Joe O'Donnell plagiarized photos?

I read a sad article in today's newspaper--that Joe O'Donnell, 85, a local photographer of some fame (and who died in Nashville August 10) had made false claims about some photos he had taken.

I did not know the man, but had seen some of his work around town in photo exhibits and on sale at local art galleries. The man hadn't just taken any old photos, but photos that captured the nation's history and soul. O'Donnell had served as an official White House photographer for five presidents, from FDR to Johnson. Some of his outstanding works included the famous photo of "John John" saluting his father's coffin in the funeral parade in November 1963, and the 1959 photo of the "Kitchen Debate" between VP Richard Nixon and Nikita Khrushchev in Moscow, among others. The problem is apparently he didn't really take the photos.

After reading his obituary and seeing the reports on television, other photographers stood up to say he did not take the photos and said who did. It is amazing it took this long to find this out.

This recent revelation has left many scratching their heads and asking why, including his widow. She claimed that he was in ill health, which could account for some of this behavior.

I just hate that this came out now, when he can't defend himself.

The New York Times published his obituary, later adding these corrections:


Correction: September 5, 2007

Two pictures on Aug. 14 with an obituary about the news photographer Joe O’Donnell carried erroneous credits, and the obituary also included one of the incorrect credits. The photograph of a saluting John F. Kennedy Jr. during the funeral for his father in 1963 was taken by Stan Stearns for United Press International, not by Mr. O’Donnell. The photographer who took the second picture, showing Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill during a wartime meeting in Tehran in 1943, is not known, although Mr. O’Donnell claimed credit for it and the Kennedy picture. Mr. O’Donnell is not known to have been in Tehran at the time.
A Nashville gallery that handled Mr. O’Donnell’s work supplied the incorrect information. The Times is researching other claims by Mr. O’Donnell reported in the obituary.


Correction: September 15, 2007


An obituary on Aug. 14 about the photographer Joe O’Donnell, who learned the craft with the Marine Corps during World War II, described well-known pictures of four presidents that he claimed to have taken. A correction in this space on Sept. 5 described two erroneous credits to him on photographs which ran with the obituary — one, also mentioned in the obituary, of John F. Kennedy Jr. saluting his father’s funeral caisson in 1963, which was actually taken by Stan Stearns for United Press International; and one of Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill meeting in Tehran in 1943, by an unknown photographer.
In addition, the obituary also erroneously attributed a photograph of Vice President Richard M. Nixon during his “kitchen debate” in Moscow with Nikita S. Khrushchev in 1959; it was taken by Elliott Erwitt, not by Mr. O’Donnell.
An article describing how Mr. O’Donnell came to make these and other erroneous claims appears today on Page A1.