Stoneforge Chronicles

By Jonathan Moore

Sunday, Kent Memorial Library President Ken Cooper introduced the next phase of The American Presidency series. As he explained, “Today, we will shift from the historical view of the first two lectures, to a journalistic view in the last two.”. He elaborated by saying that historians illuminate the past but that journalists capture the moment.

Cooper then presented former Ambassador William vanden Heuvel to introduce Pete Souza, the Official White House Photographer. Ambassador vanden Heuvel was the U.S. Deputy Representative to the U.N. in New York from 1979-1981, during the Carter Administration. The Ambassador spoke on the importance of photography throughout the history of the presidency. As he put it, “Photos are important because they shape our view of the president.”. He cited many famous examples and here are several: Brady’s photos of Lincoln and the humanity they showed, the photos of FDR which showed his energy and confidence but never his wheelchair, and the photos of JFK which introduced the intimacy of family into the presidency. The Ambassador stated that Mr. Souza continues this tradition very well through his work on Presidents Reagan and Obama.

Mr. Souza’s presentation was divided into four parts: The Reagan Presidency; The Reagan Funeral; The Rise of Barack Obama; and The Barack Obama Presidency. Mr. Souza covered President Reagan from late in his first term through his second term. The first photograph he presented was of President Reagan seated at his desk in the Oval Office with the light streaming through the window at his back. Mr. Souza pointed out that Reagan was wearing his suit coat and that there were many mementos covering his desk, which depicts a past way of life in contrast to today. He explained that his job is to try to capture the unexpected. He likes to use natural light and to avoid poses. He accomplishes this by literally “hanging around” the Oval Office and even, on occasion, using remote cameras. He went on to show many photos of the President such as the day in Los Angeles when Reagan decided to make a paper airplane. The picture shows the President of the United States about to throw a paper airplane from his balcony on the 35th floor of the hotel they were staying at. Another fun photo was of a perplexed Michael Jackson standing in the White House against a wall while in front and to either side of him Nancy and President Reagan have a rather heated discussion. He looked at a total loss as to what to do.

The Reagan Funeral photos and Mr. Souza’s description of them revealed his affection for the Reagan’s. Mrs. Reagan personally asked him to be the official photographer for the funeral. His pictures showed the sense of loss felt not only by the family but the thousands of citizens who lined the roads the casket traveled. He recounted a personal moment he had with Mrs. Reagan. The family had been in Washington for the formal memorial services. He found himself in the limousine alone with her as they traveled to the airport to return from D.C. to California for the burial. Mrs. Reagan turned to him and asked if her face was okay or did she need to fix her makeup, or did she simply need a new face. Knowing her sense of humor, Mr. Souza recognized the joke and then knew she was going to get through it all.

The Rise of Barack Obama, which is also the name of a recent book by Mr. Souza, takes place during President Obama’s freshman term as senator. At the time, Mr. Souza was with the Washington Bureau of the Chicago Tribune. A reporter there asked him if he would like to join up with him and cover this new senator. Mr. Souza, through his photographs of crowd reaction, quickly recognized Obama’s charisma. Seeing this, he began to record photos that he thought would be interesting in the future should this man move on to bigger things. One photo, taken during Obama’s trip to Moscow, shows the Senator striding down a street–his fellow pedestrians not even glancing at him. As Mr. Souza commented, “Imagine that happening today!”. Or another photo during his trip to Africa in which Obama is stepping up on a very suspect makeshift podium to speak to a crowd. Mr. Souza again commented, “The Secret Service would never let him near something like that now.”.

Mr. Souza credits his selection for his position to his photos of Obama with his family during this time. His favorite photo is of Obama and his family, with others and including Reverend Wright, waiting backstage to be announced to give his formal declaration of his candidacy for president. Obama, Michelle, and the girls all have serious looks on their faces as they each contemplate the weight of the moment and the effect it will have on their lives.

The remainder of Mr. Souza’s presentation primarily covers President Obama’s first 100 days. His first photo is in contrast to the first Reagan photo. It shows Obama at his desk with no jacket and only work on the desktop. Mr. Souza says that he strives to take photos that tell a story but need no caption. For instance, there is the photo that shows the President moving a sofa back into place after what Mr. Souza calls a “Grip & Grin” photo op. When this picture came out the White House valets were mortified that he was doing their job. Or the photo showing the President standing at a window in the Green Room; Mr. Souza noted that Obama is very impatient and hates to wait to be announced for a meeting but wait he did this time. Mr. Souza reiterated his need to hang around the Oval Office. He said, “I can not leave for five minutes or I will miss something!”. He did just that and as he got to his office one day he was alerted that the President was out of the Oval Office. Well, he and Vice-President Biden decided they needed a break and went out to do some putting.

Mr. Souza has a staff of three other photographers: one solely to cover Michelle and two to cover big set-up events. Mr. Souza covers the background events. He stated that the Obama administration is very open and has never said no to any of his photography requests. The only area with limits is the girls. Photographs are kept to a minimum here to try not to intrude in their lives to much. In an effort to be open to all, the administration decided early on to use a unique method. All pictures of the Obama Presidency, except personal family shots, can be viewed on www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse. This website is updated weekly with new photographs.