Who is this president?
Identify the commander in chief in these famous photos
The earliest forms of photography — daguerreotypes, ambrotypes and tintypes — brought studios to U.S. cities as early as the 1840s. Later, rolled film and small box cameras, called Kodaks, made photography more accessible. Camera-wielding reporters began following presidents and sharing candid images of them with the public.
Presidents, seeking some control, asked military photographers to accompany them at official events. It was John F. Kennedy, inaugurated in 1961, who hired the first official White House photographer.
From Kennedy’s time onward, presidents forged connections with citizens by releasing curated images. Fast-forward to today’s social media environment and it is clear that photography has become a central part of a modern president’s outreach.
Question #1 of 7
Which U.S. president was photographed in the White House with the king of rock ‘n’ roll?
Answer: C, Richard M. Nixon
Nixon met with Presley on December 21, 1970. Earlier that morning, according to the U.S. Library of Congress, Presley had delivered a hand-written note to a White House security guard requesting the meeting. This photo is one of the most popular in the National Archives collection.
Question #2 of 7
Which president was an “early adopter,” sitting for a photographer soon after the daguerreotype was invented?
Answer: B, John Quincy Adams
It’s Adams, the sixth president and a great supporter of technology! He called photography a “wondrous invention,” though he disliked his own photographic portraits. This 1843 daguerreotype (taken after Adams had left the White House) is owned by the National Portrait Gallery and is the earliest surviving photo of a U.S. president.
Question #3 of 7
Which future U.S. president, when visiting Washington as a teenager on a student trip, was able to shake hands with which sitting president on the White House lawn?
Answer: D, Bill Clinton shook hands with John F. Kennedy
At age 16, a young Clinton traveled with other students to Washington for a seminar and meetings with government leaders. His handshake with Kennedy lasted only seconds, but inspired Clinton to pursue a life of public service and his own election as president 30 years later.
Question #4 of 7
Which U.S. president embraced the extroverted practice of taking “selfies” with citizens to share on social media?
Answer: A, Joe Biden
At public events, Biden is known for approaching people for one-on-one conversations. According to the Associated Press, Biden “has perfected his ‘selfie arm,’ the products of which are widely shared on social media.”
Question #5 of 7
By the 1850s, technological advances, for the first time, allowed photographers to document milestone events, and the period yielded the first known photograph of a presidential inauguration. Which U.S. president, elected right before Abraham Lincoln, was being sworn in here?
Answer: B, James Buchanan
James Buchanan’s inauguration on March 4, 1857, was documented by John Wood, who served as photographer for the architect of the Capitol from 1856 to 1861. Wood’s photograph shows a large crowd at the front of the U.S. Capitol, which was still under construction, and Buchanan taking the oath of office on the east front of the U.S. Capitol.
Question #6 of 7
Which newly elected president gleefully held up a newspaper that had wrongly reported his defeat at the hands of rival Thomas Dewey?
Answer: A, Harry Truman
In one of the greatest upsets in U.S. election history, the presidential election of 1948, Truman beat his heavily favored Republican opponent, Governor Thomas Dewey of New York. W. Eugene Smith’s photo of an ebullient Truman “captures the feeling of sweet, improbable victory for a person who had been counted out too soon,” says Life magazine.
Question #7 of 7
Which five U.S. presidents, including the sitting president and the president-elect, gathered in the Oval Office in January 2009?
Answer: C, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter
This photo captures a spirit of comity and goodwill just two weeks before the transfer of power from George W. Bush, a Republican, to Obama, a Democrat. It was the first gathering of all living presidents in 27 years and came about because George W. Bush invited the others for lunch.
A portrait of President Abraham Lincoln, taken by Alexander Gardner (Library of Congress/Alexander Gardner)
A portrait of President Abraham Lincoln, taken by Alexander Gardner (Library of Congress/Alexander Gardner)
President Joe Biden poses for a selfie with diners at a restaurant during a visit to Detroit, Michigan, Feb. 1, 2024. (© Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)
President Joe Biden poses for a selfie with diners at a restaurant during a visit to Detroit, Michigan, Feb. 1, 2024. (© Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)
President Harry Truman holds up a copy of the Chicago Daily Tribune with a headline declaring his defeat by Thomas Dewey in the presidential election in St Louis on November 4, 1948. (© Underwood Archives/Getty Images)
President Harry Truman holds up a copy of the Chicago Daily Tribune with a headline declaring his defeat by Thomas Dewey in the presidential election in St Louis on November 4, 1948. (© Underwood Archives/Getty Images)
President Richard M. Nixon and Elvis Presley at the White House on December 21, 1970 (National Archives/Ollie Atkins)
President Richard M. Nixon and Elvis Presley at the White House on December 21, 1970 (National Archives/Ollie Atkins)
President Warren G. Harding shakes hands with New York Yankees baseball player Babe Ruth during an April 4, 1923, visit to Yankee Stadium. (© Bettmann/Getty Images)
President Warren G. Harding shakes hands with New York Yankees baseball player Babe Ruth during an April 4, 1923, visit to Yankee Stadium. (© Bettmann/Getty Images)
Then-President George W. Bush, center, poses with President-elect Barack Obama and former presidents, from left, George H.W. Bush, left, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, right, in the Oval Office of the White House on January 7, 2009, in Washington. (© J. Scott Applewhite/AP)
Then-President George W. Bush, center, poses with President-elect Barack Obama and former presidents, from left, George H.W. Bush, left, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, right, in the Oval Office of the White House on January 7, 2009, in Washington. (© J. Scott Applewhite/AP)
Former President John Quincy Adams sits for a daguerreotype by Philip Haas in. 1843. (National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution/Philip Haas)
Former President John Quincy Adams sits for a daguerreotype by Philip Haas in. 1843. (National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution/Philip Haas)
Inauguration of President James Buchanan at the east front of the U.S. Capitol, on March 4, 1857. (Library of Congress/John Wood)
Inauguration of President James Buchanan at the east front of the U.S. Capitol, on March 4, 1857. (Library of Congress/John Wood)
Future president Bill Clinton, as a teenage boy, shaking hands with President John F. Kennedy as other American Legion Boys Nation delegates look on during a trip to the White House in Washington (© Arnold Sachs/Getty Images)
Future president Bill Clinton, as a teenage boy, shaking hands with President John F. Kennedy as other American Legion Boys Nation delegates look on during a trip to the White House in Washington (© Arnold Sachs/Getty Images)
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