely by the president That's uh, let's deviate for a moment Because you bring up a very good point here and that is the white house photographer who has access all the time he's there and uh, no one I mean the president probably becomes oblivious Just because uh, they're omnipresent But let's talk about the current time right now And I want to get your viewpoints both of you in this regard There's been uh, I guess president since I can remember back in the lbj days as an example Have always tried to manage the press Have always tried to make sure that the press does it the way they want it and they seldom succeed in that regard uh But lately and I think the washington post has been out front in criticism That uh, the current president has been managing The media, uh Better if you can use that phrase than any president before that and that Many publications such as the post or maybe time Take handouts From the president White house photographer because they are not allowed access and I think this was a A kerfuffle about hey, we didn't get to see the president playing golf with tiger wood. So they took a white house photo What's your reaction to the well white house? handing out of White house photographs has never been the press's favorite thing um, because we want to be there and we want our photographer to be there and um it We think that the The photographer of the president has a certain bias. He's on the team And we want a more impartial or we think we do view So although We've had to run pictures like that over the years Many of you probably aren't old enough to remember when ronald reagan was Shot he was in the hospital. Well, it was very reassuring To see that picture of him In the hospital it these are pictures that can't be taken by a whole press pool And so to take that and run it is important and necessary It is it's just not always what the press wants to do because they you know want their own person Losing your observations. Well, it's it's funny and and diane probably Can speak to this better better than me on some levels is that what i've noticed is that with each administration And and it doesn't matter if they're democratic or republican administrations But each one learns from the other how to better manage the press so to speak and how to Sort of get their message out and bypass the press and they And each one is a little bit more successful and when I look at washington I first came to washington 1979 under carter and then reagan And look at at it today and the control that the white house has It's a it's a successive Step each each administration they they seem to manage to curtail the press a little bit more each each time Don't you think also lucian now that the press doesn't have The presence or the strength at the white house or the power the or the power that we use right now I think a lot of it is is that the press is on the run in many ways were you know The post other newspapers Financially cannot afford to do what they once did They can't they can't really afford to for for the white house I mean for the the washington post to send a photographer with the president to to chicago Cost tens of thousands of dollars And do you want to invest that money in doing that? Or we're allowing a pool photographer or the ap or so one is cost, but also The press has become so splintered And and the white house has become very Good at okay, if you don't want the information, we'll give it to somebody else Or we'll give the photo to somebody else. We won't give it to you So there's a lot of manipulation With the press and the press just that is not Does not have the power that I don't have the power of the cloud anymore So when when the white house decided that they were not going to allow a pool to see the president On this golfing outing The press kind of went oh, that's bad But they say look you're not here every day. You don't cover the white house every single day time magazine Covered it every day forever It doesn't anymore because there's no money for that kind of thing And does the post send photographer over? Rarely. No, exactly Explain for the audience who may not be aware of this how a pool Operates around the president Well, what happens is But you know something neil I'm not sure that I could describe a pool today because I'm not absolutely sure who it is in the pool today When I was there when durk and I were there There was if it was a pool situation which they did on On occasion when they wanted a smaller group a more manageable group to see something and Like on air force one, you can't have the whole everybody So you have a pool on air force one and it's one magazine photographer and it is Two wire services or it depends on how many wire services are functioning, but One daily newspaper one television crew and producer it's that's And an agency and that's the kind of and they make what they're available to everybody else Exactly if I were the pool on air force one and the president came back and spoke to us That film that I shot on the plane that day would go to new york to time But it would be shared They would send it to they make a quick edit to your competitors And that's what a pool Is and a lot of things had to be done by pool But today I can't tell you who's in the pool Lucien do you have any idea? Well, I think what's happened is that the white house has said forget the pool We'll just have our photographer do it and If you want it, you can have it if not you that's tough luck So what they've done is bypassed the pool that diane is talking about I mean they still do have pools But they're trying to cut it out more and more Oh Lbj is turning over in his grave. You remember You remember the all the pictures that remember the picture of lbj raising up showing