June 15, 2023 • 21 mins
Eric Mosley spoke with Pete Souza, former White House Photographer for President's Reagan and Obama, about his time working for both men. Pete is the Keynote Speaker for the upcoming 2023 Warren G. Harding Symposium on July 14th & 15th.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Joining me right now is Pete Souza. And Pete's going to be coming to
Marion in a few weeks. He'sactually coming for the twenty twenty three Warren
G. Harding Symposium and he isdoing a presentation that's titled Through the Photographer's
Lens Exploring the United States Presidency.And Pete will be here Friday July fourteenth
(00:23):
and Saturday July fifteenth for that presentation. Pete's history. Anybody that has followed,
especially President Obama, has probably seensomething about Pete. He's been featured
in multiple interviews. He was theWhite House photographer for the Obama administration and
(00:45):
director of the White House Photo Officefor all eight years of President Obama's presidency.
He was also an official White Housephotographer for President Ronald Reagan from nineteen
eighty three until January twentieth, nineteeneighty nine. So Pete, thank you
so much for joining us today.And man's that's quite a long history working
(01:06):
in the White House. Yeah,thanks for having me on. You know,
I feel honored and privileged to havedone that job twice as it turns
out, And you know, Ithink that people that come to my presentation
next month, well, I'll beprojecting images from both the Reagan and the
(01:26):
Obama administrations, talking about my job, talking about the presidents, and hopefully
showing some photographs that maybe people aren'tthat familiar with. Absolutely, So let's
just kind of start back in thebeginning, which is always a good place
to start. But where and whendid you get your interest in photography?
(01:49):
Was it something that just started asa as a youth or did it develop
over time? You know, it'sinteresting looking back now. Even as a
kid, I was passing by stillphotography. I used to cut pictures out
of the newspaper that struck my eyeand it would tape them to my bedroom
closet door, but never thought thatit would be something that I could I
(02:16):
went to college with the hopes ofbecoming a sports writer actually, and in
my junior year I took up thebiography class and the and the bug just
hit me. Did you actually startwith covering sports with your photographer you or
what did you go into just generalmedia? Um? I started working at
(02:36):
newspapers. That was my background.The first full time job I had as
a photographer was at a small newspaperin Kansas, and then subsequently worked for
the Chicago Suntimes before going to theReagan White House, and I would cover
news, sports, feature, newyou know, whatever was happening. It
(03:00):
was really a good training ground,I think for working at the White House
and subsequently doing some point in forNational Geographic and other magazines, and during
your time in Chicago obviously kind ofa media mecca. When you think of
Chicago, New York, LA,it's a place that there's so much going
(03:22):
on. I'm sure that you werereally excited about being there. But what
was it that led you to endup becoming the White House photographer during the
Reagan administration or one of them wasa specific job offer or was it just
an opportunity that presented itself that youwere you were thinking, Man, I
can't pass this up. It wasthe ladder. I was doing really great
(03:42):
at the sun Times, was gettinggreat assignments, was happy living in Chicago.
As as life turns out, thethere was somebody that was working at
the White House that I knew.She was the photo editor actually, and
I had known her in Kansas,and so she just called me out of
(04:08):
the blue one day. Instead,we have an opening on the staff.
We want you to apply for thejob. And that led to taking this
job at in the Reagan administration.I mean, I'll admit I was not
a big fan of Reagan at thetime, but I thought about, this
is going to be my only chanceever to work inside the White House and
(04:32):
document a president for history. Sothat's that's how I ended up in the
rega White House. I've always kindof pictured what that first time walking into
the White House, whether you area government official or maybe working in the
White House with an administration, orjust somebody that's on the outside, maybe
(04:54):
as a visitor. What were yourmemories of walking into the White House for
the first time. Does it justtake your breath away or is it maybe
a little bit different than you wouldhave imagined it being. Yeah, I
mean it was a little overwhelming,But to be honest with you, what
really the memory I never forget isthe first time I walked in the Oval
(05:15):
Office and walked in the Oval Officeand Michael Evans, who was Reagan's chief
photographer, brought me in there tomeet Reagan. And that was like the
most overwhelming moment perhaps of my younglife then. And it took me probably
(05:38):
a good six months to feel comfortablephotographing in very intimate situations with the President
United States where the Secret Service letsyou do your thing and there's no restrictions.
