In the Room

By Suzanne Révy

How would you like to live and work in a giant fishbowl, relentlessly scrutinized and regularly criticized? It is not surprising that most modern Presidents have hired their own photographers to help influence public perceptions of life in one of the biggest fishbowls of all, The White House. The role of Official White House Photographer, however, presents something of a balancing act between building an historic archive and making pictures that capture the ethos and quirks of a sitting President. They are expected to make the President look good, but that impulse is often tempered by the knowledge that their jobs are funded by the American public. The Griffin Museum of Photography has brought together an expansive selection of pictures from Official White House photographers with In the Room Where it Happened: A Survey of Presidential Photographers. By turns intimate and public, the images divulge lesser-known moments of each presidency by Shealah Craighead, Eric Draper, Michael Evans, Sharon Farmer, David Hume Kennerly, Yoichi Okamoto, Bob McNeely, Adam Schultz, Pete Souza, David Valdez and a staff photographer Joyce Boghosian. Also on view, Jeffrey Aaronson’s photographs of the press as it followed President Clinton on an official trip to China in 1998. Both exhibitions are on view through March 31st, 2024. There will be a panel discussion and opening reception on Saturday January 20th starting at 2:00pm. 

President Joe Biden listens during a weekly personnel meeting Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021, in the Oval Office of the White House. (Official White House Photograph by Adam Schultz)

President Bush walking on the South Lawn of the White House hours before the Gulf War (Official White House Photograph by David Valdez)

Last morning in the White House as President. (Official White House Photograph by David Valdez)

President Ford at an early morning meeting with staff at Akasaka Palace in Tokyo, 1974 (Official White House Photo David Hume Kennerly)

Official White House photographers are selected and hired by the President, and like the President, they work for the American taxpayer. As such, the photographs are in the public domain, and free of charge to reproduce. But they are rarely published during an administration because there are ethical considerations for news organizations using free hand-outs from the government. As a result, there is a rich archive of material housed in various Presidential libraries and in the National Archives that remain largely unseen. That makes the images on view particularly enlightening; they invite viewers to compare and contrast the idiosyncrasies and mannerisms of the people working in the highest echelons of power. 

Aug. 21, 1968, President Lyndon Baines Johnson in his rocking chair by Yoichi Okamoto, courtesy of the LBJ Presidential Library.

Oct 18, 1967, LBJ in a meeting in the Oval Office by Yoichi Okamoto, courtesy of the LBJ Presidential Library.

President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney check their watches in the Oval Office before departing for the swearing-in ceremony for Secretary of State Colin Powell, Jan. 26, 2001. (Official White House Photo by Eric Draper)

President Johnson was an outsized, gregarious Texan with expressive hands that were expertly rendered by his photographer Yoichi Okamoto. David Hume Kennerly clearly had a congenial and comfortable relationship with President Ford, whom he photographed in his pajamas during a breakfast meeting, along with other spontaneous moments. And both Bush Presidencies are marked by an easygoing familiarity. These father and son Presidents appear comfortable in their skin, whether they are with advisors or among their family and pets, as depicted through the lenses of David Valdez and Eric Draper. 

2/4/1983 Nancy Reagan surprises President Reagan with a birthday cake during a White House Press Briefing (Photograph by Michael Evans, courtesy of the Ronald Reagan Library)

President Reagan having lunch with Jim Baker and Senator Paul Laxalt by the White House Swimming Pool, 1983 (Photograph by Michael Evans, courtesy of the Ronald Reagan Library)

Oct. 14, 2016, President Barack Obama works at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, Oct. 14, 2016. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

June 9, 2011, President Barack Obama greets children looking out the window of a child care facility adjacent to daughter Sasha’s school in Bethesda, Md., following her 4th grade closing ceremony. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Presidents Reagan and Obama are both polished in their presentation, but in very different ways. Michael Evans’ pictures of the Reagan era are probably the most formal in the show, but not exactly staged. Despite the “aw shucks, there you go again” ethos of the actor who became President, there was a kind of country club formality to the Reagan White House. Pete Souza worked as a photojournalist at several newspapers  and covered two presidencies with a journalistic eye in both the Reagan and Obama White Houses. As Obama’s Chief Official Photographer. Souza was given extraordinary access to President Obama in an effort to monopolize the visual narrative, which often hampered the press photographers. 

