Text and Photos : José
Manuel Serrano Esparza
Picture made by Lisl Steiner in Times Square (New York) on November 22, 1963, a few hours after being known that JFK had been slain in Dallas (Texas), which prompted the launching of a number of special editions by the most significant newspapers and illustrated magazines of the time.
© Lisl Steiner
50 years later, Lisl Steiner inside WestLicht Vienna beside a copy on black and white photographic paper of the picture she made in Times Square (New York) on November 22, 1963, a few hours after John Fitzgerald Kennedy´s death was announced.
© jmse
The assassination, which happened in Dallas (Texas) on November 22, 1963, shocked the world and had an exceedingly comprehensive coverage within the whole both American and international press.
After the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35th President of the United States, in Dallas (Texas) on November 22, 1963, his state funeral and burial were held between 23 and 25 of that month and year inside the Rotunda of Capitol in Washington and the Arlington Cemetery in Virginia.
Those events were
photographed by the Austrian American photojournalist Lisl Steiner, working for
Keystone Press Agency, with a 24 x 36 mm format Leica M2 rangefinder camera and
a Leitz Canada Summicron-M 35 mm f/2 First Version SAWOM 11308 featuring 8
elements in 6 groups.
Throughout the following three days after the assassination, the State Funeral developed.
Throughout the following three days after the assassination, the State Funeral developed.
Firstly, the casket with
JFK´s body was taken by the Air Force One aircraft from Dallas to Washington
D.C, his autopsy being made at the Bethesda Naval Hospital, being subsequently
transferred to the White House East Room on Saturday November 23, 1963 at 4:30
a.m, where the bier rested on a catafalque lying in state for 24 hours. The
former United States presidents Harry S. Truman and Dwight H. Eisenhower along
with Herbert Hoover Jr (representing his father the former president Herbert
Hoover, who was ill) arrived to express their condolences to Jacqueline
Kennedy, Attorney General Robert Kennedy, Senator Edward Kennedy and the rest
of JFK´s relatives.
In the
middle of a dead silence and high security measures, The Austro-American
photojournalist working for Keystone Press Agency managed to photograph the
coffin with the body of John Fitzgerald Kennedy inside the Rotunda of Capitol
in Washington D.C, shooting handheld at f/4 with its Leica M2 rangefinder
camera and Summicron-M 35 mm f/2 first version SAWOM at a very slow shutter
speed. Needless to say that the lack of swiveling mirror and the whispering
noise of the shutter release button were fundamental to keep utter discretion
during the photographic act and to get amazing sharpness visible in both the
U.S marine and the American flag under exceedingly dim light conditions.
©
Lisl Steiner
The next day Sunday
November 24, 1963, the bier with John Fitzgerald Kennedy´s remains and covered
with the United States flag was borne on a caisson drawn by horses up to the
Rotunda of Capitol for its lying in state and wake, and during the whole
day, hundreds of thousands of persons made very long queues to give their last
farewell to the slain president, whose coffin was custodied by an honor guard.
A sepulchral silence ruled
the vigil (only interrupted by the eulogies delivered by Senate Majority Leader
Mike Mansfield of Montana, Chief Justice Earl Warren and Speaker McCormack),
with JFK´s coffin inside the Rotunda of Capitol, overcrowded with
personalities of United States in different scopes, relatives and friends of
Kennedy family and a number of dignitaries from all over the world who were
arriving during the day.
50 years later.
Lisl Steiner at Westlicht Vienna next to a copy on black and white photographic
paper of one of the pictures she made with Leica M2 and Leitz Canada
Summicron-M 35 mm f/2 Version 1 SAWOM 11308 inside the Rotunda of Capitol of
Washington during the lying in state and wake of the coffin with John
Fitzgerald Kennedy´s human remains. In spite of the rather dim light conditions
prevailing at the moment, she was able to shoot handheld at f/4 and a very low
shutter speed of 1/8 sec thanks to the very compact size and weight of the
Leica M2 and the tiny wideangle lens, along with the lack of a slapping mirror
inherent to rangefinder cameras and the high for the time ISO 200 sensitivity
of the 24 x 36 mm format Kodak Super-XX Safety Panchromatic black and white
film used. This way, the photographer could get enough depth of field to render
both the United States flag on the whole JFK´s coffin and the two members of
the honor guard in focus.
© jmse
Lisl Steiner, who was
covering the State Funeral as a photographer for Keystone Press Agency, spent
all the night inside the Rotunda of Capitol by her great friend Cornell Capa
(sent by Life) and could live the huge emotional intensity pervading the event
(presided by Kennedy family, the just sworn in new president Lyndon Johnson,
the members of the Congress and a lot of civil servants of the American
administration), getting some pictures both of John Fitzgerald Kennedy´s bier
and the atmosphere reigning within the symbolic building oozing a remarkable
architectural design, which also held among others the funerary services for
Abraham Lincoln.
The State Funeral was also
photographically covered by other acclaimed photographers like Elliot Erwitt
(Magnum), René Burri (Magnum), Eddie Adams (AP), Cecil Stoughton (AP), Abbie
Rowe (National Park Service), Henry L. Griffith (AP), Harry Naltchayan (The
Washington Post), William C. Allen (AP), Robert Knudsen (Office of the Naval
Aide to the President), Wally McNamee (The Washington Post), Henry Burroughs
(AP), Charles del Vecchio (The Washington Post), John Rooney (AP), David S.
