By Wendy Thompson, Editor
Photos by DC Spotlight Newspaper and Wendy Thompson
When renowned photojournalist Harry Benson CBE accompanied The Beatles to the U.S. on February 7, 1964, he could not have fathomed the lifetime of adventure that would ultimately ensue during his illustrious career. The career spanned over 60 years and has culminated in an exhibit, Harry Benson: Washington, D.C. Iconic Photographs for the Nation’s Capital, to commemorate the historic moments and faces his photography captured.
Today, at age 95, Benson has partnered with Monumental Sports and its owner Ted Leonsis (who owns the collection) to celebrate the artistic buffet of Benson’s photography on exhibit in the gallery a few doors down from the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. On Monday, Leonsis held an opening for the exhibit, and Benson was present to add commentary for each photograph and memory from the past.
“A picture is a 1,000 words, and it captures something for all times.” — Ted Leonsis, owner of the Harry Benson: Washington, D.C. Iconic Photographs for the Nation’s Capital collection
Leonsis has been an enormous asset to the District, and when asked about the exhibit, he replied, “We’ve been collecting the art personally over a decade and come to find out, we have the largest collection of the artist Harry Benson’s photojournalism work. When we looked at it all, we said this really tells the story about Washington, D.C., so let’s create a gallery and tell the story through his art. I think it really has been an honor to work with Harry.”
Leonsis said he discovered that the works included photographs which have “been a part of every important presidential from Eisenhower to Trump [with]one photo of President Biden. But the work he did with Martin Luther King, the work he did with Robert Kennedy, being at both of their lives, their assassinations. It’s incredibly moving. And then we can’t forget, he came over in the Pan Am flight with The Beatles and went onto The Ed Sullivan Show with them and then came to DC. Their first concert was here in Washington, D.C. So Washington, D.C. played an incredible central part of our life and times, if you will. DC is where politics and power and social justice, celebrity, music and sports all come together.”
Benson has received a plethora of accolades and honors for his photography, including the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire), an honor bestowed upon him by the Queen of England in 2009 for his service to photography. Yet, it is his reputation as the photojournalist of American presidents that seems to be most venerable for the artist. Not only has he photographed every president from Dwight Eisenhower to Joe Biden, but the list of dignitaries, celebrities, newsmakers and events that have graced his lens are endless: Queen Elizabeth II, Muhammad Ali, The Beatles, Princess Diana, the assassination of Robert Kennedy, the haunting funeral of Martin Luther King, Jr., the Freedom Rides in Mississippi and more. The exhibit covers them all.
He has give American onlookers and the world a peek back in time at historical events. In 1968, covering the political campaigns, Benson was in the room near presidential candidate Robert Kennedy on that infamous night when Kennedy was shot and killed by Sirhan Sirhan at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. The photographs of Kennedy lying on the hotel floor and his wife Ethel attempting to shield the media are haunting. Today, on remembering that event, he says, “I was there the day Bobby Kennedy was assassinated. It was just a nice day, and I was following him around, and then he went to the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles…I’m about 5 yards behind him as he’s going around. Somebody (Sirhan Sirhan) came right out with a gun and shot him in the side of his head…[with]Ethel Kennedy screaming, ‘Help Help…’ It was hellish. He was down, and we knew it wasn’t good. He was dying.”
Benson particularly remembered Robert Kennedy as funny and cleaver during photo shoots. “He was a good guy too, very good. Being generous with his time. If you went to cover him, you never went back with nothing.” Benson laughed and said in cheeky manner, “He would do something interesting to make it a good shoot, something cleaver…”
President John Kennedy was also photographed by Benson in Paris at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Arc de Triomphe in 1961. It was at that event that Kennedy would famously make the statement, “I am the man who accompanied Jacqueline Kennedy to Paris, and I have enjoyed it.” Benson recalled Kennedy’s thoughtfulness in allowing reshoots if the photographer arrived late. “If you had just gotten to the incident that he had just left — which was good with the people — he would go back and do it again, you know, for us. That’s nice.”
When Benson was asked to chose his favorite president to have worked with, his answer was accompanied by a grin. “It has to be Nixon,” he says with fondness. He explained that Nixon, despite the premature demise of his presidency, was unequivocally the most considerate, accommodating, and generous with his time.
His reasoning was simple: “Because he let me into private meetings with Russians. You know, the picture you wanted to have that day, he would send somebody out to get you. And you don’t forget that…It was my business.” He continued, “Nixon always invited me in. On a plane, he would tell me, ‘We’re going to Stuttgart in Germany or some place…and there’s room in the plane for you.’ There’s no way you’re not going to like someone that volunteers to help you along the road.”
When asked about some of the other presidents, Benson had specific memories of their distinct personalities.
He said George H. W. Bush was a “nice man, gentlemanly.” When he spoke of George W. Bush’s personality, in comparison to the father, Benson replied, “Gentlemanly,” and then Gigi Benson, Harry’s wife, chimed in, recalling the day Harry had become an American citizen years ago. George W. Bush reportedly replied, “You’ve become a citizen. That means you can vote. Are you going to vote for me?” Harry answered, “I’ll think about it…” Harry added, “He was a nice guy.”
His memories of Donald Trump were strong and he said, “It’s hard for me to think of him as a president, you know to be perfectly honest. It’s like a movie role. It didn’t seem for real.” He photographed Trump several times.
On Barack Obama, he remarked that the former president was “very serious. He was a decent guy. He would stop and do what you wanted…and pass the day with you. I must say, Obama was fine. He would go back and do things [shoots]again…for us.”
Benson concluded that the key to being a great photographer is that “the photographer has to be there; you can’t make up afterwards that you were there. I wouldn’t get very far. I’m not saying that because I’m trying to be so cleaver. I wouldn’t get another assignment…”
Photojournalist Harry Benson and DC Spotlight Editor-in-chief Wendy Thompson
Benson’s wife wrapped up the essence of his photography by stressing the importance of visuals when remembering the past and determining how photographs will tell the stories to kids and future generations. “If you brought a bunch of school kids in here,” Gigi said, “and they walked around, they would learn more than in a whole semester of school, because everyone is visual. Everything is visual since the computer and the cell phone, and you learn more by seeing the photographs and reading the captions than just reading in a book.”
Leonsis marveled at the serendipitous circumstances around some of the photographs. He said, “You see the pictures upstairs of Muhammad Ali — Cassius Clay at the time — with The Beatles and to bring those groups together at one time is really an astounding bit of luck. Clay went on to beat List and The Beatles went on the Ed Sullivan Show and five unknowns became the five most popular people on the planet.” He eloquently summarized the exhibit by stating, “A picture is a 1,000 words, and it captures something for all times.”
The exhibit of Benson’s work is an extraordinarily powerful window into America’s past where tragedies, triumphs, and progress collided in a country that is constantly growing and changing. America changes just enough to be captured in historic lens of a brilliant photojournalist. For Benson, whose humility shines brightly the moment he speaks of his works, we can only stand in awe of this tremendous life’s work…and respond, bravo.
SEE THE EXHIBIT:
Harry Benson: Washington, D.C. Iconic Photographs for the Nation’s Capital exhibit will be on display for the public from October 2024 until the summer of 2025. https://harrybensondc.com/about-harry-benson/
LOCATION:
707-709 7th Street NW, Washington, DC 20001
PURCHASE PHOTOGRAPHS
Send email requests to info@harrybenson.com.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON HARRY BENSON:
The documentary HARRY BENSON: SHOOT FIRST is available on Hulu. It chronicles Benson’s life and career as a photojournalist.
