Bob McNeely
Bob McNeely | |
---|---|
Chief Official White House Photographer | |
In office January 20, 1993 – September 1998 | |
President | Bill Clinton |
Preceded by | David Valdez |
Succeeded by | Sharon Farmer |
Personal details | |
Born | Robert McNeely 1945 (age 78–79) United States of America |
Branch/service | United States Army |
Years of service | 1968–1969 |
Rank | Sergeant |
Unit | |
Battles/wars | |
Awards | |
Robert McNeely (born 1947)[2] is an American photographer, best known for being the Chief Official White House Photographer from 1993 to 1998, during the presidency of Bill Clinton.
Life and career
Early career
McNeely was drafted into the
Political photojournalism
Following McGovern's defeat to Richard Nixon in the 1972 presidential election, McNeely pursued his career in photojournalism, with a further high point coming in 1973, as his photographs of the Nixon impeachment case were published in Time.[4] McNeely was then appointed official campaign photographer for vice presidential nominee Walter Mondale, and after Jimmy Carter was inaugurated as President, McNeely kept his position as Mondale's official photographer.[4] In 1980, when Carter and Mondale lost the election to Reagan and Bush, McNeely stepped away from the world of politics and went into the private sector as a photographer, working freelance for magazines such as Time and Newsweek.
Bill Clinton
In January 1992, former Carter White House staffers who had been working on the
In November 1995, McNeely's photographs became a source of political leverage
Around the same time, McNeely realized that he had been, unwittingly, a witness to a small part of the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal. When Clinton met with staff members in a meeting, he gestured to the photographer to take a picture of him and the intern. McNeely did so, and thought nothing of it, but after additional information had become widely known, he surmised that Lewinsky had performed oral sex on the President earlier that day.[1] While McNeely had previously been granted unprecedented access to the White House, he was barred in the fallout of the scandal, as the Clintons were worried that the photographs could be subpoenaed by Ken Starr (although some of which eventually made it into the hands of the independent counsel).[7] He was also excluded from meetings with lawyers in fear that he might testify on what he had heard, and frustrated over the focus of the President's personal life, quit the position in September 1998, citing a desire to be with his family.[2]
Post-White House work
In October 2000, McNeely published his first photobook, The Clinton Years, the first time a book was published with the subject still in office, and as such, the White House also had a say in what photographs were used. However, as the book was printed at a press in mainland China, it had been held up when authorities realized that there was a photograph of Clinton meeting with the
Further reading
- McNeely, Robert; Brinkley, Douglas (October 1, 2000). The Clinton Years: The Photographs of Robert McNeely. Callaway Press. ISBN 978-0935112610.
- McNeely, Robert (January 18, 2017). The Making of Hillary Clinton: The White House Years. University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-1477311677.
References
- ^ ISBN 9781138737600.
- ^ a b Harnden, Toby (December 3, 2001). "Up close and personal". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
- ^ "The 5th Battalion Association - Alpha Company Roster". Retrieved March 28, 2018.
- ^ a b c d e McGatt, Glenn (December 3, 2001). "Telling Portraits". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
- ^ "White House Photographers Describe Documenting The President". KCUR. January 7, 2013. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
- ^ "Robert McNeely - Politics 2000". The Digital Journalist. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
- ^ a b Luce, Edward (August 5, 2016). "The making of Hillary Clinton: unpublished images of a would-be president". Financial Times. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
- ^ "Politics 2000 - Photographs by Robert McNeely". The Digital Journalist. Retrieved March 28, 2018.