So that was a little overwhelming,you know. Like I said,
(05:59):
it took months to get to,you know, a good sense of comfort
in that room. I've heard toldis really designed to kind of keep you
off balance if you're guested in there, just that Oval room where there's no
angles or anything. It's it's meantto keep you kind of on your toes.
Well, I mean subsequent to that, I mean, I think every
(06:20):
time I saw somebody come into theOval Office for the first time and I
could recognize the feeling they were havingthat I had had before. Yeah,
so I tried to. I triedto, you know, keep that in
mind, especially for the first timevisitors to the Oval Office. Again,
(06:41):
we're talking with Pete Susa, whois a best selling author, speaker,
freelance photographer. He will be speakingin July at the warrengey Harding Symposium,
presenting through the Photographer's Lens Exploring theUnited States Presidency. That will be on
Friday July fourteenth and Saturday July fifteen. We talked. You talked a little
(07:01):
bit about going in and working forPresident Reagan and obviously later on working for
President Obama. What are some keysto navigating the balance between getting as close
as possible as a photographer covering thepresident and also not getting in the way
and almost being invisible. Well,first and foremost, a reminder that you're
(07:24):
an observer with a camera. You'reyou're not a participant in everything that's tagment
plays U. Two is is youknow, just being as unoccrusive as possible.
I mean I never used a flash, I didn't use a you know,
a motor drive on a camera.I would shoot single frame, um,
(07:47):
just just trying to move about asquietly as possible and yet be you
know, be right there where wherethings were happening. It be kind of
overwhelming knowing certain moments as you wereshooting them where it was like, man,
(08:07):
this is a big moment, thisis a very historical moment. Could
that Could you get caught up inthat? Or were you able to just
you always remembered your job, thisis what it is, and maybe afterwards
you realize what you caught, youknow. I think it helped, especially
in the Obama administration, being aseason photojournalists. I mean after I left
(08:28):
the Reagan administration, I had analmost another career as a freelancer for ten
years, freelance Atogrists ten years,and then working as the national international photographers
for the Chicago Tribune for almost tenyears, in which case I you know,
was in war zones that covered theaftermath of nine to eleven. Traveled
(08:50):
all around the world for the Tribune, and so I think it helped to
have had many experiences in my life, and also for it helps so much
that I knew Barack Obama for fouryears before he became president, when I
(09:11):
was worning for the Tribune. Idid this project on his first couple of
years in the Senate and spent alot of time with him, so he
got to know me quite well.I mean, it was a professional relationship,
but having had that previous experience withhim, him knowing me, me
knowing him, I think it madeit so much easier for me in the
(09:35):
Obama administration to not get overwhelmed.Were there moments, sure, you know,
in the middle of the big ladenrate, knowing the consequences of how
this raid turned out, it wasgoing to affect this presidency. Obviously,
the stakes were really high. Itwas very tense in that room, and
(09:58):
certainly you're aware of the historic natureof it, but at the same time,
you're making pictures the same way youdid the day before when maybe not
much was going on. So there'sthere's something to be said for just you
know, being there every day,photographing people, understanding why you're there,
why you're documenting for history. Thatmade it that much easier for me.
(10:24):
That's just fascinating to me. Iwanted to mention I watched excerpts of your
documentary The Way I See It,which I can't wait. I didn't get
a chance to watch the whole waythrough, but it was just what I
saw was fascinating. And you talkedabout the relief of leaving the White House
and yet you're worried about the incomingadministration. And it made me think that,
(10:46):
you know, while you're in ajob like that, you really have
to kind of push back your personalpolitical beliefs at times. Is that a
difficult thing to do or was itsomething that again you can you can keep
the professional side of it hang outseparate from the from the personal side of
it. Well, I think itwould be difficult for me to have worked
(11:09):
for a president who you know,I did respect as a human being.
