It’s an iconic photo of President John F. Kennedy. It has hung on the walls of the Smithsonian, and you can buy it on t-shirts online. But the photo wasn’t taken in Washington D.C. or Martha’s Vineyard. Instead it was taken right here in the Central Valley. Today on KVPR’s Central Valley Roots, the story of photojournalist Sam Vestal’s historic image of JFK.
The day was August 18th 1962. President Kennedy was in Los Banos with California Governor Pat Brown to break ground on the San Luis Reservoir. Kennedy was not only celebrating the joint state and federal water project, he was also helping a friend. Governor Brown was facing a tough re-election campaign, facing off against Kennedy’s former rival Richard Nixon. A large crowd gathered under the hot Valley sun for President Kennedy’s speech, which was delivered from a temporary grandstand built for the event.
Directly opposite the president was photographer Sam Vestal, a first-rate California photojournalist. A few years prior, his work helped win the Pulitzer Prize at a small newspaper in Watsonville. Here in Los Banos, standing on a platform with a telephoto lens, Vestal captured the image of his career. It’s a tightly cropped image of JFK staring straight into the camera, his hand resting on his chin, with each lens of his tortoise-shell sunglasses reflecting the image of the crowd.
In 2017, when the Smithsonian held an exhibit celebrating JFK’s 100th birthday, the Vestal family was on hand for the celebration. Their father’s photo was one of those chosen to tell the story of the 35th President of the United States of America.
