 Good afternoon. I'm Neil Horstman, President of the White House Historical Association, and the Association is pleased to be a partner with American University and the Presidential Libraries in this series of conferences on the legacies and contributions of America's First Ladies. We're also excited you may have seen something about it on a table as you came in about the Association participating with C-SPAN on an upcoming year-long series on First Ladies that kicks off on Presidents' Day 2013. As we enter our second half century, these projects are emblematic of the Association's continuing commitment to providing new opportunities to learn about the history of the White House and the people who have lived and worked there. It is my pleasure to introduce to you David Hume Kennerley. Mr. Kennerley won the 1972 Pulitzer Prize for his photos of the Vietnam War and was President Gerald R. Ford's chief White House photographer. American Photo Magazine named him one of the hundred most important people in photography. He has been a contributing photographer to Newsweek and Time and Life magazines. His books include Shooter, Photo-Op, Sign-Off, spelled now get this, S-E-I-N-O-F-F, Sign-Off the Final Days of Seinfeld, Photo de Jor, a picture-a-day journey through the first year of the new millennium, and Extraordinary Circumstances, the presidency of Gerald R. Ford. He was executive producer of Barack Obama, the inaugural official inaugural book. He received an Emmy nomination for the NBC movie The Taking of Flight 847. Mr. Kennerley is on the board of trustees of the Gerald R. Ford Foundation and the Atlanta Board of Visitors of the Savannah College of Art and Design. His archive is housed at the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History here at the University of Texas. Please join me in welcoming David Hume Kennerley. I know I don't look that old. I hear that and I think you know that's that's a pretty good run. I want to thank the LBJ Library mark up to grow my old buddy good friend Mrs. Bush who I don't she's not in the room that I can show those pictures I wouldn't gonna show okay and Don Carlton and the Dolph Briscoe Center for for history where the American Center for History where I have my archive. So I thought I would start off by I was thinking how what's gonna make this little different. Steve Ford and Richard Norton Smith already told all my story so about the Fords but the other then I was thinking about the history of photography obviously something I care about a great deal and I discovered that hence the title here that the first first lady chronologically photographed was Dolly Madison and Dolly Madison that's not her even kids these days know that hopefully Dolly Madison saved that portrait from when the British invaded Washington DC and they ended up burning down the White House but they didn't burn up the picture of Abraham Lincoln the Stewart painting Dolly Madison spirited away with a little help from her friends no doubt but in 1838 this photograph was taken of Dolly Madison so we now I mean this is she was first lady at 1809 so I thought the painting was probably a better representation of her but this is a great photograph was a daguerreotype and shot in Washington DC and of course the Lincoln movie is coming along or just came out and this was a portrait of Mary Todd Lincoln done in Washington DC wearing her inaugural gown and the history of photography and first ladies is very rich and I'm gonna go into my own pictures of first ladies but I have quite a high standard to uphold even going back to Dolly Madison and Mary Todd Lincoln the first firstly I photographed was Mamie Eisenhower this is a photo in the Rose Garden and David and Julie Eisenhower were being married and this is a picture of the photo op I was out there for UPI and Mamie Eisenhower was of course a former first lady and this is a picture I took of Jacqueline Nenno-Nassos it was almost a paparazzi type thing I didn't normally do this I was very good friends of became a contributing photographer to George magazine and there was a photo but because John Kennedy hired me and but there was a picture I'd taken of John Jr. and his mom and he was about seven years old and it was on the front page of the New York Daily News and I he didn't know I'd taken the picture but I shared that information and he looked at the photo and he was wearing little short pants and everything and he said well you certainly caught me looking like a dork and and Patricia Nixon Richard Gordon Smith mentioned her but one of the other things she did and this is taken in 1970 in Washington DC was visiting inner-city schools in Washington and she did a lot of this really quietly and I didn't really know her that well the photographers usually were behind the ropes and this was all going on out in front of us but photo of Patricia Nixon and President Nixon and this was a sequence of photos I took today that Nixon left the White House is August 9th 1974 and if it starts from the left it kind of goes up and this was Nixon if I were President Nixon I would be looking up at the White House from here and it was a really bitter sweet moment not even sweet you can see where he starts waving his arms