UM. I didn't necessarily agree withUM. You know, I was probably
on a different side politically than PresidentReagan, but I liked and respected him
as as a as a person.UM. So as long as you as
(11:30):
long as you um are able tohave that type of person as your main
subject, UM, then I don'tthink it matters much whether you're you know,
politically aligned with them on everything they'redoing. So that kind of leads
me into another question. You know, we know that politically Presidents Reagan and
(11:54):
Obama are They're very different. Youwere able to see a personal side of
both of them. So what wouldmaybe surprise our listeners about these two men
in comparison to each other. Isthere anything that they're very similar in comparison
to each other, or is thereanything that doesn't necessarily surprise anybody? You
(12:16):
know that it's funny. I mean, you know, Reagan was old fashioned.
You know, he came from Hollywoodin the forties and fifties, was
in his seventies when he was president. Kids were all grown. The eighties
(12:37):
were just a different time. Butyou know, I think the similarities that
I saw between Reagan and Obama.One is they both had this pretty even
keeled disposition, which I think isprobably a good attribute to have in that
(12:58):
job because how much is thrown atthrown at you every day that if you're
gonna lose your shit over every littlething, then you know it's going to
be hard for you to function.Um. And so I think both of
them were able to, um,you know, just maintain a very even
(13:20):
temper. Did Did they ever getreally upset and angry? Um? Of
course they did, but it didn'thappen like every day. So I think
that's the one similarity that I tendto see with the two of them.
Two I think, Um, Idon't know if people are aware of this
(13:41):
or not, but I think bothof them had a really good sense of
humor, which again I think isprobably a good attribute to have in that
job. Yeah. I And justas an outsiders somebody that that's watched a
lot of both of those presents throughthrough media and things like that, it
(14:03):
seems like they both were really goodat reading a room, whether it be
the you know, speaking before thepress, or possibly even speaking in front,
you know, with their aids oranything like that. They just seem
like they both could read a roomand knew just what direction they need to
take the conversation or the talk,whatever they were doing. Is that fair
(14:24):
to say? Yeah, I thinkthat is fair today. I hadn't really
thought about it that much, Um, but yeah, I think that's I
think that's a fair analysis. Again, speaking with Pete Susa, and Pete
has had the distinction of working bothfor President Obama and President Reagan as White
(14:46):
House photographer. Actually in his timewith President Obama, he was a chief
official White House photographer during the eightyears that President Obama was in office.
So during your time, there werethere moments that that just made you immensely
proud to be there, Oh forsure. I mean, Um, the
(15:09):
probably the two that come to mindare one the day that the Affordable Care
Act passed. Um. You knowthat he signed that bill in twenty ten
and it still stands today despite manyattempts to upend it. And so that
(15:30):
was that that was a that wasa proud day. And then another one
was was um that he um happenedto be president when the Supreme Court upheld
same sex marriage. Um, thatwe have progressed so far as a country
that that um happened, and Ibelieve it was in twenty fifteen, so
(15:58):
during uh, your time since workingin the White House. And I think
I probably know kind of the answerto this, But were you able or
even if if if not able justtime to time? Did you keep in
touch with Presidents Reagan and Obama afterthey left the White House? I would
(16:19):
imagine you have probably kept in touchwith President Obama, but uh, you
know, with either one of them, have you been able to keep in
touch or did you keep in touchwith President Reagan? You know, I
did keep in touch with President Reagan. A matter of fact, I have
some handwritten notes that he and Icorresponded several times and he would write me
back. And then, of course, five years after he left the office,
(16:45):
he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, soI didn't really have a chance to
talk to him after After that,President Obama and I keep in touch on
a regular basis. Matter of fact, I'll be seeing him again and August
I just saw him, what isthis business true? Already see him?
(17:08):
I just saw him last month inLa So I see him, you know,
two or three times a year.That's just that just blows me away
to be able to do something likethat and then have because like you had
said, it was a professional relationshipduring that eight years. But I would
think working that closely, it's it'shard for it not to become somewhat personal
(17:33):
over time and then afterwards be ableto maintain that personal relationship. Yeah.
And I think the fact that Iwas president for every emotion he went through
as president during those eight years,there's a bond between us, I think
because of that. So one lastquestion. You know, it seems like
you've lived maybe one of the fullestlife I've I've heard of, between working
(17:57):
at major news for then working inthe White House, going back and freelancing
and going back to the White House. How do you spend your time now?
