Cecil W. Stoughton

Who was Cecil W. Stoughton?

Cecil William Stoughton was an American photographer. Born in Oskaloosa, Iowa, Stoughton is best known for being President John F. Kennedy's photographer during his White House years.

During World War II he was assigned to the First Motion Picture Unit.

He was a captain in the United States Army Signal Corps when he was assigned to the White House Army Signal Agency. Stoughton's behind-the-scene pictures of John and Jacqueline and their children in their public and personal life were pivotal in shaping the public's view of the U.S. first family. He took over eight thousand pictures of the family spanning the 34-month period beginning with Kennedy's inauguration and ending with his assassination.

Stoughton took the only photograph ever published showing John F. Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe together. Stoughton was present at the motorcade at which Kennedy was assassinated, and was subsequently the only photographer on board Air Force One when Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as the next President. Stoughton's famous photograph of this event depicts Johnson raising his hand in oath as he stood between his wife Lady Bird Johnson and a still blood-spattered Jacqueline Kennedy. Stoughton recounted this event and his service as White House photographer during Johnson's first two years in office in an oral history contributed to the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum.