Triumph and tragedy: the camera captures politicians.

• Author: Kismaric, Susan

CONTROL Of a politician's image is as old as politics itself. In William Henry Harrison's presidential campaign of 1840, at about the time of photography's introduction to the U.S., the candidate's image was shaped to an unprecedented extent. The broadly experienced public servant and military man--the son of a prominent Virginia politician--became the "log cabin and hard cider" candidate of the Whig party. Harrison was presented as a kind of backwoodsman and farmer in political songs and lithographs, and even through the generous distribution of miniature log cabins and jugs of hard cider. It is no surprise, then, that, since its inception, the photographic image of the politician has been subjected to manipulation and exploitation. During the past 150 years, however, there has been an extraordinary transformation of the means by which this has been created and controlled.

Though photographic technology has progressed inexorably, developments like the telephoto lens and motor-driven film advance encourage the making of less carefully considered pictures. At the same time, the means of manipulating the politician's image have grown ever more refined. As a result, the image of the politician no longer resonates as it once did. To a great extent, photographs of those who lead the nation have become superficial, even banal. They don't inspire or provoke people and don't describe with vitality political leaders in action. Nevertheless, despite the reservations Americans may have about the pictures' veracity, photographs are fundamental to helping make their political choices.

Among the earliest known photographs of American presidents are the daguerreotypes of John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, James Knox Polk, Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, and James Buchanan. The daguerreotype reigned for close to 20 years as the predominant method of capturing a likeness before being superseded by the collodion negative and albumen print.

Technology and pictorial conventions of portrait painting influenced how the 19th-century American politician was depicted. Long exposures--anywhere from five minutes to more than an hour for a daguerreotype, depending on the available light, and from a few to 30 seconds for photographs created with the wet-plate process--made it necessary for the sitter to remain perfectly still, making him appear composed or aloof. Details in the studio setting were standard props--a fluted column, book, and/or table--intended to lend dignity to the sitter, and many a scurrilous and illbehaved politician was made to appear statesmanly and honorable.

It was during Abraham Lincoln's presidential campaign of 1860 that photographs began to exert a far-reaching effect on politicians' careers. Photography helped shape the nation's deep affection for and admiration of Lincoln and his distinguished and somewhat strange physical appearance through the camera's ability to depict his charismatic countenance. The relationship between man and camera prefigures facets of contemporary political photography--including the photo opportunity, physical manipulation of imagery, and use of an image to sell a candidate.

It was not until the 1870s that it...