25 iconic photos of presidents throughout the last 100 years
Throughout the last 100 years, there have been countless pictures snapped of presidents. Here are 25 of the most powerful.
Lyndon B. Johnson is the first and only president to take the presidential oath on a plane after he was inaugurated on Air Force One following President John F. Kennedy's assassination.
Numerous celebrities have snapped their picture with presidents, including Michael Jackson and President Reagan in 1984 and Elvis Presley and President Nixon in 1970.
Regardless of who wins the 2020 election on November 3, there will be striking photos taken to mark the occasion. Throughout the last century, there have been dozens of iconic pictures taken of the president of the United States.
From celebratory and historic shots to somber candids, here are 25 iconic pictures of presidents taken in the last 100 years.
Almost a century ago, President Warren Harding was pictured shaking hands with Babe Ruth at Yankee Stadium.
President Warren Harding was a huge baseball fan. According to Sports Broadcast Journal, in the 1920s while living in Marion, Ohio, Harding owned part of Marion's town team, the Diggers, in the Ohio State League. He also had experience in the news industry, where he developed a knowledge of the game. This would come in handy when he met Brooklyn baseball reporter Thomas S. Rice, who had the latest information on the New York Yankees' newest acquisition: Babe Ruth.
Eventually, Harding hosted Babe Ruth at the White House for a bourbon during an away game in Washington and even threw out a first pitch.
Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover shared a car ride to Hoover's inauguration in 1929.
President Herbert Hoover's inauguration ceremony was significant, according to the Library of Congress, because it was the first to be recorded by talking newsreel. The day was also slated to be full of fanfare but it rained, so Hoover's $3,000 fireworks show was delayed by two days. However, according to the National Archives, it was "reported to be the most magnificent ever seen in Washington."
Franklin Delano Roosevelt happily announced the end of German occupation in Rome during a radio broadcast in 1944.
During the broadcast, FDR said, "One up, two to go," according to the BBC. Following the city's liberation by the Allies, Roman citizens flooded the streets to celebrate.
Winston Churchill, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Joseph Stalin met after World War II.
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Premier of the Soviet Union Joseph Stalin were pictured together in the city of Yalta on the Crimean Peninsula in 1945. "The Big Three" Allied leaders assembled to discuss the post-war future of Germany and the rest of Europe, Soviet assistance in the war against Japan, and the creation of a new United Nations, according to History.com.
A gleeful Harry Truman held up a misprinted edition of the Chicago Daily Tribune saying he'd lost the 1948 election.
In this now-famous photograph, Harry Truman holds a copy of the Chicago Daily Tribune that incorrectly printed a front-page story with the headline "Dewey Defeats Truman."
According to History.com, election polls and pundits predicted that Republican candidate Thomas Dewey was a shoo-in for election, leading the Chicago newspaper (which went to print early to have a paper in stands by the time the election was called) to make this embarrassingly famous mistake.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Queen Elizabeth II had a strong relationship and met several times, like here in 1957.
President Eisenhower and the Queen were pictured during a White House State Banquet in 1957. President Eisenhower is wearing the British Order of Merit that King George VI awarded him after World War II. Queen Elizabeth's visit came during the Cold War, which, according to Time, was an important time for the US and the UK to have a strong relationship.
President John F. Kennedy watched his children John J. and Caroline in the Oval Office in 1962.
JFK was not afraid to use his children for political purposes, ABC News reported, and frequently called for photographers to snap pictures of them playing when Jackie left. JFK especially enjoyed being with his son, who "was the apple of his eye."
Bill Clinton, then just 16, was photographed shaking hands with President Kennedy during a White House visit in 1963.
The future president snuck in a handshake with President Kennedy while visiting the White House with the American Legion Boys Nation.
Lyndon B. Johnson accepted the presidency immediately following Kennedy's death, becoming the only president to take the oath of office on a plane.
Jackie Kennedy watched as Johnson was inaugurated following the assassination of her husband on November 22, 1963. Johnson's first inauguration was on Air Force One; his second took place in Washington, DC, on January 20, 1965, according to the Library of Congress.
President Johnson met with Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders at the White House in 1963.
As well as King, Johnson met with Whitney M. Young Jr. of the National Urban League and James Farmer of the Congress of Racial Equality to discuss the civil rights movement.
According to NPR, LBJ and MLK placed a lot of trust in each other — two months before their meeting and shortly after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the two spoke. According to NPR, Johnson wanted King to know "how worthy I'm going to try to be of all your hopes." King later told Time, "[The president] means business."
"I think we can expect even more from him than we have had up to now," he said.