I would imagine obviously you're still involvedin in media, still involved in
in taking photographs, and you're writingbooks, and I do know that you're
(18:18):
you're doing work with as a professorover to Ohio University. How do you
spend your time now? Uh?You know, first and foremost, I
try to spend as much time withmy two granddaughters as I can. Um
that they are my main photographic subjectsas well, um so um. And
(18:41):
I also do a little bit ofphotography here and there, I do some
speaking. Um, I've got aphoto workshop coming up in September. UM,
let's see. I'm and I thinkI'll probably spend a lot of time
right now to trying to organize myfree white house are you know, kind
of gather all my old negatives andslides and get them in a some kind
(19:07):
of an organization so that I cantake that archive and either sell or donate
it to some educational institution. Thatjust sounds amazing and I would I would
definitely be one of those that wouldline up to go see that because from
what I've seen so far, it'sbeen very impressive. Pete, thank you
(19:29):
so much for taking the time.I want to remind everyone Pete will be
coming to the Ohio State University atMarion for the Warren Y Harding Symposium Through
the Photographer's Lens Exploring the United StatesPresidency Friday July fourteenth and Saturday July fifteenth.
You call OSUM to get information onthat at eight hundred seven six two
(19:52):
five six four six or six onefour nine or two nine two two to
eight one. Pete, thank youfor taking the time. I think all
of us in this area is shouldbe just absolutely thrilled to be able to
come and just see what you haveto say. Well, I appreciate you
having me on, and I wouldlike to add that I will be joined
(20:12):
by Kara Finnegan who is a professorat the University of Illinois who wrote a
book on photographic presidents and talking moreabout the history of photography and presidents that
go away before me. So itshould be interesting presentation as well, or
(20:37):
it should be Yeah, that soundsvery interesting, So make sure you get
get your information for this again thephone number eight hundred seven six two five
six four six or six one fourtwo nine two two to eight one.
There's a bunch of different way thingsthat you can do either for all events.
(20:59):
There's differ pricing for just the openingreception, dinner and keynote speaker,
all kinds of things that you cando. There's workshops and again deals a
lot with not just the history ofPresident Harding, which will be discussed,
but history of the presidents through photographyoverall. So Pete, thanks for taking
the time and I hope you havea wonderful day. You bet, thanks
for having me on.
Joining me right now is Pete Souza. And Pete's going to be coming to
Marion in a few weeks. He'sactually coming for the twenty twenty three Warren
G. Harding Symposium and he isdoing a presentation that's titled Through the Photographer's
Lens Exploring the United States Presidency.And Pete will be here Friday July fourteenth
(00:23):
and Saturday July fifteenth for that presentation. Pete's history. Anybody that has followed,
especially President Obama, has probably seensomething about Pete. He's been featured
in multiple interviews. He was theWhite House photographer for the Obama administration and
(00:45):
director of the White House Photo Officefor all eight years of President Obama's presidency.
He was also an official White Housephotographer for President Ronald Reagan from nineteen
eighty three until January twentieth, nineteeneighty nine. So Pete, thank you
so much for joining us today.And man's that's quite a long history working
(01:06):
in the White House. Yeah,thanks for having me on. You know,
I feel honored and privileged to havedone that job twice as it turns
out, And you know, Ithink that people that come to my presentation
next month, well, I'll beprojecting images from both the Reagan and the
(01:26):
Obama administrations, talking about my job, talking about the presidents, and hopefully
showing some photographs that maybe people aren'tthat familiar with. Absolutely, So let's
just kind of start back in thebeginning, which is always a good place
to start. But where and whendid you get your interest in photography?