around and with this v-thing but that's because the White House staff had come out and they were applauding him and it was a rather bizarre moment really if you saw the film from it and a closer up this is one of the pictures but this photo represented and Nixon leaving represented me getting a career change and this is mrs. Ford at this they're watching Nixon take off but vice president mrs. Ford watching the helicopter leaving about 30 minutes later he would be sworn in as the president of the United States and Richard described what happened during the swearing in but this is mrs. Ford these are pictures by the way that she had seen and maybe not approved but didn't disapprove I think as a first lady you have to have a really good sense of humor about yourself and but Steve talked about those first few days where the Fords were still living in Alexandria Virginia on Crownview Drive and it was a rather modest split-level place and this is having breakfast and mrs. Ford has her hair and curlers and it's a tribute to their sense of self-confidence and all that that they would let me come and shoot pictures all the time but I had a really good relationship with them and the kids and this is so there was this is your leave it to beaver moment where for the the Nelson family for those of you who are old enough I gave a talk the other day up at Boston and everybody in the room was probably my age a little bit younger a little bit older but I said I look around and I told him I didn't have to explain who spearwagon who was so that was a but this picture is almost like you know bring home a quart of milk honey you know it's like here's the president on his way to to the Oval Office said that he literally was a commuter president for over a week until they all the Nixon things have been moved out of the Oval Office and and then later this is mrs. Ford in the queen's bedroom this is on the the family quarters of the White House and I always loved this picture because mrs. Ford really delighted to be first lady and loved her job and and loved the people she met and in all that and she and I got along extremely well I mean I her so I could actually when I had an off-color joke I'd never tell the president because he'd never get him so so I'd always go to mrs. Ford and she loved any of those kind of stories I don't know if Steve was here I don't know if he knew that but it was a picture of me and mrs. Ford in the cabinet room and this is our relationship was was sometimes cantankerous and the moment that Linda was talking about this was after the Fords have gone to the dedication of the park honoring mrs. Johnson and they came back to the White House and this is mrs. Ford showing her the family quarters and there's the suitcase it was kind of like the elephant in the room but nobody noticed it and that was all packed up and she right after the Johnson's left went to the Bethesda Naval Hospital for her operation and she didn't let on anything and that's Susan Ford by the way over on the right and I believe that's Chuck Rob looking at the painting there but it was really and I remember this so vividly and I know Steve does rest of the family it was a terrifying moment for president Ford and everybody but particularly for him because there was no way of knowing what was going to happen and this is after the operation Bob Hope had come by and it was I don't know how good that was to be laughing that hard after that kind of a procedure but but mrs. Ford was the cheerleader everybody was like down and and but mrs. Ford was always so upbeat and don't worry everything's going to be all right and she really kept people from getting very depressed about the situation and the other thing that was true certainly was her ability to she I know there was a lot of conversation about should we talk about why she's in the hospital and all that and she said we've got it we've got to let people know and they were totally forthright about it and and it's true what everybody has said that women went out and got exam for breast cancer and all the way through it I think it was something that she was very proud of this was their anniversary and was the day that she got out of the hospital and they allowed me into really the upstairs downstairs relationship it was very close for one thing as a photographer discretion is a big part of it I never talked about what was going on but I'm taking photos of private moments and the the Ford's never approved a picture they never wanted to look at anything but president Ford never looked at a photo it said I don't like the way I look there and made my job a lot easier Steve and I a couple of minutes ago talked about this this is Queen Elizabeth in 1976 visiting the White House to celebrate the bicentennial of America which I thought demonstrated a good humor on the Queens part coming in considering the circumstances 200 years earlier but this photograph was taken on the second floor of the White House and on the elevator right up the the Queen of England and Prince Philip and and the president Mrs. Ford and Linda described there's one little elevator and it gets off of the family quarters and the door open on the second floor and Jack Ford one of the kids was standing