34 March 14 • 2019
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A

ward-winning photojournal-
ist Lawrence Schiller looked 
through a database of 43,000 
pictures — his among others — to 
curate the final 77 images traveling 
to museums around the country in 
commemoration of a presidential 
milestone. 
The images form the exhibit 
American Visionary: John F. Kennedy’
s 
Life and Times, launched at the 
Smithsonian American Art Museum 
in Washington, D.C., to mark the 
100th anniversary of the 35th presi-
dent’
s birth on May 29, 1917.
The exhibit, paired with a talk 
by the curator, can be seen March 
15-June 29 at the Marshall M. 
Fredericks Sculpture Museum on 
the campus of Saginaw Valley State 
University, just north of Saginaw. 
“This exhibit tells an emotional 
story of Kennedy and his times,
” says 
Schiller, whose Michigan presentation 
will be on Thursday, March 21. 
“There’
s a picture of JFK and Jackie 
all dressed up and looking glamou-
rous going out for the evening; he’
s 
in a tuxedo, and she’
s in an incredible 
pink and white outfit. Next to that is a 
picture of JFK walking 
[his very young son] to 
bed. No matter what the 
glamour was, what the 
business was, the chil-
dren were there, and he 
walked them to bed.
” 
One of Schiller’
s 
pictures, fitting in with 
the theme of emotion, 
captures Richard Nixon conceding the 
election as tears drop from Pat Nixon’
s 
eyes, and it claimed the National 
Press Photographers Association 
and Encyclopedia Awards for Best 
Storytelling Photo in 1961. 
Schiller’
s role as exhibit curator has 
a foundation of firsthand experiences 
throughout the Kennedy years and 
beyond.
During the 1960 presidential campaign, Schiller 
worked as a photojournalist covering the day-to-day 
election activities of the Nixon family for the French 
magazine Paris Match. 
In 1963, after President Kennedy was assassinated, 
Schiller went on assignment in Dallas for the Saturday 

Evening Post. He did the final interview with Jack Ruby, 
Lee Harvey Oswald’
s assassin and brother of Earl Ruby, 
who lived in Michigan. Earl Ruby coached Schiller on 
Yiddish questioning of the hospitalized gunman to limit 
guard understanding of answers spoken in English.
The year before the 2017 centennial celebration 
began, Schiller was asked by members of the Kennedy 
family to be photo and design consultant for a book, 

JFK: A Vision for America, written by 
Stephen Kennedy Smith and Douglas 
Brinkley. It highlights the late presi-
dent’
s speeches and their impact.
“I went to Washington to propose the 
exhibition,
” Schiller recalls. “I showed 
the pictures in the book, and I said 
I could get the exhibit ready in five 
months. I told them I produced and 
directed major motion pictures and 
won Oscars and Emmys so I knew how 
to produce something.
” 
Schiller’
s interest in photography 
grew out of his father’
s camera business, 
where there was a darkroom for devel-
oping pictures after the young Schiller 
received a camera for his bar mitzvah. 
As his career progressed, Schiller 
photographed many newsmakers from 
world leaders to entertainers. One of his 
famous subjects was Golda Meir.
“I went to Israel, and I remember 
photographing her with her shopping 
bag,
” Schiller says. “She didn’
t carry a 
briefcase. She carried a shopping bag 
with briefing papers, political papers 
or notes she would need for meetings. 
Depending where a conversation went, 
she would go into her shopping bag and 
take out papers.
”
Schiller moved away from profession-
al photography in the 1970s as he start-
ed producing, directing and writing. 
Among his projects were Butch Cassidy 
and the Sundance Kid and Lady Sings 
the Blues as well as the Emmy Award-
winning miniseries Peter the Great.
Schiller, who has five children and 
five grandchildren, describes himself as 
a Reform Jew who has followed through 
with his mother’
s commitment to 
Hadassah.
“My mother left half of her estate 
to Hadassah, and she had an annuity 
with Hadassah,
” he explains. “When 
she passed on, I was working with 
Hadassah and made sure her legacy was 
used properly.
”
Schiller, who has been in Michigan 
on photojournalist assignments and to develop equip-
ment for Leica, will discuss “The Golden Age of 
Journalism” upon his return to usher in the exhibit.
“I explain, in essence, how these pictures were made 
and preserved and compare it all to the technology of 
today, when there are very few still photographers of 
this caliber,
” explains Schiller, 82. ■

SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER
“American Visionary”

photography
arts&life

Lawrence 

Schiller

Photojournalist Schiller to lecture at JFK exhibit opening at Saginaw State.

TOP: Oval Office, Washington, D.C., January 1961. ABOVE LEFT: Nixon delivers televised statement at 

3:30 a. m. Los Angeles, Nov. 9, 1960. ABOVE RIGHT: Photo booth portrait.

Details
American Visionary: John F. Kennedy’
s Life and Times runs March 15-June 29 at the Marshall 
M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum on the campus of Saginaw Valley State University, 7400 Bay 
Road, University Center. Free admission. (989) 964-7125, marshallfredericks.org. For details on 
the opening reception (4-7 p.m. Thursday, March 21) and to reserve a place by March 15, call 
(989) 964-7082. The lecture runs 7-8 p.m. Thursday, March 21, at the Malcolm Field Theater.

JACQUES LOWE (COURTESY THE JACQUES LOWE ESTATE)
COURTESY JOHN F. KENNEDY PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

LAWRENCE SCHILLER (POLARIS COMMUNICATIONS INC.)