the scar Remember the picture of lbj reaching down and grabbing the beagles by the ears to hear them howl And how that those pictures just went everywhere because the press was there Taking these pictures also lbj had A fabulous Personal photographer in yoshi okamoto and his pictures which are here at the library Are unbelievably beautiful and wonderful and interesting and It's a great collection that you have here Well, we deviated and I apologize for getting off script here for a moment But I think it's interesting to get your observations on what's happening now And it was at a point where we were going to move to the pictures that I selected That uh Each of you took that Struck me and I wanted to get the information on them and this first one That we've selected dyna was a picture you took I really liked this Picture because it tell us what it shows and what's happening here um, I I'm proud of that picture. It was it won world press that year and it was President bush had gone on Thanksgiving in 1991. I guess to kuwait and he went to see all the services um in On Thanksgiving particularly the soldiers who were waiting unbeknownst to us for um desert storm and our his Entanglement with iraq and we got out into the desert by helicopter And all these soldiers, um, he shook hands and had lunch with them and I hadn't really taken a picture yet, you know, there are times when you think gosh, I just Haven't got it and He all of a sudden got up on him on a box And he started throwing souvenirs to the soldiers. He had tie clips and key rings And that kind of thing cuff links and he was throwing them out to the soldiers I mean, he looks sort of like m m m moses parting the waters But I don't I don't want you to be misled and I always hope that the caption is on this picture telling you what he actually was doing But soon after the sun was gone and we were packed back in the helicopter and we were going So this was taken when the light was almost gone And it's one of those pictures you just hold tight and hope you're Hope you've got everything right The light the f-stop the shutter speed the film the everything because it was beautiful It was just a beautiful moment I'm going to skip past this next picture and come back to it that you took diana, but I want to go quickly to this one Lucian took this picture Lucian this pick up when I was going through the exhibit here several days that that picture grabbed me Uh and in just so many different ways describe what's happening here to the This is a quake right after the war and it was um There's there's so many stories to to tell about quake, but I'll stick with this This is the oil fires that were set by the retreating iraqi troops and the The fires were so intense That even in quake city it looked like nighttime during the daytime The whole the smoke the whole like a ding the area the whole area 600 Oil gas was on fires something like that. Uh, but but As far as you could drive it was almost like you're driving at nighttime And so I was out in the oil fields and I just came across this stocky that Grabbed some bedding. It was uh bedding from a trench is iraqi Trench that they had dug and he playfully throwing it up in the air And so I'm photographing this and mesmerized by the donkey in the in the whole scene And as it started getting dark dark as it became darker I turned around and I'm walking back to my car And I feel something behind me and I turn around and this donkey's following me And and at this moment I have this tremendous amount of guilt because There's no way this donkey is going to survive in this in this situation and And I just really felt bad for the donkey and as I'm driving back to quake city. I'm thinking about this donkey Alone in this field Two years later This photograph was in an exhibition in boston And I get a telephone call from I think his name was mark walsh Who worked for the the world? wildlife fund And he goes lucian I just want to let you know. I was in quake When this was going on we were saving the zoo animals in quake city and he goes but I I drove out to the oil fields and I saw that donkey And I put it on the back of my pickup truck And I took it to a family and gave I took it to quake city and gave it to a family It's so special Uh, we're we're nearing the last few photographs again I'm going to come back to the one I mentioned a minute ago diana, but lucian, let's stay with you because I selected this photograph that you took because It's it's a picture of war But not war Look look at the faces here and tell us What this is all about This is the war in coscivo When I arrived I arrived at macedonia, which is Right next to coscivo coscivo is in in former yugoslavia And when I got there there were 50 000 refugees In a no man's land between coscivo and alba and macedonia And they were pushed out by the serbs And the macedonians were not allowing them in and and these refugees had been there for five days Without any protection from the elements or food or water or anything The un hcr came in they started Putting the refugees on buses And they had quickly built these refugee camps further into macedonia So these are refugees and it's funny. I talked to a lot of these refugees. These were You know teachers doctors lawyers People like us living They lived in pristina They're sitting in their homes having dinner one night and all of a sudden Soldiers come to the door and force them out in there and they find themselves Out of their homes What you're seeing here is they're arriving at the refugee camp And this is something I saw over and over again. It's it's the shock of reality of What happened to my life all of a sudden i'm looking at tents that i'm now living in And it was just an overnight situation. Yeah, it was it was as