September 13, 1993, moments before Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat signed the Oslo Accords. (Official White House Photograph by Robert McNeely)

Defense Secretary William Cohen (left), Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, (right) President Bill Clinton, and National Security Adviser Sandy Berger (far right), 1999. (Official White House Photograph by Sharon Farmer)

As a former photography editor at U.S.News & World Report in the ‘90’s, the pictures by Bob McNeely and Sharon Farmer of President Clinton are an interesting trip down memory lane. Clinton relished being photographed, and could be playful with the press photographers, but I can recall the palpable tension in Washington on the morning when Yitzak Rabin and Yassar Arafat were set to sign the Oslo Accords. We wondered, would there be a handshake? The physical distance between Rabin and Arafat in a crowded White House drawing room beforehand reveals the strain of the players behind the scenes. 

President Donald J. Trump listens to White House Coronavirus Task Force Response Coordinator Deborah Birx during a meeting with Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (not shown) and Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly (to Trump’s left) on Wednesday, May 20, 2020, in the Cabinet Room of the White House. Also pictured are Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany and Larry Kudlow, former Director of the National Economic Council. (Official White House Photograph by Shealah Craighead)

President Donald J. Trump and President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin have an impromptu encounter during the G20 Japan Summit as they head to attend their bilateral meeting on Friday, June 28, 2019, in Osaka, Japan. (Official White House Photograph by Shealah Craighead)

President Joe Biden and Associate Supreme Court Nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson take a selfie while they watch the U.S. Senate vote on her confirmation to the Supreme Court, Thursday, April 7, 2022, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House. (Official White House Photograph by Adam Schultz)

In Shealeah Craighead’s photographs, President Trump appears confrontational across the table from the Coronavirus task force or on the phone with military leaders, while notably chummy with populist autocrats and dictators. It is interesting to note that many of the pictures selected for this exhibit depict each President’s final day, offering an overview of each entire administration. A small selection of pictures by Adam Schultz from the Biden Presidency is also included, providing a glimpse of a President who possesses greater empathy than his predecessor, but whose administration’s historical context has yet to be determined.

Richard Nixon with President Lyndon B. Johnson, by Yoichi Okamoto, courtesy of the LBJ Presidential Library.

A gaping absence from the show are pictures of Presidents Nixon and Carter, though they make occasional appearances in other administrations. Nixon’s official photographer had very little access to the President aside from occasional “grip-and-grin” portraits, the most famous of which is with Elvis Presley. In fact, Nixon coined the term “photo opportunity” for these quick snapshots with celebrities or dignitaries. President Carter never hired an official photographer after Alan Stanley Tetrick, known for his pictures of President Kennedy and his son John-John, declined the job. Although not official White House photographs, the Griffin included three small prints of Kennedy by Tetrick.

President George H.W. Bush signs the American with Disabilities Act, 1990. (Official White House Photograph by Joyce Boghosian)

The Griffin Atelier Gallery features the work of a long-time White House staff photographer Joyce Boghosian. She has covered every President since the early 90’s, including several transitions between administrations, signing ceremonies, and a striking image of George H.W. Bush’s coffin in the Capitol rotunda. She has a consistent eye, and I expect, a deep well of institutional knowledge of the significant players and important events that shape American history from the apex of our government. 

George H.W. Bush funeral (Official White House Photograph by Joyce Boghosian)

On view in the Griffin Gallery, Jeffrey Aaronson’s selection of pictures made for Vanity Fair of President Clinton’s official trip to China in 1998 to observe the gaggle of press covering the President. Such trips are planned down to the most minute details, including photographs choreographed by the press office. Flying on Air Force One or one of the chartered press planes sounds exciting but instead appears exhausting, with twelve to fourteen hour days, endless “photo ops,” and few moments in between to rest. Aaronson’s photograph of the press corps collapsing into their economy airline seats puts to rest any notion that covering a President is a glamorous gig. 

Geraldo Rivera and the press cover President Clinton in China by Jeffrey Aaronson, courtesy of the artist and the Griffin Museum of Photography.

For information about these exhibits and associated programming, go to: https://griffinmuseum.org

Feature Image: 10/8/1981 Four Presidents, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Richard Nixon and then Vice-President George H.W. Bush in the White House Blue Room prior to leaving for Egypt and President Anwar Sadat’s Funeral by Michael Evans, courtesy of the Ronald Reagan Library.