Art
The Yo-Yo Player, Nashville, Tennessee, 1974
(Limited Edition Framed Photo)
- Item Number
- 109
- Estimated Value
- 2000 USD
- Sold
- 500 USD to Live Event Bidder
Item Description
Opening night at the big, new Grand Ole Opry in Nashville brought the notoriously reticent Richard Nixon on stage for a couple of memorable appearances. The president played “Happy Birthday” on the piano to his wife, Pat. But he couldn’t quite master the dangling yo-yo – despite coaching from country music star Roy Acuff – in an act that photographer David Hume Kennerly said gave new meaning to “political spin.”
The night – March 16, 1974 – was a rare respite for Nixon as his Watergate troubles were closing in on him. Just a few weeks earlier the “Watergate Seven” – all advisers and aides to the president – were indicted in the campaign scandal that would drive Nixon to resign the presidency the following August.
That evening also gave Nixon a chance to talk about what country music meant to him, showing a sentimental side. “It relates to those experiences that mean so much to America,” he said. “It talks about family; it talks about religion, the faith in God that is so important to our country, and particularly to our family life. And as we all know, country music radiates a love of this nation, patriotism.”
Item Special Note
This framed photo is signed and numbered by Kennerly. It is a 16" by 20" archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Fine Art Baryta paper.
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