Schwartz (U.S Army Signal Corps) and others.
On November 25, 1963,
JFK´s coffin left the Rotunda of Capitol and was taken in procession (headed
by Jacqueline Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Edward M. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson,
Lucy Baines Johnson, James Auchincloss, R. Sargent Shriver, Steven Smith and
some secret agents in protection tasks, while the fairly abundant foreign
dignitaries arrived from the five continents, walked behind them)
After a frantic
effort, Lisl Steiner manages to advance through the crowd and the security cordon
and photographs with her Leica M2 and her Leitz Canada Summicron-M 35 mm f/2
First Version SAWOM 11308 well-known dignitaries from all over the world who
have come to pay their last respects to John Fitzgerald Kennedy, and walk
towards St. Matthew´s Cathedral. From left to right can be seen: Heinrich
Luebcke (President of West Germany), Charles de Gaulle (President of France),
King Baodouin of Belgium, Queen Frederika of Greece, Emperor Haile Selassie of
Ethiopia and Diosdado Macapagal (President of Philippines).
up to St. Matthew´s
Cathedral, where a Requiem Mass was held.
Then, when the Mass
finished, the casket with JFK´s body abandoned the cathedral and the funeral
procession began with everybody walking the streets of Washington D.C towards
the Arlington National Cemetery, where John Fitzgerald Kennedy was buried in
the midst of grief outpouring shared by all the attendees, among whom there
were 220 dignitaries coming from 92 countries.
Photograph made by Lisl
Steiner in which she captures the ceremony of folding flag over John Fitzgerald
Kennedy´s casket previous to its interment at Arlington National Cemetery on November
25, 1963. Charles de Gaulle (President of France) and Haile Selassie (Emperor
of Ethiopia) are clearly visible in the middle of the image. Ludwig Erhard
(Chancellor of West Germany) is behind Haile Selassie, while on his right
appear Diosdado Macapagal (President of
Philippines) and Chung Hee Park (President of South Korea).
© Lisl Steiner
Just beyond the United
States flag are Hayato Ikeda (Prime Minister of Japan) and Herbert Charles
Hoover Jr, son of the 31st President of the United States Herbert Clark Hoover(who
couldn´t attend the funeral because of illness).
King Baudoin I of Belgium
is in the middle far right of the photograph, and in front of him him are the
Queen Frederika of Greece and Senator Edward Kennedy.
Jacqueline Kennedy is the
woman with mourning black attire and veil nearest to the camera, and the man by
her on the right is Attorney General Robert Kennedy.
220 dignitaries from 92
countries were present at the state funeral.
©
Lisl Steiner
Jacqueline Kennedy, Robert
Kennedy and Ted Kennedy begin to abandon Arlington National Cemetery after the
burial of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, being accompanied by Chief Justice Earl
Warren. The Leica M2 proves to be an excellent photojournalistic working tool,
particularly in symbiosis with the Leitz Canada Summicron Summicron-M 35 mm f/2
First Version SAWOM 11308 featuring 8 elements in 6 groups,
designed by Walter Mandler
at Leitz Canada factory in Midland (Ontario), following the classical
Double-Gauss scheme but adding two further elements, with a weight of only 150
g and highly miniaturized dimensions, which provided great comfort of use along
with a good quality at maximum aperture and superb quality stopping down from
f/4, as happens in this picture in which Lisl Steiner shoots at f/8 taking advantage
of the plentiful natural light available. Presented at the Photokina Köln 1958,
its optical formula including a lot of rare earth glasses and exotic coatings
was optimized by Mandler to achieve best results at f/4 and f/5.6, being
likewise a cult lens, because of its famous and unique subtle gradation of the
out of focus areas, its gorgeous cosmetic beauty
and an exceptional
mechanic construction greatly made by Hans Karl Wiese, an outstanding Leitz
Canada fifties and sixties specialist on the mounting of optical elements
during the assembling stage of the objectives and Horst Haseneier, a true
optical genius sporting a painstaking artisan profile and a consummate expert
in the grinding and polishing of those optical elements. In addition, already
in 1957, Rudolf Seck, Head of the Applications Laboratory at Leitz (Wetzlar),
had made abundant tests with several prototypes of this lens sent from Leitz
Midland (Canada) to evaluate its performance in real use by professional
photographers (something that Leica has always prioritized over the MTF graphs
of its lenses on assessing their true optical and mechanical virtues),
realizing its amazing image quality, very special fingerprint, versatility and
duration keeping identical behavior during a lot of decades of intensive use.
50 years later.
Lisl Steiner inside the Café of Schönbrunn Palace Gloriette in Vienna, with a
30 x 40 cm print on black and white photographic paper of the picture made at
Arlington National Cemetery during the ceremony of folding flag some seconds
before the interment of John Fitzgerald Kennedy on November 25, 1963.
© jmse
Lisl Steiner on
November 24, 2013, the day of the 50th Anniversary of John Fitzgerald Kennedy´s
Funeral, in the balcony of the Gloriette of Vienna Schönbrunn Palace, visible
in the background. The photographer remembers very well every detail both
regarding the whole night she spent inside the Capitol Rotunda of Washington
D.C on November 24th 1963 and the scenes of collective distress she witnessed
during the interment of the 35th President of the United States on November
25th, 1963 in Arlington Cemetery.
© jmse
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