there without a shirt on he had gone down to raid his dad's a cufflink drawer and didn't realize they were coming up and it was very embarrassing and Mrs. Ford apologized to the Queen and and the Queen said don't worry we have one at home just like him and this is a picture of campaigning this is the last day of the campaign this is in Grand Rapids I always loved this picture if you remember the history of it this was the closest election and since the 2000 election where it was a tie essentially and this was any state could have swung it over on the other side but they lost and and this is Mrs. Ford in the Oval Office that's Steve over on the left Jack again in her role as the upbeat mom she was comforting them this is going to be a picture where everybody's looking at the camera and smiling and a pictures that don't really reflect what was going on and this really does everybody was exhausted and I I don't even know what it would be like to lose an election but Mrs. Ford as usual kept everybody's spirits up and she always liked this picture this is one I took where she didn't know the Oval Office is directly down to the left this is from the second floor of the White House and she liked this picture because she thought it was the good news bad news about being first lady where she's metaphorically in this this gilded cage looking out but she's trapped sometimes she felt that way and even though and I think at the time and she's written about all that I never realized you know the extent of the personal problems she was having with alcohol and all that but I think in a way this picture reflected a little bit of what was going on in her own head but the day before the Fords left office in January 19th 1977 Mrs. Ford and I were going around the West Wing saying goodbye to different staffers and all that and we went by the the cabinet room which really is the had been you know the the male domain of all times very few women had ever sat at that table as as participants as a cabinet secretary certainly Carly Hills was one during the Ford time but as we're walking by the cabinet room Mrs. Ford said I've always wanted to dance on the cabinet room table and so she did and as a farm as a former Martha Graham dancer you can see she took her shoes off and she wasn't really dancing but she posed there and many years later that picture was restricted and I was I was uncomfortable about having it published because after she left the White House and talked about you know drinking and all that I thought somebody's gonna make fun of it and it wasn't that way and several years later almost 15 years later I was doing my book photo op which was actually published by UT Press and I wanted to use the photo but I wanted it to be in the context to see it in a layout before we went to put it put it out so I went over to Palm Springs I had layouts for the book and went through it and Mrs. Ford wasn't there but President Ford was there and we were waiting for her and he looks through he gets this page and he just about fell off of his chair when he saw this I mean no but he said I didn't know she did that and it's so and so I'm thinking oh I'm dead I mean he nobody reads her better than he does and so he's gonna she's got a combustion she came in and looked through the book got to this point and saw this photo and started laughing I said so she said I remember doing it this first time I see the picture I said well you don't mind if I use it she said no and President Ford says you never told me about that and she said there's a lot of things I never told you Jerry and this is the transition from this is the next day actually January 20th 1977 transition with Mrs. Carter and Mrs. Ford I go back in time the first time I photographed Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan this is 1967 this really candid moment at the Reagan's house when he was governor but just to show you the difference you spring forward another one of my photos of the Reagan's waiting for a state arrival at the White House with the king and queen again this is up at their ranch in California and this picture was taken for Time magazine and I was doing a kind of a day in life of Reagan for time and they saw that they said well we can't use it it's too schmaltzy I said they are schmaltzy I mean I said that's a genuine photo of the Reagan's I mean you have no idea and then at the funeral I was these sad occasions where I photographed political careers from if not beginning but midway and sometimes the end like that this is Bush then being sworn in George Bush the first being sworn in as director of the CIA with Mrs. Bush but what I like about this picture is William Colby over on the left the outgoing CIA director next to the exit sign this is why people sometimes are very wary of we photographers that always looking for something else in the photo and the first time there were six first ladies together this is the Ronald Reagan library dedication Barbara Bush on the far left was first lady next to Mrs. Reagan Mrs. Carter Mrs. Ford Mrs. Nixon and of course Ladybird Johnson and this was the last public appearance that Pat Nixon made she was not well that day and but I I love this photo of all of them together