Would he expect those
pictures to be published?
It was really up to my discretion. I had a great relationship with President Ford and his family. When I became White House photographer in 1974 I had only been professional for eight years, but in that time I'd won a Pulitzer Prize in Vietnam, and had covered quite a bit of ground.
More exciting back then?
It was more exciting for me. I really believe I caught the last of the "good old days," which for me started with Robert Kennedy's campaign in 1968, and unfortunately ended in his assassination. That moment, combined with his brother John being shot, forever changed the complexion of politics. I was at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles that night. There was little security. It was much more free-form with an exciting person at the core of it. Nothing was really manufactured, and Robert Kennedy was a big draw, much like a rock star.
Get the shot?
I wasn't in the kitchen when Sirhan Sirhan gunned down Robert Kennedy. Earlier I was on the photo stand in the back of the room taking pictures of his victory speech. I headed to another ballroom where he was going to address an overflow crowd. There were very few photographers in the kitchen when it happened. One of them, Bill Eppridge from Life magazine, was a close friend of his. He took the most haunting photograph of the scene. But in the end it also changed his life, because I don't honestly think Bill has ever gotten over it.
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