(01:49):
Was it something that just started asa as a youth or did it develop
over time? You know, it'sinteresting looking back now. Even as a
kid, I was passing by stillphotography. I used to cut pictures out
of the newspaper that struck my eyeand it would tape them to my bedroom
closet door, but never thought thatit would be something that I could I
(02:16):
went to college with the hopes ofbecoming a sports writer actually, and in
my junior year I took up thebiography class and the and the bug just
hit me. Did you actually startwith covering sports with your photographer you or
what did you go into just generalmedia? Um? I started working at
(02:36):
newspapers. That was my background.The first full time job I had as
a photographer was at a small newspaperin Kansas, and then subsequently worked for
the Chicago Suntimes before going to theReagan White House, and I would cover
news, sports, feature, newyou know, whatever was happening. It
(03:00):
was really a good training ground,I think for working at the White House
and subsequently doing some point in forNational Geographic and other magazines, and during
your time in Chicago obviously kind ofa media mecca. When you think of
Chicago, New York, LA,it's a place that there's so much going
(03:22):
on. I'm sure that you werereally excited about being there. But what
was it that led you to endup becoming the White House photographer during the
Reagan administration or one of them wasa specific job offer or was it just
an opportunity that presented itself that youwere you were thinking, Man, I
can't pass this up. It wasthe ladder. I was doing really great
(03:42):
at the sun Times, was gettinggreat assignments, was happy living in Chicago.
As as life turns out, thethere was somebody that was working at
the White House that I knew.She was the photo editor actually, and
I had known her in Kansas,and so she just called me out of
(04:08):
the blue one day. Instead,we have an opening on the staff.
We want you to apply for thejob. And that led to taking this
job at in the Reagan administration.I mean, I'll admit I was not
a big fan of Reagan at thetime, but I thought about, this
is going to be my only chanceever to work inside the White House and
(04:32):
document a president for history. Sothat's that's how I ended up in the
rega White House. I've always kindof pictured what that first time walking into
the White House, whether you area government official or maybe working in the
White House with an administration, orjust somebody that's on the outside, maybe
(04:54):
as a visitor. What were yourmemories of walking into the White House for
the first time. Does it justtake your breath away or is it maybe
a little bit different than you wouldhave imagined it being. Yeah, I
mean it was a little overwhelming,But to be honest with you, what
really the memory I never forget isthe first time I walked in the Oval
(05:15):
Office and walked in the Oval Officeand Michael Evans, who was Reagan's chief
photographer, brought me in there tomeet Reagan. And that was like the
most overwhelming moment perhaps of my younglife then. And it took me probably
(05:38):
a good six months to feel comfortablephotographing in very intimate situations with the President
United States where the Secret Service letsyou do your thing and there's no restrictions.
So that was a little overwhelming,you know. Like I said,
(05:59):
it took months to get to,you know, a good sense of comfort
in that room. I've heard toldis really designed to kind of keep you
off balance if you're guested in there, just that Oval room where there's no
angles or anything. It's it's meantto keep you kind of on your toes.
Well, I mean subsequent to that, I mean, I think every
(06:20):
time I saw somebody come into theOval Office for the first time and I
could recognize the feeling they were havingthat I had had before. Yeah,
so I tried to. I triedto, you know, keep that in
mind, especially for the first timevisitors to the Oval Office. Again,
(06:41):
we're talking with Pete Susa, whois a best selling author, speaker,
freelance photographer. He will be speakingin July at the warrengey Harding Symposium,
presenting through the Photographer's Lens Exploring theUnited States Presidency. That will be on
Friday July fourteenth and Saturday July fifteen. We talked. You talked a little
(07:01):
bit about going in and working forPresident Reagan and obviously later on working for
President Obama. What are some keysto navigating the balance between getting as close
as possible as a photographer covering thepresident and also not getting in the way
and almost being invisible. Well,first and foremost, a reminder that you're
(07:24):
an observer with a camera. You'reyou're not a participant in everything that's tagment
plays U. Two is is youknow, just being as unoccrusive as possible.
