Nixon for Presidents’ Day

Richard Nixon in Columbus 10-19-1970First off, I have no idea what the real name for the holiday is. When I Googled it, it came up as Presidents’ Day, Presidents Day and President’s Day. I’ll go with Presidents’ Day.

Richard Nixon was probably one of my least-favorite presidents, but he’s also the POTUS I photographed more than all the rest.

Here he was in Columbus, Ohio, on October 18, 1970. President Richard’s Nixon’s Daily Diary said he was in town to stump for Robert Taft, Congressman, and Roger Cloud, Gubernatorial candidate. You can find his whole diary for October 16 – 31 here, if you are a real political junkie.

Uncharacteristically rumpled

Richard Nixon in Columbus 10-19-1970I was surprised to see a rumpled Nixon arrive at the rally. It must have been a rough flight.

Great access

Richard Nixon in Columbus 10-19-1970When I looked through the pictures, I was amazed at the level of access I had that day. I was all over the place and didn’t appear to have any problems with security. Considering that this was after all the assassinations in 1968 and only five months after four students were gunned down at Kent State, I would have thought security would be tighter.

I learned early on (holy cow, I was only 23 when I shot these) that the best way to get into situations is to act like you belong there. If you hesitate, somebody is going to challenge you.

Then, I’m going to guess that I read when the scrum was going to head to the ropeline and I got there early enough that the SS guys could get a good read on me. The fact that my hands were always visible clutching a camera probably gave them a level of comfort. Once the party started moving, I stayed as fluid as possible, staying as close to the president as possible, but never stopping. In some frames, I have a secret service guy on my left and my right, but they never made an attempt to block me.

Look for the lapel pins

Richard Nixon in Columbus 10-19-1970It’s pretty easy to spot the protective detail: they are the guys with the triangular lapel pins and the roving eyes or eyes hidden by sunglasses.

I wonder, too, if, once they figured I wasn’t a threat, they calculated that the skinny guy with the camera was just another bullet barrier that was expendable.

While covering Nixon at a golf tournament during the height of the Watergate scandal, we were kept well back from him. Suddenly, though, the detail motioned that would could approach his golf cart. He wouldn’t answer any questions, but that was as close as we got to him that day.

Later, an agent said they had an unconfirmed report of a gun in the crowd and we were called in as a screen. I never found out if he was pulling my leg or not.

President Nixon photo gallery

Here’s a whole stack of Richard Nixon photos. If they aren’t enough, I also photographed him in Charlotte, N.C. a year later, when he appeared with Billy Graham on Billy Graham Day.

Click on any photo to maker it larger, then use your arrow keys to move through the gallery.

 

Ouch, That Hurts

Buy From Amazon.com to Support Ken Steinhoff I’ve been putting off organizing the mountain of receipts I accumulated from all my road trips this year. I was less afraid of the IRS deadline than Wife Lila who had been “encouraging” me to get with it for weeks.

After spending two days adding up negative numbers, I don’t have much energy to post tonight.

Thanks to you who pushed the Big Red Button to place your Amazon orders. That brought in $1,646.98 in 2014. Thanks, too, to the Athens County Historical Society and Museum and the Ohio Humanities Council for a grant. The Lutheran Heritage Center and Museum and Annie Laurie’s Antique Shop have been great about selling books and prints.

Redder than that button

The bottom line is that I’m operating deep in the red. The only solace I can take is that my shortfall is probably less than I would be in the hole if I was a golfer, owned a boat or took a family of four to Disney World.

I’m starting to work on a souvenir memory book for sale at this year’s ’60s’ decade reunion that I’m hoping will generate some income, and I have some other things up my sleeve to keep me afloat.

In the meantime, keep pressing the Big Red Button when you shop at Amazon. I get a small percentage of your purchase, and it doesn’t add anything to your bill.

I’m not griping about taxes

Flags flying on Veterans Day at North County Park 11-11-2011I’m not complaining about PAYING taxes, mind you. Nothing would make me prouder than moving into a higher tax bracket.

Nellie Vess Revisited

Nellie Vess 08-13-1968Back in 2012, I did a piece titled Turtles, Frogs, Dogs and Desperation where I explained how I come up with story ideas. (The key word was “desperation.) It’s worth a visit, even if I say so myself.

In it, I introduced Mrs. Nellie Vess, one of my favorite subjects. You can click on the photos to make them larger.

