Description
Book SynopsisDefining the Chief Executive via flash powder and selfie sticks Lincoln's somber portraits. Lyndon Johnson's swearing in. George W. Bush's reaction to learning about the 9/11 attacks. Photography plays an indelible role in how we remember and define American presidents. Throughout history, presidents have actively participated in all aspects of photography, not only by sitting for photos but by taking and consuming them. Cara A. Finnegan ventures from a newly-discovered daguerreotype of John Quincy Adams to Barack Obama's selfies to tell the stories of how presidents have participated in the medium's transformative moments. As she shows, technological developments not only changed photography, but introduced new visual values that influence how we judge an image. At the same time, presidential photographsas representations of leaders who symbolized the nationsparked public debate on these values and their implications. An original journey through political history, Photographic Preside
Trade Review"Entertaining yet informative. . .
Photographic Presidents is an excellent book that brings context and depth to certain decision points within history and how photography shaped them. It takes on a concept often overlooked by scholars as simply there, and moves it front and center into the discussion." --
Congress & the Presidency "Well-written and engaging . . . What will be the next step in how presidents become photographic? Finnegan cannot—and does not try to—answer that question, but the fact that the question resonates in my head after putting down her book is a testament to how thought-provoking
Photographic Presidents is." --
Journal of American History "Very interesting and informative . . . Finnegan has covered a lot of ground in this well-illustrated book. She traces the development of the photographic medium and techniques with the history of visual communications and the image of the presidents, and has done it extremely well." --
Journal of American CultureTable of ContentsCoverTitleCopyrightContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroductionPart I. The Daguerreotype Presidents1. Photographing George Washington2. Early Daguerreotypes in the U.S. and the Nation’s Capital3. John Quincy Adams and National PortraiturePart II. The Snapshot President4. Handheld Photography and the Halftone Revolution5. William McKinley’s Last PhotographsPart III. The Candid Camera Presidents6. Visual News in the Early Twentieth Century7. Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt, and the Candid CameraPart IV. The Social Media President8. Changing Visual Media from the Mid-Twentieth Century to the Digital Age9. Barack Obama and FlickrConclusion: The Portrait Makes Our PresidentNotesSelected BibliographyIndexBack cover
