International Center for Journalists – ICFJ's Presidential Collection
Auction Ends: Nov 11, 2012 12:00 AM EST

Art

Pajama Powwow, Tokyo, Japan, 1974 (limited edition, framed photo)

Item Number
110
Estimated Value
2000 USD
Sold
500 USD to Live Event Bidder

Live Event Item

After the online close, this item went to a Live Event for further bidding. Absentee Bidding offered.

Item Description

David Hume Kennerly believes that the best photos of public figures capture their personalities, as in this 1974 shot of Gerald Ford in pajamas in Japan – the first visit by a sitting U.S. president. “This picture probably kept Ford off the best-dressed list, but he never said I couldn’t use it,” said Kennerly, President Ford’s official White House photographer. “He was someone who had better things to do than worry about how he looked in a photograph.”

News accounts at the time said the visit was a long time coming. Presidents as far back as Dwight Eisenhower had considered the trip but were dissuaded by lasting anti-American sentiment there after World War II.

With Ford in the photo are, left to right, military aide Steve Todd, personal aide Terry O’Donnell, and White House Chief of Staff Donald Rumsfeld.

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.