as if any of us are sitting at home one night And somebody banged on our our door broke it down pushed us out in the street and marched us for 20 miles And next thing we know we're looking at our future And that's what we're seeing right here and look at the expression on the youngster to the left And then the uh over the person there It tells a lot it tells a lot Well, we're going to go back now to the picture that I skipped past and uh because it's got a great back story as well Diana took this picture And uh familiar to anybody out there. You've seen it before Let me set a little bit of a scene because I want Diana to tell you Really how this story as don referred to it. I think in the introduction how it went viral But first I want you this is the secretary of state of the united states of america flying first class In the state department aircraft You know a lot of times we think everything looks like air force one these days, but uh, this is how uh, they travel When she's on a mission, uh around the world to various locations So diana you were here as part of a pool or were you assigned for this? Yes, um I was sort of taken off the shelf and dusted off and sent out two years ago To do a story on on the secretary of state because I'd photographed her so much in her Senate years and her Years as first lady This actually is not the way. She always flies around. This is um a c 17 transport plane And she was going um Unbeknownst to the rest of the world. She was flying from um What's that island that doesn't matter we were going across to Tripoli And um, they of course didn't want people to know where she was going because qaddafi was still alive And everything was quite dicey there And so it's a it's uh from from malta. It's a very quick trip just across the water What happened to this picture? I was in there were only two photographers On this trip a roiders photographer and myself And there was no room for anybody else because it was um Um a very important trip for her. She was going not only to to Tripoli but to afghanistan pakistan Was this announced ahead of time or was it no not until she was on the ground? Okay, and um So we were asked to cut if we'd like to take a picture before the plane took off And so kevin of roiders and I said of course and we went up front And there she was and she was leaning in her bag and Brought up her dark glasses and put them on I guess they were the only prescription glasses. She could put her hands on and she had her blackberry So we took this picture and um I thought oh, she's probably not going to like this with the dark glasses and it doesn't matter. It's a nice picture and um I went back to my seat and when I got back to the united states. There was talk in new york about this picture They loved it and they wanted to run it big or they actually thought about it for the cover and um they I I thought I don't know about this But it was the double truck in the magazine end of story Everybody was happy with it and you know the story was over and the secretary was happy with the photograph apparently and then It's too long to describe but maybe four or five months later a web site called tumblr found this picture and took it And turned it into what they call a meme Does everybody know what a meme is? I didn't until this happened But it's when you you take a picture when you use a picture and you add captions to it and other pictures and you make stories up and it goes around and and the That's what happened to this picture and so Well, what kind of captions? Oh, well, there was one where um obama is on his blackberry and he says Hey hill, what are you doing today? And she says, uh ruling the world And so I was not happy when I heard about this that had been turned into a meme. I wasn't happy at all It was stolen. It was Not you made a lot of money off of it It wasn't attributed to me had no credit on it and it was also Getting a little bit dicey and the secretary of state on the other hand her staff thought it was great And they invited the tumblr guys down And to meet her and she was wonderful with them and she says oh, it's very funny And they say well, will you uh text us for a picture? And she said sure, but wait a minute. I've got to get my dark glasses and my blackberry And so they were absolutely charmed by her and she handled it so well that they Put themselves up on the on the website and called it a day and said it's over now We can't do better than having the secretary text us So that was her way of dealing with it and I said diana get a life Relax about this and enjoy it Time magazine finally got them to put my credit on it and the picture went viral as they say and Went all over the world and it's still out there somewhere Still out there can it was not exactly what I thought was going to be the result of this trip for the secretary at state Thank you very much diana walker luchin perkins. We appreciate so much for your views and your work Thank you Now part two of the fun work We're now going to adjourn and you can go into the library and walk through and see these photographs and many more davids and dirks photographs up there too as well and their works as well as many others that they've referred to and And get a feeling for what this exhibit is all about and what the briscoe center has compiled and is still Continuing to compile and probably will for many many years into the future A fantastic history of this country seen through the eyes of amazing photojournalists There will be a reception up there in the great hall As you go up and uh as uh mark said a bit earlier the The obj library store will be open as well if you want to drop by and And take home a souvenir of the evening in some way. We thank you so much for being here this evening