Rhonda and Patty Sue

Rhonda Kay Judson, 5, plays with Mrs. Nellie Vess' dog near Trimble 08-13-1968It told the story of how an elderly woman found that puppy Patty Sue attracted the neighborhood kids like Rhonda Kay Judson, 5. The headline of my 1968 Athens Messenger Picture Page was Lonely No More.

‘Now I have lots of company,” Mrs. Vess told me.

Fast-forward to 2015

Nellie Vess layout web versionI love getting comments, but today’s mail brought one from Sheila Knott that was super-special:

“This is my sister and our neighbor years ago!!! It was such a joy to see this. I knew Mrs Vess very well and she was a wonderful woman. I was born a year and 5 days after these pics were takin! Thank you so much for sharing and I’ll have to show my sister (Rhonda) the second one, I don’t believe she has ever seen it!”

Speaking of desperation

I mentioned over the holidays that I had some stuff that I needed to get done and that I might slack off for a week. As it turned out, I produced rerun pages during that period that took almost as much time as if I had come up with fresh content.

My van buying / selling experience put me even further behind.

On top of that, I may have a chance to pick up some freelance work that may actually mean that Wife Lila and I won’t have to fight Bleeping Cat for dinner. (We haven’t bothered to name most of our feline parade over the years. Oh, yes, there is an official name on file with the vet, but we usually just call them “Brown Cat, Big Cat, Little Cat, Orange Cat or, in the case of the current resident, “Bleeping Cat.”)

So, don’t be surprised if I come up missing from time to time or all that gets posted is a photo gallery of what I happen to be editing at the time.

Of course, while I’m gone, don’t forget to click on the tiny yellow DONATE button at the top of the page  to keep Phoebe the Bleeping Cat fed.

Cuban Boatlift Part 1

Cuban Boatlift - Key WestRoad Warriorette Jan and Son Matt nagged at me this morning to dig out some of my Cuban Boatlift photos to go along with the big news that President Obama was going to thaw the Cold War that had been going on since about 1959 or thereabouts.

I protested that I hadn’t even THOUGHT about dipping into my Florida years, but they were persuasive. After about nine boxes, I hit one containing outtakes from the month (minus one day) I spent in Key West watching a flood of people who would change the face of Florida and parts of the United States.

Palm Beach Post May 6

The Post's Cuban Boatlift coverage 05-06-1980I’ll go into more detail and publish more photos after I’ve had a chance to see what I can find. To be honest, my stomach has been a bit iffy today, and I haven’t felt like spending time in front of the scanner.

We sent a team to Mariel Harbor

The Post's Cuban Boatlift coverage 05-06-1980We sent  photographer George Millener and reporter Edgar Sanchez down to Key West to try to talk their way onto a boat going over to pick up relatives. The word was that it didn’t take long to make the 180-mile round trip. They made a quick call saying they were getting ready to depart and that they’d check in as soon as they got back.

We didn’t hear from that day, nor the next. I was director of photography and was working on a project that was going to take me all over the state, so I decided to use that leeway to check on our team since I needed to go to Key West at some point anyway.

As soon as I hit U.S. 1 south of Miami, I was in a convoy of trailered boats. Every boat that wasn’t on a trailer heading south was parked on the roadside with a For Sale sign on it.

At the Key West city marina, boats were being launched two abreast as quickly as inexperienced mariners could back the trailers up. I saw at least one Cadillac go in up to the windows when the driver backed up too far.

I called the office and said this was a bigger story than the wires were reporting and that I needed a reporter to back me up.

Dick Donovan

The Post's Cuban Boatlift coverage 05-06-1980They couldn’t have sent a better guy: Dick Donovan was an old-time Chicago cop reporter who had a reputation for getting to the meat of a story. He would stand next to you, then, just before he asked the zinger question that was going to get the subject to react, he’d give you an elbow in the ribs to tell you to get ready.

I’ll go into more detail about the photo at the top left, but I’ll just say that this was the only time I saw Dick with tears in his eyes.

I had to walk away

It didn’t produce as many memorable photos as I would have liked, but it made some memories I’ll never forget.

I was photographing a little boy about the age of Son Matt playing with a little plastic truck just like Matt had at home. Suddenly I realized what a big change was happening in that boy’s life and wondered what the future held for him. I had to walk away for a few minutes.

A little Cuban nun who might have been stacked 4’8″ at best, put her hand on my shoulder and said in broken English, “I’ve been watching you. You don’t just take pictures. You have a big heart.”

That comment meant more to me than any award I ever won.