Believing is Seeing

Deep dive into the iconic Vietnam War-era photo of President Johnson taken by Jack E. Kightlinger in the Cabinet Room of the White House on July 31, 1968 from the U.S. National Archives and LBJ Presidential Library websites. References Errol Morris's book, BELIEVING IS SEEING: Observations on the Mysteries of Photography as well as Frederick Douglass's “Lecture on Pictures”. Inspired in part by Matt Novak's "The Real Story Behind That Viral Photo of President Johnson During the Vietnam War". See: https://paleofuture.com/nofuture/2020/4/20/the-real-story-behind-that-viral-photo-of-president-johnson-during-the-vietnam-war

Transcript

1. “They say seeing is believing, but the opposite is true. Believing is seeing.” BELIEVING IS SEEING – ERROL MORRIS Observations on the Mysteries of Photography
4. “There’s a photo of President Lyndon B. Johnson…that purports to show LBJ overcome with emotion at the thought of so many deaths during the Vietnam War. It’s an iconic image, but the photo is being taken out of context. In reality, Johnson probably isn’t mourning the deaths of 40,000 U.S. soldiers in the summer of 1968….”
12. “Lecture on Pictures” or “Pictures and Progress” FREDERICK DOUGLASS: December 3, 1861 “As to the moral and social influence of pictures, it would hardly be extravagant to say of it what Moore has said of ballads….The picture and the ballad are alike, if not equally social forces. One reaching and swaying the heart by the eye, the other by the ear” [emphasis added].
14. “Black and white photograph in a formal meeting room. In the front of the photograph toward the end of a long meeting table is a tape recorder, apparently playing.
15. “The photograph shows only one side of the table, which has five padded chairs at it and two more chairs pushed back toward the wall. The table is dotted with ash trays, note pads, glasses, and a pitcher.
16. “In the rear corner of the room is a bust of John F. Kennedy on a column. The only person visible in the photograph is President Johnson, who is seated about midway back at the table.
17. “He [President Johnson] has taken off his jacket, which is draped over the back of the chair next to him. The President has his head down so that his face is not visible, and his posture suggests strong emotion and/or exhaustion.
18. “His right hand is on his forehead and his left hand, with his eyeglasses held in it, is stretched out toward the front of the photograph. The general impression is of someone dealing with a great burden.” [“citizen contribution”, National Archives Catalog]
37. Morris writes, “[a photographer] posed the photograph by excluding something. . . . But how would you know?....Isn’t there always a possible elephant lurking just at the edge of the frame?” BELIEVING IS SEEING – ERROL MORRIS Observations on the Mysteries of Photography
38. “…[P]hotographs…, good and bad, now adorn or disfigure all our dwellings. Man [sic] of all conditions may now see themselves as others see them. What was once the exclusive luxury of the rich and great, is now within reach of all. The old commercial maxim that demand regulates supply is reversed here. Supply regulates demand….” “Lecture on Pictures” or “Pictures and Progress” FREDERICK DOUGLASS: December 3, 1861