I mean I never used a flash, I didn't use a you know,
a motor drive on a camera.I would shoot single frame, um,
(07:47):
just just trying to move about asquietly as possible and yet be you
know, be right there where wherethings were happening. It be kind of
overwhelming knowing certain moments as you wereshooting them where it was like, man,
(08:07):
this is a big moment, thisis a very historical moment. Could
that Could you get caught up inthat? Or were you able to just
you always remembered your job, thisis what it is, and maybe afterwards
you realize what you caught, youknow. I think it helped, especially
in the Obama administration, being aseason photojournalists. I mean after I left
(08:28):
the Reagan administration, I had analmost another career as a freelancer for ten
years, freelance Atogrists ten years,and then working as the national international photographers
for the Chicago Tribune for almost tenyears, in which case I you know,
was in war zones that covered theaftermath of nine to eleven. Traveled
(08:50):
all around the world for the Tribune, and so I think it helped to
have had many experiences in my life, and also for it helps so much
that I knew Barack Obama for fouryears before he became president, when I
(09:11):
was worning for the Tribune. Idid this project on his first couple of
years in the Senate and spent alot of time with him, so he
got to know me quite well.I mean, it was a professional relationship,
but having had that previous experience withhim, him knowing me, me
knowing him, I think it madeit so much easier for me in the
(09:35):
Obama administration to not get overwhelmed.Were there moments, sure, you know,
in the middle of the big ladenrate, knowing the consequences of how
this raid turned out, it wasgoing to affect this presidency. Obviously,
the stakes were really high. Itwas very tense in that room, and
(09:58):
certainly you're aware of the historic natureof it, but at the same time,
you're making pictures the same way youdid the day before when maybe not
much was going on. So there'sthere's something to be said for just you
know, being there every day,photographing people, understanding why you're there,
why you're documenting for history. Thatmade it that much easier for me.
(10:24):
That's just fascinating to me. Iwanted to mention I watched excerpts of your
documentary The Way I See It,which I can't wait. I didn't get
a chance to watch the whole waythrough, but it was just what I
saw was fascinating. And you talkedabout the relief of leaving the White House
and yet you're worried about the incomingadministration. And it made me think that,
(10:46):
you know, while you're in ajob like that, you really have
to kind of push back your personalpolitical beliefs at times. Is that a
difficult thing to do or was itsomething that again you can you can keep
the professional side of it hang outseparate from the from the personal side of
it. Well, I think itwould be difficult for me to have worked
(11:09):
for a president who you know,I did respect as a human being.
UM. I didn't necessarily agree withUM. You know, I was probably
on a different side politically than PresidentReagan, but I liked and respected him
as as a as a person.UM. So as long as you as
(11:30):
long as you um are able tohave that type of person as your main
subject, UM, then I don'tthink it matters much whether you're you know,
politically aligned with them on everything they'redoing. So that kind of leads
me into another question. You know, we know that politically Presidents Reagan and
(11:54):
Obama are They're very different. Youwere able to see a personal side of
both of them. So what wouldmaybe surprise our listeners about these two men
in comparison to each other. Isthere anything that they're very similar in comparison
to each other, or is thereanything that doesn't necessarily surprise anybody? You
(12:16):
know that it's funny. I mean, you know, Reagan was old fashioned.
You know, he came from Hollywoodin the forties and fifties, was
in his seventies when he was president. Kids were all grown. The eighties
(12:37):
were just a different time. Butyou know, I think the similarities that
I saw between Reagan and Obama.One is they both had this pretty even
keeled disposition, which I think isprobably a good attribute to have in that
(12:58):
job because how much is thrown atthrown at you every day that if you're
gonna lose your shit over every littlething, then you know it's going to
be hard for you to function.Um. And so I think both of
them were able to, um,you know, just maintain a very even
(13:20):
temper. Did Did they ever getreally upset and angry? Um? Of
course they did, but it didn'thappen like every day. So I think
that's the one similarity that I tendto see with the two of them.
Two I think, Um, Idon't know if people are aware of this
(13:41):
or not, but I think bothof them had a really good sense of
humor, which again I think isprobably a good attribute to have in that
job. Yeah. I And justas an outsiders somebody that that's watched a
lot of both of those presents throughthrough media and things like that, it
(14:03):
seems like they both were really goodat reading a room, whether it be
the you know, speaking before thepress, or possibly even speaking in front,
you know, with their aids oranything like that. They just seem
like they both could read a roomand knew just what direction they need to
take the conversation or the talk,whatever they were doing. Is that fair
(14:24):
to say? Yeah, I thinkthat is fair today. I hadn't really
thought about it that much, Um, but yeah, I think that's I
think that's a fair analysis. Again, speaking with Pete Susa, and Pete
has had the distinction of working bothfor President Obama and President Reagan as White
(14:46):
House photographer. Actually in his timewith President Obama, he was a chief
official White House photographer during the eightyears that President Obama was in office.
