Forew what i wanted to do the rest of my life. I was on a mission to those on to the news media somehow. I was lucky enough to do that. Out of the marine corps newspplied at apy pictures. Hee balls in new york t were sonew york said we tired of getting your letters stop theecided to you. Rs and hire thet to know austin and people and i grew fond of austin. Gig toht what a great hook on to a lucky break like that. Bgining ofght at the y of 63. Jul i came on board, and as you know the kennedy assassination happened. Eight bells went off and the theetin came out that president had been shot in dal las. Dayd been with him the before. He and jackie. They were going to send me to dallas with him but there was a dinner in washington. Havingocrats disagreement. Texas. Why he came to i was transferred to philadelphia. Before we get away from your upi stint here in austin. Present in that fateful moment when Lee Harvey Oswald was being transferred from the Police Station and he was shot. You wer
We also have the collection of david valdez, he was george w. Bushs white house photographer. And we have diana walker, a Time Magazine photographer for 20 years. She is known for her work covering hillary clinton. She covered the Clinton White house really broadly and deeply. She also cover the Reagan Administration and george h. W. Bush. David valdez and diana walker are actively involved in our program. They both belong to our advisory council. What you hope viewers will take away . The importance of photojournalists and new documentary news documentarians. The value of their work, not only for the news but also as historical evidence. These photographs capture and document an amazing array of extremely important processes and event and personalities. I hope the public appreciates the work that they do. They see their work every day on television and newspapers and so forth, and i hope they will not only appreciate the work that the photographers themselves. Thanks for joining us. Y
American history at the university of texas at austin. One of the things we want to find out is how your career began. I know your father was the chief photographer for the philadelphia inquirer, but that does not mean that you would become a photographer. It started with the photographers at the philadelphia inquirer. I used to go back and harass them and then end up upside down. In the print barrel [laughter] i just was enamored with what they did in the business. Justther passed away before my 15th birthday. But i knew what i wanted to do the rest of my life. And i did not know how i was going to do it, but i was on a mission to try to have gone hook on to the news media somehow and become a part of photojournalism. And i was lucky enough to do that. I got out of the marine corps and i had applied at upi news pictures. As the boss said to me in new york, we got so tired of getting letters from you to have a job that we decided to stop the letters and hire you. I ended up coming to a
I know that we can talk a lot about your background and your history as an ap reporter. Given the time constraints, i want to jump into your photos of president bush. Tell the story of how you became the official White House Photographer. I love how you got the job. Mr. Draper i will give you the long story. Because it is fascinating to me. I never planned on being the White House Photographer. It was an opportunity that presented itself. Back when i was a Staff Photographer at the ap and most of my career has been in the journalism newspaper wire service business, i was assigned to cover the campaign president ial campaign in 2000. I was assigned to cover governor bush, who was running for office. I was among many journalists traveling on the campaign trail for nearly 18 months. And it was not until the very end of the campaign that it was decided actually, realized that i had a shot at the white house job, which i was very happy and satisfied with my position at the ap. I blame every