such a unique and historic opportunity and this picture so a tribute to Barbara Bush's sets of humor is that this photo is hanging in their living room and Kenny Bunkport somebody said now what was the caption how many martinis was that Mr. President but Mrs. Bush did say and I recall it vividly George won't you ever grow up and thank God the answer has been no to that question now this is a person who would become first lady of the United States this is I know it's a killer isn't it this is why you never throw your negatives away so a photograph I took it of course this is heavy-duty irony in this photo this is Hilary Rodham in the Senate Judiciary hearing room in 1974 when she was working for Pete Rodino who was wanting to impeach President Nixon and she was working with John Doar as a lawyer on the staff and I Mrs. Clinton never really cared for this photo and I understand although she appreciates the historical significance but I think a picture she did prefer was this one of her the day the night before she became first lady of the United States it was a on the on the mall and of course Hilary Clinton is one of my favorite people really she a lot of people don't know about her sets of humor of anybody who knows her personally does but you can see during the campaign this is 96 but because photographers like the inside outside backstage sort of element this is what everybody sees was out at the rally this is what I see what I'm let me add I don't know that if we had a capture contest this could be some good ones on that have you heard this one yes but this is after a long day of campaigning this is 96 on a bus and going from Seattle to Portland Oregon and then after winning the second term I was working for Newsweek at that point this is there and then followed up by this now the next picture is way out of context but it does I put it in here because then not to make a editorial judgment or statement but this photo was actually it was taken in the Roosevelt room the White House and Mrs. for Mrs. Clinton was talking about somebody had just said she that he'd beaten President Clinton at Hart's on Air Force one and she was reacting so I sent this photograph to her and asked her to sign it and I said if you're still talking to me after you see it and don't rip it up but I got the photo back signed on the front it said dear David I just wanted you to know I was thinking about you you know I'm really hoping she becomes president because it'll make that picture worth a lot of money and this is the next time six first ladies were together Hilary Clinton is first lady at this point and with Mrs. Johnson on the right and all of them this is at the Bush 41 library dedication at College Station I love this photo and what one of the other interesting thing well that there were four presidents there they were up on the stage everybody was taking their picture and I saw them standing back there and I think I'm the only one that took that shot and I don't even remember the other pictures really and this was a really difficult evening this is inside the governor's mansion here in Austin election night 2000 and Al Gore had conceded the election and then Florida tightened up but everything's going on in this picture of Jeb Bush the brother governor of Florida is watching his life pass before his eyes and it and on the in the background is a former president Bush on the phone somebody asked me what he was who he was talking to it I and I said two things that I say that I wish I hadn't was I said always he was placing 5000 bucks on Gore and I I told that to Barbara Bush you really thought that was not funny but ten minutes after this photo was taken Gore called and and withdrew his concession and I was the only photographer in the room I think it's the most dramatic and pretty quick political picture I've ever taken and this is Mrs. Bush during the campaign way more relaxed than anybody else around her and this is at the second Republican Convention and inaugural night I don't know who's red-gloved that is I kind of like the element but and I spent time with the the Obama's inaugural night four years ago this was at the Hilton I produced the official inaugural book with Bob McNeely who was Bill Clinton's photographer and this is the first dance so we'll get a rerun of this apparently now this is my favorite shot it was on the freight elevator it's like prom night you know the dutiful date gives his gives you know the girl the coat you know this is a really nice moment to me this really goes to the heart of their relationship to be that these are the kind of pictures that we live for as photographers and going into the White House for the first time after the inauguration as the first couple and last frame this is a mrs. Ford's funeral and Rancho Mirage and President Bush was there filling in for Mrs. Bush who was out somewhere out of touch but you know Mrs. Ford was close to me and and anybody who knew her and she was a really important person to me and I felt so privileged to spend that time with a family and photographed them and I think you can't underscore how important first ladies are and not only the lives of the country but certainly in their families so thank you very much