Elvis Presley met with President Richard Nixon in December 1970.
As Time wrote, the King was mounting his comeback selling out shows in Las Vegas, and, before Watergate ruined his public image, Nixon was gaining popularity for promising to end the war in Vietnam and desegregate schools.
Nixon gestured the peace sign after resigning from the presidency in 1974.
President Nixon saluted his staff outside the White House as he boarded a helicopter on August 9, 1974. After bowing to pressure from Congress and the public for him to resign due to his involvement in the Watergate scandal, Nixon became the first president in US history to resign from office.
Gerald Ford spent some time with his wife, Betty, during her recovery from surgery in this personal shot from 1975.
President Ford sits with Betty in the first lady's hair salon on the second floor of the White House Executive Residence in 1975. Three months earlier, Betty underwent breast cancer surgery; in this shot, she's getting her hair done ahead of the unveiling of her official portrait.
President Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan welcomed Michael Jackson to the White House in 1984.
Pop star Michael Jackson traveled to the White House in 1984 to receive the Presidential Public Safety Commendation from President Reagan. Jackson received the award for his philanthropy after he allowed the song "Beat It" to be used in an anti-drunk driving campaign, according to the singer's website.
President Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev are pictured signing the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 1987.
After two tense years of failing to reach an agreement, they signed the arms control agreement, which banned the use of intermediate-range nuclear missiles. Subsequently, "the Soviets eliminated about 1,500 medium-range missiles from Europe and the United States removed nearly half that number," according to History.com.
President George H.W. Bush spent Thanksgiving with troops in Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Shield in 1990.
Two months before the Gulf War began, President George H.W. Bush traveled to Saudi Arabia in 1990 to spend Thanksgiving with American troops. According to The Washington Post, first lady Barbara Bush, who also visited, was a big hit with troops who were homesick and missing their families.
President Bill Clinton took a jog with South Korean President Kim Young-sam in 1993.
The two leaders sported some groovy '90s tracksuits while jogging near the White House in 1993. While President Clinton loved jogging — for equal parts exercise and meeting the public — US News reports that for the Secret Service, keeping the president safe while exercising was one of the most anxiety-inducing parts of the job. One former member went so far as to call it a "nightmare."
President Clinton is seen grinning following the signing of the Mideast Accord between Israel and Palestine in 1995.
Despite a last-minute handwritten amendment to the 400-page document, The Washington Post reports that the two leaders agreed to peacefully extend Palestinian rule on the West Bank.
President George W. Bush learned of the September 11 terrorist attacks while he was visiting an elementary school in Florida.
During a visit to the Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Chief of Staff Andy Card whispered the news in Bush's ear that two planes had crashed into the World Trade Center. ABC News reported that after learning of the terrorist attacks, Bush stayed at the school for 7 more minutes to hear a class of second graders read "The Pet Goat" to him before he departed to address the nation.
Former President George H.W. Bush celebrated his 80th birthday by skydiving with the Army Golden Knights.
Former President George H.W. Bush celebrated his 80th birthday in style in 2004 by strapping into a harness with Staff Sergeant Bryan Schell of United States Army Golden Knights and skydiving outside Houston, Texas. Bush was known as an avid fan of skydiving, in fact, every five years he'd celebrate his birthday by parachuting from the sky. His first aerial jump was in 1944 during his time serving in the US Navy.
Five presidents united in 2009 for Barack Obama's welcome to the White House.
Former President George W. Bush, on January 7, 2009, welcomed then-President Elect Barack Obama to the White House. Former presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Jimmy Carter also joined them in the Oval Office for the event.
President Obama honored the 50th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery civil rights marches in Selma, Alabama, in 2015.
The Obamas walked with the late Rep. John Lewis and Amelia Boynton Robinson, both of whom were original marchers, and the Reverend Al Sharpton across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Former President George W. Bush and former first lady Laura Bush also walked during the event.
President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden were photographed in the Situation Room with members of the national security team during the 2011 mission to kill Osama Bin Laden.
Obama announced later that US Special Forces had killed Bin Laden at a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
President Donald Trump held up a copy of the Washington Post after he was acquitted of two articles of impeachment in February 2020.
The Senate formally acquitted Trump of two articles of impeachment, which charged that he abused his power and obstructed Congress. The photo, taken in the East Room of the White House, came after five months of congressional hearings and investigations into allegations that President Trump broke the law by pressuring Ukraine to help his re-election efforts.
A lightning bolt stretched across the sky as President Trump departed Air Force One in 2020.
The powerful photo shows President Trump after he arrived at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland following a campaign rally in August 2020.
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