So during your time, there werethere moments that that just made you immensely
proud to be there, Oh forsure. I mean, Um, the
(15:09):
probably the two that come to mindare one the day that the Affordable Care
Act passed. Um. You knowthat he signed that bill in twenty ten
and it still stands today despite manyattempts to upend it. And so that
(15:30):
was that that was a that wasa proud day. And then another one
was was um that he um happenedto be president when the Supreme Court upheld
same sex marriage. Um, thatwe have progressed so far as a country
that that um happened, and Ibelieve it was in twenty fifteen, so
(15:58):
during uh, your time since workingin the White House. And I think
I probably know kind of the answerto this, But were you able or
even if if if not able justtime to time? Did you keep in
touch with Presidents Reagan and Obama afterthey left the White House? I would
(16:19):
imagine you have probably kept in touchwith President Obama, but uh, you
know, with either one of them, have you been able to keep in
touch or did you keep in touchwith President Reagan? You know, I
did keep in touch with President Reagan. A matter of fact, I have
some handwritten notes that he and Icorresponded several times and he would write me
back. And then, of course, five years after he left the office,
(16:45):
he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, soI didn't really have a chance to
talk to him after After that,President Obama and I keep in touch on
a regular basis. Matter of fact, I'll be seeing him again and August
I just saw him, what isthis business true? Already see him?
(17:08):
I just saw him last month inLa So I see him, you know,
two or three times a year.That's just that just blows me away
to be able to do something likethat and then have because like you had
said, it was a professional relationshipduring that eight years. But I would
think working that closely, it's it'shard for it not to become somewhat personal
(17:33):
over time and then afterwards be ableto maintain that personal relationship. Yeah.
And I think the fact that Iwas president for every emotion he went through
as president during those eight years,there's a bond between us, I think
because of that. So one lastquestion. You know, it seems like
you've lived maybe one of the fullestlife I've I've heard of, between working
(17:57):
at major news for then working inthe White House, going back and freelancing
and going back to the White House. How do you spend your time now?
I would imagine obviously you're still involvedin in media, still involved in
in taking photographs, and you're writingbooks, and I do know that you're
(18:18):
you're doing work with as a professorover to Ohio University. How do you
spend your time now? Uh?You know, first and foremost, I
try to spend as much time withmy two granddaughters as I can. Um
that they are my main photographic subjectsas well, um so um. And
(18:41):
I also do a little bit ofphotography here and there, I do some
speaking. Um, I've got aphoto workshop coming up in September. UM,
let's see. I'm and I thinkI'll probably spend a lot of time
right now to trying to organize myfree white house are you know, kind
of gather all my old negatives andslides and get them in a some kind
(19:07):
of an organization so that I cantake that archive and either sell or donate
it to some educational institution. Thatjust sounds amazing and I would I would
definitely be one of those that wouldline up to go see that because from
what I've seen so far, it'sbeen very impressive. Pete, thank you
(19:29):
so much for taking the time.I want to remind everyone Pete will be
coming to the Ohio State University atMarion for the Warren Y Harding Symposium Through
the Photographer's Lens Exploring the United StatesPresidency Friday July fourteenth and Saturday July fifteenth.
You call OSUM to get information onthat at eight hundred seven six two
(19:52):
five six four six or six onefour nine or two nine two two to
eight one. Pete, thank youfor taking the time. I think all
of us in this area is shouldbe just absolutely thrilled to be able to
come and just see what you haveto say. Well, I appreciate you
having me on, and I wouldlike to add that I will be joined
(20:12):
by Kara Finnegan who is a professorat the University of Illinois who wrote a
book on photographic presidents and talking moreabout the history of photography and presidents that
go away before me. So itshould be interesting presentation as well, or
(20:37):
it should be Yeah, that soundsvery interesting, So make sure you get
get your information for this again thephone number eight hundred seven six two five
six four six or six one fourtwo nine two two to eight one.
There's a bunch of different way thingsthat you can do either for all events.
(20:59):
There's differ pricing for just the openingreception, dinner and keynote speaker,
all kinds of things that you cando. There's workshops and again deals a
lot with not just the history ofPresident Harding, which will be discussed,
but history of the presidents through photographyoverall. So Pete, thanks for taking
the time and I hope you havea wonderful day. You bet, thanks
for having me on.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.