Fred J. Maroon (1924–2001)

Richard Nixon did not have the ethical requisites to be elected dogcatcher, but he was a thoroughly fascinating denizen of the Oval Office. Fred Maroon was given practically carte blanc to photograph the president and other inhabitants of the White House, and most of these resulting photographs have never been published. The text is by Tom Wicker, who writes ably, but I was more interested by Maroon's thorough annotation of each photograph, sharing his thought processes at the time of clicking the shutter, to the present time. Of particular interest is the occasional photograph of a relative unknown at the time who would later become famous; e.g., Hillary Clinton (Rodham at the time, before her marriage to Bill), in her role as an aide at the House Judiciary Impeachment hearings, or Donald Rumsfeld. Also interesting was the photo of John Lennon and Yoko Ono as spectators at the Watergate hearings. A fascinating book of photographs from a tumultuous time in our history.… (mais)